INEQUALITY, RACE AND PUBLIC POLICY

EDPOL 237

Examines poverty, inequality, and education from a theoretical, historical, and practical perspective through an introduction to historical and contemporary debates on wealth, poverty, and inequality. Interrogates these debates in relation to policies, practice, and institutions of education.

PUBAFFR 274

Intensive study of selected topics in public policy.

EDPOL/HISTORY 143

Examine the historical relationships between metropolitan change, economic transformation, and the construction of race and how those processes have shaped mass incarceration, educational, housing, and income inequality, and the experiences of racial/ethnic minorities who have been marginalized or discriminated against. Key questions include: What is the historical nature of inequality and opportunity in metropolitan America? What policies and ideas have historically promoted inequality, and how have those policies and ideas shifted over time? How have marginalized people responded to inequality, and what impacts have various modes of resistance had? Lastly, what is "race," how has its meaning changed over time, and how has it historically shaped inequality and opportunity?

ECON 325

Historical and contemporary sources and causes of, and potential policy responses to, racial and ethnic economic inequality in the United States. Topics covered include healthcare, education, labor markets, housing and neighborhoods, wealth, and criminal justice, with a focus on aspects of the economy where there are differences in economic outcomes for racial or racial minority groups. Questions include how these differences can result from disparities in how people, markets, or policies treat or impact different groups using economic theory as a foundation, and how economists have studied and measured these differences. In light of the history and range of economic opportunity and change in some communities, particular attention is given to the African American experience.

PUBAFFR 200

Offers a general primer on large-scale policies directed by US federal and state governments, with specific examples in pressing policy areas. Takes existing policies and the policy process as a given, explains them in detail, and puts a policy focus on very specific contemporary questions of concern to policymakers. Gain a broad overall knowledge of how the majority of state and federal funding is spent and the policy outcomes associated with that spending.