Economics 341, Fall 2024: Origins, Persistence, and Consequences of Inequality

Lecture Notes

Instructors: James J. Heckman and Sadegh Eshaghnia

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1. Overview

2. Positive and Normative Framework

   • **Durlauf, Steven. (2020). “Utilitarianism, Welfarism, and Capabilities,” Lecture notes, Economics 349: Inequality and Social Mobility, (Department of Economics, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL).
   • **Durlauf, Steven. (2020). “Equality of Opportunity, Responsibility, and Desert,” Lecture notes, Economics 349: Inequality and Mobility, (Department of Economics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL).

3. Social Mobility

4. Education and Skills

5. Family and Childhood Investments

6. November 20, 2024: Race, Discrimination, and Criminal Justice

   1. Some Background on Factors Promoting Black-White Differences
   2. Continuous Versus Episodic Change: The Impact of Civil Rights Policy on The Economic Status of Blacks, Donohue and Heckman. (1991)
   3. The American Family in Black and White: A Post-Racial Strategy for Improving Skills to Promote Equality, Heckman (2011).
   4. Determining the Impact of Federal Antidiscrimination Policy on the Economic Status of Blacks: A Study of South Carolina, Heckman and Payner (1989).
   5. Keeping Count of Government Science: Zombie Psychology, Implicit Bias Theory, and the Implicit Association Test, Young, Kindzierski, and Randall. (2024).
   6. Parenting Promotes Social Mobility Within and Across Generations, García and Heckman. (2023).
   7. The Lasting Effects of Early Childhood Education on Promoting the Skills and Social Mobility of Disadvantaged African Americans, García, Heckman and Ronda. (2023).
   8. The Unappreciated Centrality of Ethnoracially Mixed Americans to the Nation’s Demographic Future, Alba (2024).
   9. Sources of Racial and Ethnic Gaps and Sources of Improvement

7. December 2, 2024: Race, Discrimination, and Criminal Justice

   1. Some Background on Factors Promoting Black-White Differences
   2. Sources of Racial and Ethnic Gaps and Sources of Improvement
   3. Continuous Versus Episodic Change: The Impact of Civil Rights Policy on The Economic Status of Blacks, Donohue and Heckman. (1991)
   4. Determining the Impact of Federal Antidiscrimination Policy on the Economic Status of Blacks: A Study of South Carolina, Heckman and Payner (1989)
   5. The American Family in Black and White: A Post-Racial Strategy for Improving Skills to Promote Equality, Heckman (2011).
   6. The Lasting Effects of Early Childhood Education on Promoting the Skills and Social Mobility of Disadvantaged African Americans, García, Heckman and Ronda. (2023).
   7. Parenting Promotes Social Mobility Within and Across Generations, García and Heckman. (2023).
   8. The Unappreciated Centrality of Ethnoracially Mixed Americans to the Nation’s Demographic Future, Alba (2024).
   9. Keeping Count of Government Science: Zombie Psychology, Implicit Bias Theory, and the Implicit Association Test, Young, Kindzierski, and Randall. (2024).
   10. On Interpreting Stereotype Threat as Accounting for African American–White Differences on Cognitive Tests, Sackett, Hardison, and Cullen (2004)
   11. The Impact of the Economy and the State on the Economic Status of Blacks: A Study of South Carolina, Butler, Heckman, and Payner

8. December 4, 2024: The Welfare State

   1. Policies to Promote Social Mobility
   2. How the Welfare State Affects Inequality and Social Mobility: A Comparison of the U.S. and Denmark