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…
Former Postdoctoral Associate and The Pandemic Divide contributor Melissa Scott recently published an op-ed in INDY Week reflecting on Hurricane Helene and its ties to the climate crisis. In the piece, Dr. Scott shares her experience staying in her family’s cabin in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains where she and her young son witnessed the…
Keisha Bentley-Edwards, Associate Professor of Medicine at Duke University, was recently featured on the podcast Questions You Didn’t Ask, hosted by Niasha Fray. In the episode, “What if your zip code determined your health, wealth, and life expectancy?”, Dr. Bentley-Edwards and entrepreneur/community leader Farad Ali explore the deep ties between economic justice and health. They…
Faculty Affiliate Carliss Chatman, Professor at SMU Dedman School of Law, co-authored a commentary in Bloomberg Law with Sergio Alberto Gramitto Ricci examining the governance challenges behind Disney’s reversal on suspending Jimmy Kimmel Live! The authors argue that such “whiplash” decisions highlight the risks of treating corporate values as flexible rather than foundational. They emphasize…
