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.
The Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity is proud to celebrate the release of Stratification Economics and Disability Justice, a new book by Adam Hollowell, Ph.D. and Keisha Bentley-Edwards, Ph.D. Published by Cambridge University Press, explores how the activism of Black disabled leaders must be central to how we understand and address economic inequality…
In the summer of 2020, WUNC launched a special coverage series titled “Calling for Change.” The series highlighted the voices of Black activists and leaders advocating for racial equity in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder and the widespread protests that followed. Five years later, WUNC revisited several of those voices to reflect on what…
Nancy MacLean, Cook Center faculty affiliate and William H. Chafe Professor of History and Public Policy at Duke University, was recently quoted in a major DeSmog investigation revealing ties between current cabinet members and the organizations behind Project 2025. The DeSmog report found that 70 percent of Trump’s cabinet has direct ties to groups affiliated…
Faculty Affiliate Carliss Chatman, Professor at SMU Dedman School of Law, was quoted in a story by Marketplace examining how companies are quietly rebranding diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. The article explores how some corporations are scaling back or reframing public-facing DEI language amid political scrutiny. And, that the broader landscape is more nuanced…
February 20, 2026 — A new first-of-its-kind study of nearly 3,000 adults in New York City finds significant inequities in wealth and health outcomes across the 11 most common racial and ethnic groups, showing that Black and Latino New Yorkers have less wealth and unfairly worse health outcomes compared to others. Conducted in June 2024 by…
Faculty Affiliate Omer Ali is an Assistant Professor of economics at the University of Pittsburgh, and previous postdoctoral fellow a the Cook Center. Ali is the lead researcher on a new article published in Regional Science and Urban Economics this month examining the relationship between race and home values in Durham, North Carolina. The study…
