About the sources
We reached out to numerous experts across economic and journalism fields to inform ourselves about economic inequality. Here are their bios. For a full transcript of our interviews, click each subject's name.
Saku Aura, Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri
Saku Aura is an associate professor of economics at the University of Missouri, and specializes in public economics, household decision-making and income distribution. Aura lays out two arguments cited in economist circles as to why the income gap has worsened since the 1970s. He also notes that the U.S. tax code is a lot less progressive than it was in the 1970s, but thinks tax code and conscious policy are not the primary factors contributing to the income gap; instead, he says, it's “how the world has changed, not how the policies have changed.”
John Blodgett, programmer analyst at the University of Missouri’s Office of Social and Economic Data Analysis
John Blodgett is a programmer analyst at the University of Missouri’s Office of Social and Economic Data Analysis. He works specifically with organizing and structuring census information. He spoke about how the Census Bureau breaks down their information, how they distribute it and discussed tips for journalists using available online resources.
John Blodgett is a programmer analyst at the University of Missouri’s Office of Social and Economic Data Analysis. He works specifically with organizing and structuring census information. He spoke about how the Census Bureau breaks down their information, how they distribute it and discussed tips for journalists using available online resources.
Gary Castor, Jefferson City News Tribune editor
Gary Castor, the editor of the Jefferson City News Tribune, explains how his newsroom is covering economic inequality. He believes more should be done in newsrooms around the country to cover the issue. He gives some advice about how newsrooms of a similar size can dive into coverage, and feels the topic affects all beats. He suggests gathering many different perspectives from a number of demographic areas and getting out of the newsroom to experience that. Castor mentions a poverty simulator that helped people in his newsroom understand the issue by assigning people different identities and forcing them to make tough decisions. Castor says that journalists covering economic inequality need to be fair and weigh the tough choices people must make.
Gary Castor, the editor of the Jefferson City News Tribune, explains how his newsroom is covering economic inequality. He believes more should be done in newsrooms around the country to cover the issue. He gives some advice about how newsrooms of a similar size can dive into coverage, and feels the topic affects all beats. He suggests gathering many different perspectives from a number of demographic areas and getting out of the newsroom to experience that. Castor mentions a poverty simulator that helped people in his newsroom understand the issue by assigning people different identities and forcing them to make tough decisions. Castor says that journalists covering economic inequality need to be fair and weigh the tough choices people must make.
Jason Hickel, academic and journalist
Jason Hickel holds a Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Virginia and currently lectures at the London School of Economics. Hickel also reports on issues related to poverty, democracy, and inequality for Al Jazeera. Through his work as an academic and journalist, he advises journalists to understand the history of both national and global economic inequality and realize that economic inequality is neither a new nor a static problem. Noting that, particularly in the United States, media is produced by only six major corporations who benefit financially from inequality and the laws that perpetuate inequality, he sees consumers turning increasingly to alternative media outlets for analysis. When covering issues of economic inequality, Hickel believes that journalists should not shy away from polarizing the issue, rather than forcing political neutrality onto it.
Monique Morrissey, economist at the Economic Policy Institute
Monique Morrissey is an economist at the Economic Policy Institute whose areas of interest include Social Security, pensions and other employee benefits, household savings, tax expenditures, older workers, public employees, unions and collective bargaining. She believes journalists need to provide greater context within economic reporting in order to hold policies and politicians responsible for fluctuating differences of the middle class and poverty indicators.
Peter Mueser, Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri
Peter Mueser holds a Ph.D in sociology from the University of Chicago, and currently serves as a professor of economics at the University of Missouri. He specializes in labor economics and previously has researched temporary work and unemployment. Mueser emphasizes that, while there has been a tremendous increase in inequality both nationally and globally, inequality has always existed as part of the economy. Mueser describes how many economists believe that some level of inequality is necessary as an incentive, and issues surrounding inequality often are couched in fairness concerns. He believes that journalists spend too much time discussing arbitrary issues, such as what defines the middle class, rather than discussing more meaningful issues, like what is causing the current spike in inequality.
