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.
On Saturday, August 10, the Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity concluded its latest gathering of the Diversity Initiative for Tenure in Economics (DITE) program in Durham, N.C. The program, which provides mentorship and workshops to aid the transition from junior faculty status to associate professor for economists from underrepresented groups (most notably, Black,…
In her keynote address Thursday evening, Dr. Kaye Husbands Fealing relayed an astonishing fact to a room of economists: From 2011-2020, the annual number of economics PhDs awarded to black women never rose above the single digits. “It’s amazing how small these numbers are relative to the job that needs to be done,” said Dr….
Faculty Affiliate Sarah Elizabeth Gaither, PhD, the Nicholas J. and Theresa M. Leonardy Associate Professor Psychology & Neuroscience at Duke University, recently published an op-ed on multiracial identity for MSNBC. Dr. Gaither, in debunking Donald Trump’s recent comments about the racial identity of Kamala Harris, emphasized the “counterproductive and dangerous” nature of Trump’s comments and highlighted…
Founding Director William Darity Jr. co-authored a new literature review in The BMJ that directly addresses one of the most persistent critiques of reparations: the claim that no feasible plan exists. The proposal outlines direct monetary payments as the clearest economic measure of the cumulative and intergenerational effects of white supremacy. The article argues that…
Cook Center Director William A. Darity Jr. will be among the featured speakers at an upcoming public hearing hosted by the New York State Community Commission on Reparations Remedies (NYSCCRR) on Saturday, March 21st, 2026, in Staten Island, New York. The hearing, titled “Economic Development: Quantifying Harms,” is part of the Commission’s statewide effort to…
New research co-authored by Faculty Affiliate Sarah Gaither, Associate Professor of Psychology & Neuroscience at Duke University, explores how something as routine as demographic forms can influence feelings of inclusion and identity among marginalized communities. Published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, the study—“Enumeration or Exclusion? Demographic Forms and Latine Identity”—investigates how demographic questions may…
