Advanced Certificate in Inequality Analysis
Program Description
Economic inequality is a key concern
in economics and public policy. The rise in inequality that occurred during the
1970s and early 1980s stimulated interest in the study of its causes and
consequences. The subsequent surge in globalization over the 1990s and early
2000s created a situation in which economic growth and prosperity no longer
dramatically reduced economic inequality. The persistence of inequalities
within nations and across nations demands innovative policy responses. From the
World Bank to the United Nations to governments throughout the world, a greater
understanding of wealth distribution is a necessary skill in todays policy landscape. To
contribute to addressing this need, Central European University and Bard
Colleges Levy Economics Institute are pairing in a joint Advanced Certificate
in Inequality Analysis that will take place at the Levy Institute and CEUs
Extension site in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. Students obtain this
certificate through a minimum of 12 credits in Masters level courses that
leverage the combined expertise currently offered on both campuses. The
certificate requires a minimum of 12 credits with the following distributions:
CEU-Bard Advanced Certificate
Courses will be offered by CEU and
Bard faculty and to earn a certificate each student must take courses offered
by each. To ensure curricular coherence, each student will be required to
submit a program proposal and obtain approval for their program adviser.
Bard Colleges Levy Institute
Highlights:
For nearly three decades, the Levy
Institute has maintained an active research program on the distribution of
earnings, income, and wealth. Research in this area includes studies on the economic
well-being of the elderly, public and private pensions, well-being over the
life course, the role of assets in economic well-being, and the determinants of
the accumulation of wealth. This area of micro-based analysis is an important
supplement to more macro-oriented offering of the Central European University
for those interested in understanding poverty, inequality, income mobility and
the related public policy concerns.
It is widely recognized that
existing official measures of economic well-being need to be improved in order
to generate accurate cross-sectional and intertemporal comparisons. The picture
of economic well-being can vary significantly depending on the measure used.
Alternative measures are also crucially important for the formulation and
evaluation of a wide variety of social and economic policies. The Levy
Institutes public policy contributions in this arena involves active research
and includes two important measures to bridge the current gaps in measurement
and actual well-being.
Learning Outcomes