Hello!

A little bit about me and this newsletter.

Who am I?

I am an economist at Fordham University in New York. For the last 20 years I have taught courses at the intersection of economics, epidemiology, sociology, diversity and inequality.

How did I arrive at this odd mix of topics?

In my initial graduate studies I investigated the ways in which job information flows through social networks and how differences in social networks can lead to differences in labor market opportunities, income inequality, and workplace segregation. Who you know (and who they know in turn) often matters as much as what you know in the labor market. Many of the methods that I used to understand how information spreads in labor markets were borrowed from classical models of epidemiology. This common underlying methodology led to my present interest in inequality of health during outbreaks of infectious disease and a deepening interest in the inequality of health in general.

What is this newsletter about?

In short, economic and health inequality. There are large groups of people throughout the world who struggle to attain basic standards of living. In wealthy countries like the United States this should be considered unacceptable. Yet for many it isn’t. Many believe the myth of meritocracy where hard work and persistence leads you to achieve any goal that you desire. The world isn’t this simple. Many of the working poor throughout the United States toil day by day at physically demanding and sometimes dangerous jobs. Many of these people struggle to attain things that most would consider necessary like food, shelter, and clothing. This newsletter discusses people who struggle at the margin and how we as a society can do better. Sometimes struggling at the margin involves finances. Other times it involves race, ethnicity, gender, age, nationality, geography, education or a host of other things. It may involve the failure of governments, institutions, markets, or society to work well. At times it digs backward into history, at others it looks forward into the future. Sometimes, it will force us to confront uneasy truths about who we are and what we truly value. In the end I hope it inspires and motivates readers to work toward a better and more just world.

How frequently will I receive a newsletter if I subscribe?

This is my first go-around with this type of writing but I expect to produce a newsletter every two weeks or so - sometimes a bit more frequent and sometimes a bit less.

Do I charge a fee to subscribe?

Haha… of course not.