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Inequality Studies
4mins
Americans believe they can outthink suffering. Historian Kate Bowler explains how our obsession with self-help, optimization, and positivity became a kind of secular religion.
A comparison of wealth gaps in ancient empires reveals stark differences and lasting consequences.
From King Midas to Gordon Gekko, humanity has struggled to grasp greed's true nature.
In 2021, residents of the top America could expect to live 20.4 years longer than residents of the bottom America.
The electoral reform also known as instant-runoff voting promises bridge-building and broad appeal instead of culture war and gridlock.
"We’re acting more like fans of a football team going to a game than a banker carefully choosing investments."
The annual rite of passage has always been more about the ambivalence of adults than the amusement of children.
12mins
Is “identity synthesis” the remedy for racial injustice? This political scientist says no.
Beef production is largely responsible for greenhouse gas emissions from the food system.
Consumer debt shapes American lives so thoroughly that it seems eternal and immortal, but it’s actually relatively new to the financial world.
6mins
Why most billionaires aren’t geniuses and most geniuses aren’t billionaires, explained by political scientist Brian Klaas.
The National Defense Education Act of 1958 meshed with white anxiety about the desegregation of schools.
There are many problems with relying on SAT and ACT scores for college admissions. But removing them entirely creates less opportunity.
The pseudoscience phrenology swept the popular imagination, and its practitioners made a mint preying on prejudices, gullibility, and misinformation.
According to the CDC, 50 countries worldwide have drinkable tap water. But look closer, and the picture is more nuanced.
Australian soldiers fighting the Japanese recruited native New Guineans to their campaign.
8mins
Effective altruism isn’t just for the rich. Philosopher Peter Singer shares how we can all be better at doing “good.”
39mins
Throw away your history books — here’s what life in ancient Rome was really like, according to Cambridge scholar Mary Beard.
Is true equality achievable — or even desirable? Go on a journey through the strange and unsettling "Land of Justice."
John Templeton Foundation
3mins
Age expert Dr. Morgan Levine explains why living to 100 is the wrong goal.
If a person stands little chance of ever being wealthy, perhaps playing the lottery is a rational decision.
4mins
People say we are better off than ever. Are they right?
3mins
No one is teaching us how to be online. That’s a problem.
6mins
Why marriage is thriving — and dying — in different American classes.
Some Europeans really don't want to use the internet.
5mins
“There’s a sense of crisis today that we did not have in the 1980’s or 90’s” — economist Tyler Cowen on progress in America.
John Templeton Foundation
The insanity of the academic job market laid out in numbers.
31mins
Collective illusions — false assumptions about society that many people share — have existed for thousands of years in many different ways. Today, because of social media and modern technology, […]
5mins
Two-thirds of our days are spent alone. The Metaverse will bring us together, argues leading Metaverse thinker Matthew Ball.