Improving Equality of Opportunity: New Insights from Big Data

CEDA and Ashoka University bring to you the Infosys Prize Lecture on the topic: Improving Equality of Opportunity: New Insights from Big Data

Abstract: Over the past half century in America, children’s chances of earning more than their parents have fallen from 90% to 50%. Is it possible to restore the American Dream of upward mobility for the next generation of American citizens? In this talk, Raj Chetty will discuss recent work that he and his colleagues at Opportunity Insights have done to study this question. While the talk will draw on evidence from the US, Raj will discuss how similar work is being done in India. Among other topics, the talk will show how children’s chances of climbing the income ladder vary across neighborhoods, analyze the sources of racial disparities in intergenerational mobility, and discuss the role of higher education in creating greater income mobility. The talk will conclude by discussing the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on these issues.

Speaker’s Bio: Professor Raj Chetty is the winner of the Infosys Prize 2020 in Social Sciences for his pioneering research on identifying barriers to economic opportunity and for developing solutions to help people escape from poverty towards better life outcomes. His research and extraordinary ability to discern patterns in large data have the potential to induce major shifts in the discipline of Economics.

Date: 23rd March 2021
Time: 6 PM (IST), 8:30 AM (EDT)
Registration Link: bit.ly/3vt2yuy

The lecture will be followed by a Q&A session. The event will conclude with the launch of CEDA’s website and data portal.