Growing Apart: The Implications of Economic Inequality

April 8–9, 2016

flyer for growing apart event
Sen. Elizabeth Warren

Senator Elizabeth Warren

Elizabeth Warren is an Americanacademicandpolitician, who is the seniorU.S. SenatorfromMassachusetts. She is a member of theDemocratic Party, and was previously aHarvard Law Schoolprofessor specializing inbankruptcy law. A prominent legal scholar, Warren was among the most cited in the field ofcommercial lawwhile at Harvard University. She is an activeconsumer protectionadvocate whose scholarship led to the conception and establishment of the U.S.Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Warren has written a number of academic and popular works, and is a frequent subject of media interviews regarding the American economy and personal finance.

Victor Tan Chen

Victor Tan Chen

Victor Tan Chen is a sociology professor at Virginia Commonwealth University who studies economic inequality. He is the author ofCut Loose: Jobless and Hopeless in an Unfair Economy, andThe Missing Class: Portraits of the Near Poor in America, one of the top-selling sociology books of recent years. Chen’s work has been featured in the New York Times, NPR, B51 News, Atlantic Monthly, the Boston Globe, and C-SPAN’s Book TV. Chen received his degrees from Harvard University and was a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Berkeley.

Shaji George Kochuthara

Shaji George Kochuthara

Shaji George Kochuthara, CMI, teaches moral theology at Dharmaram Vidya Kshetram (DVK) (Pontifical Athenaeum of Theology, Philosophy and Canon Law), Bangalore, India. He has publishedThe Concept of Sexual Pleasure in the Catholic Moral Traditionand writes on ethics of sex and gender, globalization, and economic life. He is the editor-in-chief of Asian Horizons: Dharmaram Journal of Theology and the Chairperson of the Institutional Ethical Review Board of St. John's Medical College, Bangalore. Dr. Kochuthara is a visiting scholar in residence at Boston College's Jesuit Institute for the spring semester.

Friday, April 8


Concurrent Sessions I


Addressing Inequality: Solutions and Cautions (Stokes N228)

Micah Lott, Boston College
Equality and Freedom

Joe Quinn, Boston College
The Relative Effectiveness of the Minimum Wage and the Earned Income Tax Credit as Anti-Poverty Tools

Jeffrey L. Sternberg, Northeastern University
The Politics of Knowledge Production: The Embeddedness of Knowledge Producers within Institutions of Power

Kate Ward, Boston College (convener)
Inequality and the Moral Life: A Virtue Perspective


Inequality, Sustainability and Ideology (Stokes N428)

Rachel Madsen, Brandeis University
Pursuing Equity in Sustainability Policies: Contributions from Environmental Sociology

Rosalia Greco, Boston College
Redistribution, Polarization, and Ideology

Sandra Waddock (convener)
Inequality, Dignity, and the Sustainability Challenge


Inequality and Difference (Undergraduate Panel) (Stokes N325)

Noah W. Fitzgerel, Brown University
Squandering a Legacy: Investigating the Civil Rights Movement, Economic Inequality and the Failure of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)

Devon Breton-Pakozdi, Yale
Federalism and the “Color Line:” Rethinking the Politics of Racial Inequalities

Hochan Kim, Brown University
Income Inequality and the Difference Principle

Respondent: James O’Sullivan, Boston College

Plenary Session

Sen. Elizabeth Warren
Robsham Theater


Concurrent Sessions II


Comparative Inequality Policies (Undergraduate Panel)

Annalyn H. Bachmann, Emmanuel College
Stability of Socioeconomic Development and the Implications for Southeast Asia

Felicia Choo, Georgetown University
Missing Women in the Workplace: Firm Characteristics Affecting the Hiring of Females in Bangladesh

Cassandra Jagroop, St. John’s University
The Economic Loss of Innocence: Child Soldiers in Yemen and Darfur and Economic Inequality

Respondent: Rosalia Greco, Boston College


Inequality in Global Perspective (Stokes S117)

James O’Sullivan, Boston College
Twenty First Century Global Goal Setting addressing Global Inequality: An Interdisciplinary Ethical Analysis

Sylvia Cesar, Georgetown University
Where Do Losers Lose the Least? Regime Type and the Unequal Gains from Trade

Frank Garcia, Boston College (convener)
Globalization, Inequality and International Economic Law


Community, Education and Inequality (Stokes S133)

Dustin Crummett, University of Notre Dame
Wealth, Well-Being, and the Danger of Having Too Much

Tiziana Dearing, Boston College
Social Policy, Social Work and Income Inequality - How One "Helping" Discipline Can Help Solve an Intractable Problem

Mary Walsh, Boston College (convener)
Inequality and Education

Saturday, April 9


Plenary Session

Victor Tan Chen, Virginia Commonwealth University
Introduction: Ken Himes, Boston College


Concurrent Sessions III


Cross-disciplinary Perspectives on Economics

John Buchmann, University of Chicago Divinity School
Did I Do That? Adam Smith, Inequality and Supply-Side Ethics

Manon Garcia, Tufts University
“Are women Homo Economicus?” Economic Inequality and gender differences among economic agents.

Kyle M. Nicholas, University of Notre Dame
Sharing the Revolution: Moral Theology and the Sharing Economy


Wages and Inequality (Stokes S115)

Stephen R. Leccese, Fordham University
Areas of Study: Intellectual/Labor History, Economics, Economic Theory Historical Arguments for a Wage Increase

Joyce Konigsburg, Duquesne
The Economic and Ethical Implications of a Living Wage

Ken Himes, Boston College (Convener)
John A. Ryan and living/family wage


Evaluating Solutions to Inequality (Undergraduate Panel)

Lucas Allen, Boston College
Universalizing Access to Medicine: Brazil’s Response to AIDS, Inequality, and Institutionalized Scarcity

Marissa Marandola, Boston College
The Dollar Debates: Comparing the Implications of Judicial versus Political Intervention for School Finance Reform

Lindsey Connors, University of Massachusetts, Boston
Arts-Based Workforce Training: Creative Action against Community Economic Inequality


Plenary Session

Shaji George Kochuthara
Dharmaram Vidya Kshetram, Bangalore, India
Intro: Kate Ward, Boston College