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.
Cook Center Postdoctoral Associate Pak Hung Lam recent study, “Long-Term Exposure to Fine Particulate Matter and Academic Performance Among Children in North Carolina“, has been featured by the World Economic Forum & WRAL. The study aimed to address previous limitations of relatively small or less representative samples to explore elevated exposure to ambient fine particulate…
Cook Center Affiliate Imari Smith published a paper in Social Science & Medicine on Racial and Gender Differences in Discrimination and Psychological Distress among Young Adults. Smith, doctoral candidate in the Duke University’s Joint Program in Sociology and Public Policy, was the lead author on the paper, which sheds light on the understudied negative effects…
Episode Summary: How exactly can we support Black-owned businesses and entrepreneurship in Durham, North Carolina, especially in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic? In this episode of Voices in Equity, the official podcast of the Samuel Dubois Cook Center on Social Equity at Duke University, Dr. William “Sandy” Darity hosts a critical discussion on the…
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…
