Join the Stone Center for Inequality Dynamics as we host Manuel Schechtl, Assistant Professor of Public Policy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and 2025-2026 Visiting Fellow. Dr. Schechtl is a social demographer studying the creation, persistence, and reproduction of inequality, poverty, and mobility, with substantive interests in wealth and its intersection with public policy. His research encompasses the quantitative analysis of survey data, administrative records, and experimental data. Currently, Manuel is focusing on multiple facets of wealth inequality and accumulation, with a particular focus on the impact of inheritances and inheritance taxes.

Abstract: “Wealth inequality in the United States has reached heights not seen since the Gilded Age, renewing concerns that skyrocketing disparities in economic power may challenge the basic social functioning of society. Yet empirical research linking rising wealth inequality to changes in social outcomes, be it democratic erosion, collapsing communities, or increasing social immobility, remains scarce. Beyond data limitations, trying to study wealth inequality as a determinant rather than an outcome comes with substantive challenges for establishing causality. The talk outlines this broader research agenda, including the development of a shift-share instrument for wealth inequality.”