Study

Substantial economic inequality is one of the most critical features of our present day political economy,* and Law & Policy Lab: Wealth & Inequality is organized around this issue.The fall-semester Lab** is a one-credit, fast-track course meeting for the last 7 weeks of the semester. The first class will provide a basic overview of the issue of economic inequality. Subsequent classes will include guest speakers and will focus on specific topics exploring (1) the structural nature of economic inequality and (2) the specific ways in which legal and policy choices contribute to either the construction or deconstruction of structural inequality. Such specific topics may include: The relationship of tax policy to wealth distribution The role of the criminal justice system in inequality The impacts of labor, employment and immigration law and policy on the ability to earn a "living wage" The role of law and policy at the local government level on structural inequality (e.g., land-use law, systems of educational finance, the use of ticketing and fines to support local government budgets, etc.) The effect of the health care system on economic opportunity Alternative approaches to addressing poverty that focus on asset development and wealth accumulation The racial dynamics of inequalitySPECIAL NOTES FOR STUDENTS:*Please note that this is an issue-based course. That is, the Lab (1) takes for granted that economic inequality is an issue that needs to be addressed and (2) considers how this single issue is affected by multifarious regimes of law and policy rather than focusing on one regime of law itself.**Please also note that only those students who take the Fall Lab will be eligible for the Spring Lab, a two-credit, fast-track class that will allow students the opportunity to develop specific legal and/or policy proposals designed to address the identified issues and to meet the upper-level writing requirement

Fall 2015

Course Number	Course Credits	Evaluation Method	Instructor
475A.01	Course Credits 1		Andrew Foster, Jeff Ward