Event Announcement: Wealth Inequality and the Eroding Middle Class, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, November 4-5, 2007
Conference of the UNC Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity and the American Constitution Society for Law and PolicyNovember 4 & 5, 2007
George Watts Hill Alumni Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The keynote address will be delivered by Dr. Robert Kuttner, co-founding editor of The American Prospect, co-founder of the Economic Policy Institute and Senior Distinguished Fellow, Demos.
While wealth inequality is not new, reports of the rapid polarization of income and assets in the United States and abroad are dramatic and remarkable. This conference will engage distinguished academics, policymakers, organizers and other experts in a discussion about wealth inequality in the United States within a global context.
Among the topics discussed:
- How much wealth inequality is "too much"?
- What are the implications of this trend generally and for the American middle class specifically?
- Given the globalization of the marketplace, is it possible for one country to to address problems of income and wealth inequality in isolation?
- How does immigration affect the U.S. labor market?
- How does law construct wealth patterns?
- What can we do to remove obstacles to change?
Please mark your calendars and join us, and our renowned speakers and panelists, as we examine domestic and global wealth inequality patterns and their implications.
Deadline to register: October 22, 2007! Seven hours of North Carolina CLE credit available to attorneys attending the conference.
Conference Schedule Sunday, Nov. 4, 2007
Welcome and Introduction: 2:00-2:15 p.m.
Keynote Address: 2:15-3:15 p.m.
Robert Kuttner
Robert Kuttner is the founding co-editor of The American Prospect; co-founder of the Economic Policy Institute and is currently a Senior Distinguished Fellow at Demos. His latest book, The Squandering of America: How the Failure of Our Politics Undermines Our Prosperity, will be published in November 2007. He is the author of six previous books including Everything for Sale: The Virtues and Limits of Markets (1997) (winner of the 1997 Sidney Hillman Award) and The End of Laissez-Faire (1991). Among many other positions, he has contributed to numerous journals and magazines, served as economics editor of The New Republic and was chief investigator for the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs.
Break: 3:15-3:30 p.m. Panel I. Rising Wealth Inequality: Why We Should Care 3:30-5:30 p.m.
Recent increases in the gap between rich and poor have brought renewed attention to disparities in wealth How much wealth inequality is "too much"? What are the consequences of rising economic inequality? Panelists will discuss domestic and global wealth inequality patterns and their implications.
Moderator: Lisa Keister (Professor, Department of Sociology, Duke University)
Confirmed Speakers: Joel Handler (Richard C. Maxwell Professor of Law and Professor of Policy Studies, UCLA); Lingxin Hao (Professor, Department of Sociology, Johns Hopkins University); Mark Rank (Herbert S. Hadley Professor of Social Welfare, George Warren Brown School of Social Work, Washington University in St. Louis); Alan Reynolds (Senior Fellow, Cato Institute); John Schmitt (Senior Economist, Center for Economic and Policy Research)
Reception: 5:30-6:30 p.m.
Monday, Nov. 5, 2007
Panel II. Labor Markets, Income Inequality and Globalization: 8:30-10:30 a.m.
In an increasingly globalized marketplace, both labor markets and wealth inequality know no geopolitical boundaries. Is it possible to address problems of income and wealth inequality in one nation in isolation? How do undocumented immigrant workers and guest workers affect the U.S. labor market? Who is harmed, who benefits? What are the potential strategies for change?
Moderator: Catherine Fisk (Douglas Blount Maggs Professor of Law, Duke University)
Confirmed Speakers: Frances Ansley (College of Law Distinguished Professor of Law, University of Tennessee); Ron Bloom (Special Assistant to the President, United Steel Workers); Judy Scott (General Counsel, Service Employees International Union); Harley Shaiken (Professor, Departments of Education and Geography and Chair of the Center for Latin American Studies, University of California, Berkeley; Louis Uchitelle (Business Reporter, The New York Times)
Break: 10:30-10:45 a.m.
Panel III. How Law Constructs Wealth Patterns: 10:45 a.m.-12:45 p.m.
Wealth inequality is not a natural phenomenon - it is a product of social and public policy choices, often encoded in law. How does the law function to entrench wealth inequality? How can certain areas of the law (labor, employment, health, education, housing, and bankruptcy, for instance) function in a more progressive manner as tools for alleviating entrenched wealth inequality?
Moderator: Stephen Berzon (Partner, Altshuler Berzon LLP)
Confirmed Speakers: Ana Avendano (Associate General Counsel and Director of the Immigrant Worker Program, AFL-CIO); Jonathan Forman (Alfred P. Murrah Professor of Law, University of Oklahoma); Kent Greenfield (Professor of Law and Law Fund Research Scholar, Boston College); Patricia McCoy (George J. & Helen M. England Professor of Law, University of Connecticut); Ann O'Leary (Deputy City Attorney, San Francisco)
Lunch: 12:45-2:00 p.m.
Panel IV. Charting our Next Steps: Removing Obstacles to Change: 2:00-3:45 p.m.
Wrap up and call to action: Who is "middle" class? Where might the impetus for progressive wealth and income redistribution originate? What are the obstacles to substantial policy, legal, and political change?
Moderator: Melody Barnes (Executive Vice President for Policy, Center for American Progress)
Confirmed Speakers: Mary Beth Maxwell (Executive Director, American Rights at Work); John Quinterno (Research Associate, Budget and Tax Center, NC Justice Center; Michael Selmi (Professor of Law, George Washington University); Michael Zweig (Professor, Department of Economics and Director, Center for the Study of Working Class Life, Stony Brook University)
