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.
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…
We are excited to announce that Quran Karriem, former Postdoctoral Associate at the Samuel DuBois Cook Center, has been appointed Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies at Syracuse University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts. Dr. Karriem is a media theorist, electronic musician, and installation artist whose work explores the intertwined…
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…