Jason Hickel holds a Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Virginia and currently lectures at the London School of Economics. Hickel also reports on issues related to poverty, democracy, and inequality for Al Jazeera. Through his work as an academic and journalist, he advises journalists to understand the history of both national and global economic inequality and realize that economic inequality is neither a new nor a static problem. Noting that, particularly in the United States, media is produced by only six major corporations who benefit financially from inequality and the laws that perpetuate inequality, he sees consumers turning increasingly to alternative media outlets for analysis. When covering issues of economic inequality, Hickel believes that journalists should not shy away from polarizing the issue, rather than forcing political neutrality onto it.
Monique Morrissey, economist at the Economic Policy Institute
Monique Morrissey is an economist at the Economic Policy Institute whose areas of interest include Social Security, pensions and other employee benefits, household savings, tax expenditures, older workers, public employees, unions and collective bargaining. She believes journalists need to provide greater context within economic reporting in order to hold policies and politicians responsible for fluctuating differences of the middle class and poverty indicators.
Peter Mueser, Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri
Peter Mueser holds a Ph.D in sociology from the University of Chicago, and currently serves as a professor of economics at the University of Missouri. He specializes in labor economics and previously has researched temporary work and unemployment. Mueser emphasizes that, while there has been a tremendous increase in inequality both nationally and globally, inequality has always existed as part of the economy. Mueser describes how many economists believe that some level of inequality is necessary as an incentive, and issues surrounding inequality often are couched in fairness concerns. He believes that journalists spend too much time discussing arbitrary issues, such as what defines the middle class, rather than discussing more meaningful issues, like what is causing the current spike in inequality.
Michael Norton, Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School
Michael Norton is a professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School and co-author of Happy Money: The Science of Smarter Spending. Norton, who earned his doctorate in Psychology from Princeton University, has researched the effects of social norms on peoples attitudes and behavior and the psychology of investment. His research in Building a Better America - One Wealth Quintile at a Time, a journal article published in Perspectives on Psychological Science, showed that when respondents were asked to estimate the distribution of wealth in the United States and to construct their ideal distribution, respondents dramatically underestimated the current status of wealth inequality and all groups desired a more equal distribution of wealth than existing conditions. Norton stresses the necessity of making data visual to viewers and to giving the audience a way to take action after learning from you.
Michael Norton is a professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School and co-author of Happy Money: The Science of Smarter Spending. Norton, who earned his doctorate in Psychology from Princeton University, has researched the effects of social norms on peoples attitudes and behavior and the psychology of investment. His research in Building a Better America - One Wealth Quintile at a Time, a journal article published in Perspectives on Psychological Science, showed that when respondents were asked to estimate the distribution of wealth in the United States and to construct their ideal distribution, respondents dramatically underestimated the current status of wealth inequality and all groups desired a more equal distribution of wealth than existing conditions. Norton stresses the necessity of making data visual to viewers and to giving the audience a way to take action after learning from you.
Adam Ozimek, economist and assistant director at Moody’s Analytics
Adam Ozimek is an economist and assistant director at Moody’s Analytics. He has worked as an economic consultant for six years and has a breadth of knowledge and opinions on the topic of inequality. He believes that American journalists should take a global approach when covering inequality. Instead of constantly comparing rich Americans to poor Americans, Ozimek believes that Americans as a whole, which he calls the “global one percent,” should be compared to people in other countries and become more educated on the inequality that permeates throughout the entire world. In his opinion, this is the responsibility of journalists. What often gets in the way of journalists is their own class bias to call out the rich, who they often share the same social circles with, Ozimek says.
Alissa J. Peterson, special assistant on the Poverty and Prosperity team at the Center for American Progress
Alissa J. Peterson is a special assistant on the Poverty and Prosperity team at the Center for American Progress, a progressive public policy research and advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C. She believes that the issue of economic inequality is often understated in the media with not enough focus on the economic insecurity the majority of Americans experience. She also believes poverty research would be more reflective of reality if gauged by the supplemental poverty measure instead of the federal poverty line.
