Our First Year of Research and Programs

The Institute on Inequality and Democracy at UCLA Luskin is proud to report on its first year of research and programs. Concerned with inequality in both the United States and worldwide, the Institute seeks to challenge through scholarship, art, and collective action, and in partnership with social justice movements–the color-lines of the 21st century. In this newsletter, our very first, we share glimpses of our work. We also invite you to visit our website for more detailed stories, news, and videos.

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Million Dollar Hoods: Understanding the Largest Jail System on Earth

At a cost quickly approaching $1 billion annually, more than 17,000 people are incarcerated every night in county jails and city lockups. But not every neighborhood within Los Angeles is equally impacted by L.A.’s massive jail system.

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Adding Insult to Injury: Racial Disparity in an Era of Increasing Income Inequality

This project investigates the well-known phenomenon of increasing income inequality and reduced economic mobility in the U.S. in recent years. The analysis is novel in that we are able to separate out differences across the major race and ethnic groups in the U.S.

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The Debt Collective: $600 Million in Debt Discharge

As of spring 2017, the Debt Collective’s pilot union–the Corinthian Collective–has secured meaningful, if partial victories. The strikers have won $600 million in debt discharge, and the Debt Collective’s Defense to Repayment Tool has been used to file 82,000 legal claims.

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Wealth, Inequality, and Philanthropy

Professor Erica Kohl-Arenas’s book, The Self-Help Myth: How Philanthropy Fails to Alleviate Poverty, was our inspiration for a forum on Wealth, Inequality, and Philanthropy held at UCLA in November 2016. Researchers, foundation CEOs, program officers, donors, and social movement leaders gathered to consider the role of philanthropy in social change.

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