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sdcookcenter.bsky.social
The Samuel DuBois Cook Center
@sdcookcenter.bsky.social
1.2K followers 160 following 310 posts
Advancing social equity via research, education, and policy.

https://samuelduboiscookcenter.org/
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sdcookcenter.bsky.social
Please welcome our founding director Sandy Darity (@sandydarity.bsky.social) to the platform!!
Profile picture of Cook Center Founding Director William A. "Sandy" Darity Jr.
November 18, 2025 at 4:01 PM
sdcookcenter.bsky.social
Faculty Affiliate Carliss Chatman wrote a column on how Tesla’s move to Texas is testing just how far modern corporate law will lean in favor of management.

Read here: http://bloomberglaw.com?utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=social&utm_content=ap_pkahx3khpp

#SamuelDuBoisCookCenter
November 18, 2025 at 1:59 PM
sdcookcenter.bsky.social
Please be advised:
Dr. William A. “Sandy” Darity Jr.’s X account has been hacked (@SandyDarity). Any recent posts or messages from that account are not from Dr. Darity.

We ask our community to disregard and report all content coming from that account until further notice.

— The Cook Center
November 17, 2025 at 9:23 PM
sdcookcenter.bsky.social
Today, Faculty Affiliate Nancy MacLean will be speak on a panel in the Future of Civil Rights and Democracy Series: “Why Authoritarians Fear Democracy?”

Learn more here: http://law.columbia.edu/events?utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=social&utm_content=ap_dgf1ig7qhf

#SamuelDuboisCookCenter
November 17, 2025 at 6:49 PM
sdcookcenter.bsky.social
Faculty Affiliate Fenaba Addo contributed insight on the impact of college loan debt across racial lines in webinar hosted by the Institute for Research on Poverty.

Full article: http://badgerherald.com?utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=social&utm_content=ap_xawrx1iuf0

#SamuelDuBoisCookCenter
November 6, 2025 at 12:59 PM
sdcookcenter.bsky.social
Capital B News highlights the expertise of Founding Director William A. Darity Jr. in their look what it would take to move forward reparations in NYC.

Full article: http://capitalbnews.org?utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=social&utm_content=ap_nwbhdeatvw

#SamuelDuboisCookCenter
November 5, 2025 at 5:32 PM
sdcookcenter.bsky.social
Next Monday, Faculty Affiliate Nancy MacLean will speak on a panel at the Public Theology in a Time of Authoritarianism symposium.

Learn more: http://theologyandpolicy.yale.edu?utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=social&utm_content=ap_mmwi0qz68s

