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.
At the Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity at Duke University, Juneteenth holds profound significance as we reflect on the prolonged journey to freedom for enslaved individuals. Established as a scholarly collaborative dedicated to studying and remedying inequalities, the Cook Center recognizes Juneteenth not only as a pivotal moment in American history but also…
Three collaborators at the Samuel DuBois Cook Center for Social Equity at Duke University have published a new paper showing that the modern racial wealth gap is in fact growing, in large part because of the cumulative impact of the country’s racial history, and intergenerational transfers of wealth from older generations to younger ones. “When…
By Rachel Ruff Durham, NC – This April at Duke University’s Levine Science Research Center, students from the Global Inequality Research Initiative (GIRI) course presented their capstone projects, bringing to life their semester-long investigations into gender and development. This class, part of the broader educational programming from the Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity…
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…
