Items24The creator’s order
  1. 1Sum of Us (2021)Sum of Us (2021)Published Jan 1, 2021In The Sum of Us, Heather McGhee visits places that closed public swimming pools rather than integrate them. The closures give her a way to ask who loses when decisions are organized around denying a benefit to somebody else. Start here for an account of how a racial divide can make shared services…0
  2. 2Evicted (2016)Evicted (2016) 8.8/10 on Open LibraryPublished Jan 1, 2016Matthew Desmond follows families and landlords in Milwaukee to see what happens before and after an eviction. Being forced to move can change where a family lives, works, and goes to school, leaving fewer ways to withstand the next loss. Choose it for a detailed account of how one missed payment…0
  3. 3The Color of Law (2017)The Color of Law (2017) 9.1/10 on Open LibraryPublished Jan 1, 2017Richard Rothstein traces US residential segregation through decisions made by governments, including restrictions that governed access to federally backed mortgages. Those decisions affected who could buy a home in particular neighborhoods and build wealth through it. Read it to see how formal…0
  4. 4Pedigree (2015)Pedigree (2015) 8.0/10 on Open LibraryPublished Jan 1, 2015Lauren A. Rivera studies how elite firms hire graduates. Her account of interviewers looking for someone they could imagine working with shows how cultural familiarity can matter alongside credentials. Choose it to look closely at an ordinary hiring judgment and the advantage it can give to someone…0
  5. 5Race for Profit (2019)Race for Profit (2019) 7.0/10 on Open LibraryPublished Jan 1, 2019Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor studies efforts to expand access to US homeownership in the late 1960s and 1970s. Her account follows the housing program’s dependence on private businesses, which could make a sale profitable without making it sustainable for the buyer. Read it for the difference between…0
  6. 6Triumph of Injustice (2019)Triumph of Injustice (2019)Published Jan 1, 2019In The Triumph of Injustice, Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman reconstruct who paid different kinds of taxes in the United States. Bringing payroll, sales, and income taxes into view changes the comparison among households at different income levels. Choose it for the choices involved in measuring…0
  7. 7Global inequality (2016)Global inequality (2016)Published Jan 1, 2016Branko Milanović separates differences in income within countries from differences between them. The distinction makes a familiar claim about globalization more precise, because gains and losses can look different depending on where a person lives and which income group you compare. Choose it for a…0
  8. 8Class Ceiling (2019)Class Ceiling (2019)Published Jan 1, 2019In The Class Ceiling, Sam Friedman and Daniel Laurison ask why people from different class backgrounds can earn different amounts after entering the same elite occupations in Britain. Family financial help can make it easier to wait for opportunities or absorb early uncertainty. Read it alongside a…0
  9. 9The Whiteness of Wealth (2021)The Whiteness of Wealth (2021)Published Jan 1, 2021Dorothy A. Brown looks at how US tax rules about marriage and homeownership interact with racial differences in earnings and wealth. Similar life choices can have different financial consequences because the rules meet households with different resources. Read it for a concrete way to examine who…0
  10. 10Unequal childhoods (2003)Unequal childhoods (2003) 8.0/10 on Open LibraryPublished Jan 1, 2003Annette Lareau follows children and parents as they deal with institutions such as schools. Watching who feels entitled to negotiate with an adult in authority helps show how day-to-day experience can become a resource for a child. Choose it for close observation of how social class shapes access…0