Adam Ozimek is an economist and assistant director at Moody’s Analytics. He has worked as an economic consultant for six years and has a breadth of knowledge and opinions on the topic of inequality. He believes that American journalists should take a global approach when covering inequality. Instead of constantly comparing rich Americans to poor Americans, Ozimek believes that Americans as a whole, which he calls the “global one percent,” should be compared to people in other countries and become more educated on the inequality that permeates throughout the entire world. In his opinion, this is the responsibility of journalists. What often gets in the way of journalists is their own class bias to call out the rich, who they often share the same social circles with, Ozimek says.
Alissa J. Peterson, special assistant on the Poverty and Prosperity team at the Center for American Progress
Alissa J. Peterson is a special assistant on the Poverty and Prosperity team at the Center for American Progress, a progressive public policy research and advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C. She believes that the issue of economic inequality is often understated in the media with not enough focus on the economic insecurity the majority of Americans experience. She also believes poverty research would be more reflective of reality if gauged by the supplemental poverty measure instead of the federal poverty line.
Bob Ray Sanders, Fort Worth Star-Telegram editorial columnist
Bob Ray Sanders has worked in journalism for over 40 years, most of which he's spent as a reporter and columnist with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The longtime reporter and now editorial columnist cites education, discrimination and a host of other issues as specific reasons for economic inequality. Sanders believes when an economy falls in any country, it falls on those who are already at the middle or the bottom. Sanders says the average person might think of the middle class as a family that earns between $50,000-70,0000 annually, but in reality there are middle-class families who live off far less than that. He believes the best way to go about reporting on economic inequality is to tell stories from a human side instead of a strictly numbers-heavy approach.
Erik Sherman, business and technology journalist
Erik Sherman is a journalist focused on issues of business and technology, whose work has appeared in The New York Times, Newsweek, and Forbes. When covering issues related to economic inequality, Sherman believes the most common mistake journalists make is sticking to the known narrative or a predictable human-interest story, rather than comprehensively investigating the reality of the issues. He also believes that in order to truly understand and cover issues of economic inequality, journalists must not be afraid of numbers. Throughout his reporting, Sherman has utilized mathematics and statistics to investigate issues surrounding inequality, such as protests surrounding part-time wages. While his allegiance is always to the truth when reporting, he notes that journalists need to avoid getting caught up in an equivalency that doesn’t exist, as sometimes companies or people are committing truly egregious actions and that reality must be exposed.
Erik Sherman is a journalist focused on issues of business and technology, whose work has appeared in The New York Times, Newsweek, and Forbes. When covering issues related to economic inequality, Sherman believes the most common mistake journalists make is sticking to the known narrative or a predictable human-interest story, rather than comprehensively investigating the reality of the issues. He also believes that in order to truly understand and cover issues of economic inequality, journalists must not be afraid of numbers. Throughout his reporting, Sherman has utilized mathematics and statistics to investigate issues surrounding inequality, such as protests surrounding part-time wages. While his allegiance is always to the truth when reporting, he notes that journalists need to avoid getting caught up in an equivalency that doesn’t exist, as sometimes companies or people are committing truly egregious actions and that reality must be exposed.
Scott Swafford is an associate professor at the Missouri School of Journalism and the senior city editor for the Columbia Missourian.
He has 30 years of experience as a reporter and editor in Missouri newsrooms, including the Kirksville Daily Express, the Fulton Sun and the Columbia Daily Tribune. He completed his Master's degree in journalism at the University of Missouri in 2012.
He has 30 years of experience as a reporter and editor in Missouri newsrooms, including the Kirksville Daily Express, the Fulton Sun and the Columbia Daily Tribune. He completed his Master's degree in journalism at the University of Missouri in 2012.