The Center for the Study of Wealth and Inequality (CWI) Seminar Series is sponsored by Columbia University’s Institute for Social and Economic Research Policy (ISERP) and is devoted to the investigation of social and economic inequality. The Seminar invites speakers from both within and outside of Columbia to present recent papers covering a wide range of topics pertaining to inequality, such as poverty, labor market behavior, education, and the family. The research topics and methodologies are at the cutting edge of the interdisciplinary study of wealth and inequality, as the CWI Seminar invites speakers from multiple social science disciplines and fields. Past speakers include Annette Lareau, Adam Gamoran, Timothy Smeeding, Lisa Kahn, Mario Small, Rob Warren and Florencia Torche, among numerous others.
Fall 2026 Seminar Schedule
**All talks are held at 2 pm est in Knox Hall, room 509. Titles of talks will be announced in September!
September 24: Herman Van de Werfhorst, Professor of Sociology at the European University Institute, Politics and Intergenerational Social Mobility
October 1: Xiang Zhou, Professor of Sociology at Harvard University, Opening the Black Box: Modern Approaches to Mediation Analysis
October 15: Elizabeth Jacobs, Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Connecticut, TBA
October 22: Ellis Monk, Professor of Sociology at Harvard University, TBA
November 5: Tony Cheng, Assistant Professor of Sociology at Duke University, Police and Philanthropy After Protest
November 19: Letícia Martleto, Presidential Penn Compact Professor of Sociology and Chair of the Graduate Group in Demography at the University of Pennsylvania, TBA
December 3: Tiantian Yang, Management Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania, Looking the Part? How Candidates’ Race and Attire Shape Employers’ Hiring Decisions in a Low-Wage Labor Market
December 10: Ran Liu, Assistant Professor of Educational Policy Studies at the University of Wisconsin Madison, Degrees of Exposure: Generative AI, Fields of Study, and Educational Inequality