#SamuelDuboisCookCenter
November 5, 2025 at 1:59 PM
sdcookcenter.bsky.social
Congratulations to our Faculty Affiliate Sarah E. Gaither, who was named a 2025 Fellow of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP)! https://spsp.org/news/spsp-news/2025-spsp-fellows-announced
October 29, 2025 at 6:00 PM
sdcookcenter.bsky.social
Two upcoming events/deadlines from @weare-org.bsky.social:
1. November 12 + 13 - Curriculum Workshop
2. November 21 - Deadline for proposals for Let's Talk Racism Conference 2026
Flyer for November 12 + 13 Curriculum Workshop Flyer for Call for Proposals for Let's Talk Racism Conference 2026. Deadline for submission is November 21, 2025
October 28, 2025 at 3:59 PM
sdcookcenter.bsky.social
"Darity, the economist and social scientist, virtually discussed the economic impacts of chattel slavery and what he referred to as modern-day government slavery, otherwise known as mass incarceration."
Citing a study by economist Thomas Kramer, Darity noted that the economic loss from chattel slavery was staggering. Using a 3% interest rate and accounting for all seven days of the week, Darity estimated an $18.6 trillion loss for those subjected to the system. At a 6% interest rate, that figure rises to an estimated $6.2 quadrillion. Drawing a parallel between mass incarceration and what he described as “government slavery,” Darity referenced his work with the California State Reparations Task Force, which analyzed disproportionate arrest and imprisonment rates of Black Californians. Based on the average civil service wage and an estimated 1.48 years of excess imprisonment of Black Americans, the task force calculated the lost wages at $159,272 per person, amounting to a total economic loss of $228 billion for the state. 
October 28, 2025 at 2:18 PM
sdcookcenter.bsky.social
New paper on how heightened immigration enforcement reduces farmworker labor participation and work hours, reshaping the U.S. agricultural labor market -- from Faculty Affiliate Joaquín Alfredo-Angel Rubalcaba: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Abstract We demonstrate that unexpected increases in enforcement have a temporary but costly impact on labor supply among noncitizen farmworkers. Analyzing Current Population Survey data and immigration-related arrests, we find that unexpected increases in immigration arrests decrease labor force participation (LFP) among noncitizen farmworkers by up to 3.4 percentage points and reduce weekly work hours by up to 23.1% per month. These effects translate into a 1.38 percentage point decline in LFP and a 9.08% reduction in weekly hours worked across farmworkers. Our results suggest that localized enforcement exerts downward pressure on immigrant populations during periods when policies are not activated.
October 27, 2025 at 3:36 PM
sdcookcenter.bsky.social
In a new publication for SSM-Mental Health, Faculty Affiliate Joaquín Alfredo-Angel Rubalcaba examines how mixed-status families influence the mental health of foreign-born farmworkers, revealing both protective factors and unique stressors.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Abstract Immigrant agricultural workers, especially unauthorized workers, face a range of severe stressors, including isolation, chronic job insecurity, and marginalization, leading to higher rates of mental health issues compared to native-born populations. This paper investigates mental health outcomes, focusing on symptoms of depression among agricultural workers within the US agricultural sector, specifically among unauthorized immigrant working parents living in mixed-status families (households in which there is a discrepancy in immigration status, often with parents lacking authorization and children having citizenship by birth). Using data from the National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS), which includes the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), we explore how the presence of US-born children influences parental mental health. Findings reveal that unauthorized parents in mixed-status families report significantly lower depressive symptoms than their nonmixed-status counterparts, suggesting that citizen children may act as protective factors. This difference was further stratified along particular domains within the CES-D scale. However, these children may also introduce new stressors, such as heightened fears of family separation. The study underscores the importance of nuanced investigations into how family dynamics intersect with immigration status to shape mental health outcomes. These findings highlight the need for further investigation of the mental health of workers in this vital economic sector, especially in light of the changing demographics of agricultural work since the last large mental health survey of agricultural workers in 2010.
October 24, 2025 at 2:06 PM
sdcookcenter.bsky.social
Featuring a new paper, from Director Sandy Darity and past DITE fellow Stephan Lefebvre, "Root Causes of the Racial Wealth Gap: A Critique of the Fed View":

www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=...
Abstract We address the Federal Reserve's model for Black–White wealth inequality. The Fed view has it that the Black–White wealth gap, when measured with an "expanded wealth concept," is smaller than previously thought and primarily explained by income differences shaped by personal decisions around human capital acquisition and family structure. We argue that the expanded wealth concept inappropriately treats future income flows from Social Security and defined benefit pensions as an asset. Even using this measure, the absolute Black–White wealth gap increases with the adjustment. We present results using the PSID that demonstrate that parental wealth better captures transmission of intergenerational (dis)advantage.
August 6, 2025 at 2:29 PM
sdcookcenter.bsky.social
samuelduboiscookcenter.org
Image depicting the new website for the Samuel DuBois Cook Center at https://samuelduboiscookcenter.org/
August 4, 2025 at 7:22 PM
sdcookcenter.bsky.social
When we conducted our Color of Wealth series across 6 U.S. cities, Tulsa was the city with the largest black-white wealth and income gaps: samuelduboiscookcenter.org/wp-content/u...
Cover image of the Cook Center's report: "Oil and Blood: The Color of Wealth in Tulsa, Oklahoma"
August 1, 2025 at 7:31 PM
sdcookcenter.bsky.social
Counterpoint: pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/...
Title page of AEA Papers and Proceedings article titled "Setting the Record Straight on Racial Wealth Inequality"
July 31, 2025 at 5:49 PM
sdcookcenter.bsky.social
Here's another for good measure:
pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/...
Title page of "Setting the Record Straight on Racial Wealth Inequality"
July 31, 2025 at 5:47 PM
sdcookcenter.bsky.social
As we prepare for the end of the Aaron Young Scholars Summer Research Institute, we want to recognize some of the new and familiar faces that led students through their projects.

