REGISTER
California is one of the wealthiest states in the country, yet it also faces persistent poverty, stark economic inequality, and some of the highest costs of living in the nation. These tensions raise fundamental questions about who benefits from California’s economic growth and why so many residents struggle to achieve economic security. This panel brings together leading scholars to examine the forces shaping wealth and poverty across the state. Drawing on research spanning inequality, affordability, economic mobility, and social policy, the discussion will explore the roots of California’s economic divides, how they are reproduced across generations, and what is at stake for families, communities, and the future of the state.
This panel will feature David Grusky, Edward Ames Edmonds Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences, and Professor of Sociology at Stanford; Marianne Page, Professor of Economics and Director of the Center for Poverty Research at UC Davis; and Samuel Trachtman, Senior Researcher at the Berkeley Economy and Society Initiative at UC Berkeley. Evan White, Executive Director of the California Policy Lab at UC Berkeley, will moderate.
This event is co-sponsored by the Goldman School of Public Policy, the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, the Berkeley Economy and Society Initiative, and the Opportunity Lab.
Panelists
David Grusky is Edward Ames Edmonds Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences, Professor of Sociology, Senior Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, Faculty Fellow at the Center for Population Health Sciences, Faculty Director of the Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality, and coeditor of Pathways Magazine. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a corecipient of the 2004 Max Weber Award, the founder of the Cornell University Center for the Study of Inequality, and a former Presidential Young Investigator. His recent books are Inequality in the 21st Century (with Jasmine Hill, 2017), Social Stratification (with Kate Weisshaar, 2014), Occupy the Future (with Douglas McAdam, Robert Reich, and Debra Satz, 2012), The New Gilded Age (with Tamar Kricheli-Katz, 2011), and The Great Recession (with Bruce Western and Chris Wimer, 2011).
Marianne Page is a Professor of Economics and a founding director of the Center for Poverty Research at UC Davis. She is a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and member of the Institute for Labor Economics. She currently serves as a Co-Editor of the Journal of Human Resources, and recently completed a term serving on Governor Newsom’s Council of Economic Advisors. She is an expert on policies promoting intergenerational mobility and equality of opportunity for children in the United States. Her research has appeared in economics journals including the Quarterly Journal of Economics, the American Economic Review. and the Journal of Labor Economics, and has been funded by the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Sam Trachtman is a senior researcher at the Berkeley Economy and Society Initiative (BESI), where he leads the research program on the political economy of California. Sam completed his Ph.D. in political science in 2021 at UC Berkeley, where he honed skills in quantitative methods and policy-engaged empirical research. He has published widely in academic journals including American Political Science Review, Climatic Change, Governance, Legislative Studies Quarterly, Nature Energy, Public Opinion Quarterly, and Perspectives on Politics.
Evan White co-founded the California Policy Lab, which generates research insights for government impact. Through hands-on partnerships with government, CPL performs research across issue silos and builds the data infrastructure necessary to improve programs that millions of Californians rely on. Since 2017, CPL has helped conduct 300+ projects with 75+ agency partners. As Executive Director, Evan leads the Lab’s Berkeley site and authors reports on household finance, migration, and poverty. Prior to joining CPL, Evan served as Senior Advisor to the first Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Evan also served as Director of Fair Housing for northern California’s largest fair housing nonprofit. He holds a joint degree in Law and Public Policy from UC Berkeley.