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Derrick K. Gondwe Memorial Lecture
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Thursday, October 10, 2024 ~ 5pm
Mara Auditorium, Masters Hall, Rm 110
Interrogating Inequality
Belinda Archibong
Associate Professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS)
Why do seemingly identical individuals, groups and regions, in terms of resources and talents, have such disparate economic outcomes? Economics research and the questions we ask often reflect and reinforce existing power relations and structures. This informs the questions we ask, methods we use and conclusions we reach, with real world consequences for outcomes and policy agendas on economic inequality. My work draws on models from economics, history, sociology, political science, and environmental science to understand the origins and drivers of group-based inequality in socioeconomic outcomes, defined as disparities in social and economic outcomes along the lines of social group identity markers like race, ethnicity, gender, class and other social identifiers. I particularly focus on understanding the drivers and determinants of gender and ethnic inequality in human capital outcomes and economic development, using evidence from African countries. We study these questions on the origins of group-based inequality and policy interventions to reduce it, using evidence from research on prison labor in British colonial Africa, epidemics and vaccine hesitancy, and gender inequality in employment. The results from these projects highlight the ways in which institutions can worsen outcomes for groups in already relatively economically precarious circumstances, thereby widening group-based socioeconomic inequality. Redistributive policies can reduce these inequalities by minimizing damage for members of the most marginalized groups in societies, and we outline some results from the research projects here.
This event is free and open to the public
Co-Sponsored by Africana Studies, Economics, and EPACC
Where
Masters Hall 110 Mara Auditorium
39.835559,-77.236019