Kollin Brown was a past participant in the Aaron Young Summer Institute and is back this summer as a Teaching Assistant!
July 25, 2025 at 8:27 PM
sdcookcenter.bsky.social
The roundtable features extensive comments from our founding director William A. "Sandy" Darity Jr., who also was a co-editor of the related journal issue last summer:
Excerpt from Sandy Darity: "There are a number of key points I’d like readers to take away from this double issue. I think one of the most important is that acts of reparative justice are not unusual. They're not abnormal. One of the first papers that appears in the in the volume is by Linda Bilmes and Cornell William Brooks that actually demonstrates how routine the United States government's practice of the provision of reparations is. This raises the very serious question as to why the Black American case is treated as so highly exceptional, historically."
June 24, 2025 at 4:02 PM
sdcookcenter.bsky.social
More context on the state of Baby Bonds proposals is available here: www.urban.org/sites/defaul...
Title page of 2023 Urban Institute report: "The State of Baby Bonds"
June 16, 2025 at 1:31 PM
sdcookcenter.bsky.social
For more about a Baby Bonds proposal that would actually reduce the racial wealth gap: sanford.duke.edu/story/big-id...
Excerpt: How would baby bonds work? It would be a universal program that gives seed capital to every newborn infant in the United States, “like a Social Security program for babies,” Darity said. The federal government would establish a trust for every newborn. Children born to the poorest families would have an initial investment of as much as $50,000. Children of wealthy families also would receive a bond, but a much smaller amount, perhaps as little as $500 for Bill Gates’ children. The average amount would be around $25,000. The program would cover all newborns without considering race, but would help close the racial wealth gap because black households are clustered at the bottom end of the wealth distribution.
June 16, 2025 at 1:31 PM
sdcookcenter.bsky.social
Key paragraph ⬇️
Excerpt: Money in the new Trump accounts would have to be placed in a low-cost stock index fund, and investment gains would be allowed to accumulate tax free until the funds were used. Parents and others would be allowed to supplement the original government endowments of a thousand dollars with contributions of up to five thousand dollars a year. But poor families obviously wouldn’t have the means to provide top-ups. “That means poorer families with no savings will get $1,000 compounding over 18 years while rich families will be able to invest up to $90,000,” Stephen Nuñez, an analyst at the Roosevelt Institute, wrote in a piece about the G.O.P. plan. “That will widen the wealth gap.”
June 16, 2025 at 1:31 PM
sdcookcenter.bsky.social
🚨 New Book 🚨
Stratification Economics and Disability Justice by Cook Center faculty Adam Hollowell and Keisha Bentley-Edwards
@keishabentley.bsky.social explores how the work of Black disabled activists can and should inform economic analysis of inequality in the U.S.

bit.ly/SEDJ2025
Book cover of "Stratification Economics and Disability Justice" and headshots of co-authors Adam Hollowell and Keisha Bentley-Edwards
June 5, 2025 at 6:38 PM
sdcookcenter.bsky.social
Our 2021 report digs into the roots of our black-white racial wealth gap in Tulsa: socialequity.duke.edu/wp-content/u...
Cover page of "Oil and Blood: The Color of Wealth in Tulsa, Oklahoma"
June 4, 2025 at 7:23 PM
sdcookcenter.bsky.social
The full 2015 report on the racial wealth gap in Boston is available here: socialequity.duke.edu/wp-content/u...
Table comparing white and nonwhite household median net worth in Boston from 2015 Color of Wealth report
May 29, 2025 at 1:23 PM