Inequality, economic insecurity and populism

Ian Shapiro, Professor of Political Science at Yale University, gave the May 20 seminar on "Inequality, economic insecurity and populism." In this seminar, Ian Shapiro will discuss the sources and varieties of inequality in advanced democracies over the past four decades, with particular attention to its political consequences. He argues that overall inequality matters less to most people than more local differences, and that economic insecurity is often more potent politically than inequality as such. Drawing on his forthcoming book with Michael Graetz, The Wolf At the Door:  Fighting Economic Insecurity (Harvard University Press, forthcoming 2020), he details the kinds of reforms that are most likely to address the most important sources of inequality and insecurity, forestalling the threat of destructive populism.