SOCIETY

Soaring wealth inequality has remade the map of American prosperity. One need only glance at headlines about Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and other super-wealthy individuals to understand that wealth in America is increasingly concentrated in fewer and fewer hands. Inequality is sharply on the rise. Until now, however, little has been known about where the richest households are located, which cities are the most unequal and how these trends have evolved. In a new analysis I conducted with my colleagues, we reveal where wealth is most concentrated within and between communities, cities and states. The result is GEOWEALTH-US – the first data that tracks the geography of wealth in the United States and how it has changed since 1960. The overall picture is worrying. The wealthiest cities in th...

Each season, the celebration of Christmas has religious leaders and conservatives publicly complaining about the commercialization of the holiday and the growing lack of Christian sentiment. Many people seem to believe that there was once a way to celebrate the birth of Christ in a more spiritual way. Such perceptions about Christmas celebrations have, however, little basis in history. As a scholar of transnational and global history, I have studied the emergence of Christmas celebrations in German towns around 1800 and the global spread of this holiday ritual. While Europeans participated in church services and religious ceremonies to celebrate the birth of Jesus for centuries, they did not commemorate it as we do today. Christmas trees and gift-giving on Dec. 24 in Germany did not spre...

Christmas and New Year’s are days of celebration in many parts of the world when people gather with family and friends. One thing many typically don’t celebrate on those days is a birthday. That’s because Dec. 25 is the least popular day in the U.S., Australia and New Zealand to give birth. In England, Wales and Ireland, it’s the second-least popular, behind Dec. 26, when Brits celebrate Boxing Day. So why do people have fewer babies on holidays like Christmas, Boxing Day and New Year’s – the second-least popular birthday in the U.S.? I am personally interested in the question because my wife was a New Year’s Day baby. And as an economist, I find these data puzzles fascinating. Least and most popular birthdays All of the least-favored days in the U.S. are tied to holidays, wheth...

Have you been wondering what the quote "See You In The Funny Papers" actually means? The phrase "See you in the funny papers" is an idiomatic expression that harks back to the era when comic strips were a prominent feature in newspapers. It carries a playful tone, suggesting that the speaker is expecting to encounter someone again, often in a lighthearted or humorous context. This quote evokes nostalgia for a time when families would gather around the breakfast table to read the daily comics, laughing at the antics of beloved characters. In a broader sense, the expression implies that life is filled with unpredictable moments and that we may often find ourselves in amusing situations reminiscent of comic strips. In contemporary usage, saying "See you in the funny papers" can also sugg...

Why do people hate people? Have you ever said “I hate you” to someone? What about using the “h-word” in casual conversation, like “I hate broccoli”? What are you really feeling when you say that you hate something or someone?             Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com. Why do people hate people? – Daisy, age 9, Lake Oswego, Oregon The Merriam-Webster dictionary describes the word “hate” as an “intense hostility and aversion usually deriving from fear, anger, or sense of injury.” All over the world, researchers like us are studying hate from disciplines like education, history, law, leadership, psy...

How camping bans − like the one the Supreme Court just upheld − can fit into ‘hostile design’: Strategies to push out homeless people. If you have no shelter and are arrested for sleeping outside, are you being punished for something you did – or for being homeless? On June 28, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court decided 6-3 that the Oregon city of Grants Pass may prohibit camping, even if there are no free shelter beds in the area. Critics have argued that this policy was a form of “cruel and unusual punishment,” in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. A lower court agreed, saying it is unconstitutional to arrest people for a normal and necessary human behavior – sleeping – if there is nowhere else to go. But Friday’s decision reversed that ruling. Such laws do not ...