Thread by @Lenny_Mendonca

1/ By popular demand: The class structure for “Business and Public Policy Perspectives on US Inequality” that I teach @StanfordGSB with @PaulOyer. I will post the readings for each class throughout the quarter for those interested.

2/ This class will analyze the growth in inequality in the US over the last several decades and how that trend is likely to continue or change in the future. We will ask if and how public policy can affect inequality.

3/ We will also focus on business's role -- what are the responsibilities of private sector companies, how does inequality affect them, and how should the growth in inequality affect their strategies?

4/ We will look at inequality in income, some of its potential sources, and its effects in other areas.

5/ Session 1: April 4
Inequality in the United States – Definition and
Facts

Session 2: April 9
Inequality in the United States – Why Do Businesses
and MBA Students Care?

Session 3: April 11
Housing and Transportation

Session 4: April 16
Place-Based Policies

6/ Session 5: April 18
Guest speaker: Cary McClelland, author & lawyer

Session 6: April 23
Race and Inequality

Session 7: April 25
Opportunity and Early Education

Session 8: April 30
Higher Education

Session 9: May 2 Guest Speaker: Ron O’Hanley, State Street Bank CEO

7/ Session 10: May 7
Immigration (and Effects on Other American Workers)

Session 11: May 9
Guest speaker: Van Ton-Qunilivan, Future Of Workforce

Session 12: WEDNESDAY May 15
Oakland Field Trip

Session 13: May 21
Low-wage Workers

8/ Session 14: May 23
Guest Speaker: Dave Regan, SEIU-UHW

Session 15: May 28
Tax Policy – The 1%

Session 16: May 30
Guest Speaker: Don Howard, The Irvine Foundation

Session 17: June 4
Work in the Future and Universal Basic Income

9/ Session 1: April 4
Inequality in the United States – Definition and Facts

Reading:
WATCH VIDEO: Stanford Professor Raj Chetty TEDx talk

10/ READ: Raj Chetty, David Grusky, Maximilian Hell, Nathaniel Hendren, Robert Manduca, and Jimmy Narang, “The Fading American Dream: Trends in Absolute Income Mobility Since 1940”, Non-technical summary, Opportunity Insights, December 2016.

11/
READ: Stephen J. Rose, “How Different Studies Measure Income Inequality in the US,” Urban Institute, December 2018, available at:
urban.org/sites/default/…

12/
READ: “The Shrinking Middle Class,”
Fortune, December 20, 2018, available at: fortune.com/longform/shrin…,
read intro and Parts 1 & 2

13/
READ:
Jen Kinney, “5 Charts That Detail Wealth and Inequality in US Cities”, nextcity.org.

14/
SKIM:
Kayla Fontenot, Jessica
Semega, Melissa Kollar, “Income and Poverty in the United States: 2017”, U.S. Census Bureau, September 2018, available at:
census.gov/content/dam/Ce…,
pp. 1-23

15/ Discussion Questions:

What do you mean when you think
of inequality? What are the proper ways to measure it and conceptualize it?

16/ Session 2: April 9

Inequality in the United States – Why Do Businesses and MBA Students Care?

Reading:
“The Shrinking Middle Class,”
Fortune, December 20, 2018, available at: fortune.com/longform/shrin…,
read Part 3

17/ Read:

Lenny Mendonca, “Through 'inclusive capitalism,' California leads from the front”, The Hill, April 2, 2019.

Larry Thompson, Patrick Gross, and Bo Cutter, “How U.S. Business Can Tackle Inequality”, Fortune, April 7, 2016.

18/ Reading:

mckinsey.com/global-themes/…

caeconomy.org/resources/entr…

sfchronicle.com/opinion/openfo…

linkedin.com/pulse/why-how-…

19/

Discussion Questions:

Why is the issue of inequality an issue for business people to think about? Why have an MBA class on this topic?

Do you think recent trends in U.S. inequality will continue in the future, stabilize, or reverse? What factors will matter?