The Samuel DuBois Cook Center is a scholarly collaborative that studies the causes and consequences of inequality and develops remedies for these disparities and their adverse effects.
After Maryland’s proposed bill to study reparations was vetoed, Founding Director William A. “Sandy” Darity Jr., Ph.D. shared his perspective with The Washington Post, emphasizing that while the bill’s aim was commendable, state-level efforts are fundamentally insufficient. Based on the research Dr. Darity and his colleagues have conducted on the racial wealth gap, the amount…
Cook Center Director William A. “Sandy” Darity Jr. and former Diversity Initiative for Tenure in Economics (DITE) fellow Stephan Lefebvre published a new article in the AEA Papers and Proceedings titled “Root Causes of the Racial Wealth Gap: A Critique of the Fed View”. In this piece, Darity and Lefebvre challenge the Federal Reserve’s approach…
On May 14, 2025, the Duke Center for Child & Family Policy hosted the Triangle Economics of Education Workshop (TEEW) at the Sanford School of Public Policy. The event convened leading scholars to share and discuss empirical research on the economics of education. Among the presenters was Sungmee Kim, Postdoctoral Associate at the Samuel DuBois…
Cook Center core faculty, Nancy MacLean, published an op-ed in the News & Observer titled “Duke leadership is letting down higher ed in a moment it should be fighting back.” In the piece, MacLean warns that American higher education is facing “the gravest menace to its mission in our history,” citing the Trump administration’s reported…
The Historic Durham Armory, the hopping location downtown that once featured acts from Duke Ellington to Ella Fitzgerald and was the inspiration for Ernie Barnes’ The Sugar Shack, hosted another lively event this week: A celebration of the 10th cohort of Young Scholars from the Hank and Billye Suber Aaron Young Scholars Summer Research Institute. …
Sandra Santillan first encountered the Hank and Billye Suber Aaron Young Scholars Summer Research Institute as a high school student at Hillside High School, encouraged by a teacher who recognized her strong writing skills. “I thought I was in trouble,” she says, recalling how her teacher pulled her aside. Instead, the teacher introduced her to…
