How does economic inequality affect the middle classes of affluent countries? A conference organised by the University of Luxembourg and its partners, the National Research Fund and Luxembourg Income Study, seeks to answer this question. The conference will also be the occasion where the title of LIS (Luxembourg Income Study) Senior Scholar will be bestowed upon two University of Luxembourg professors.

The event entitled “Income Inequality: Economic Disparities and the Middle Class in Affluent Countries”, based on the findings of a recently published book of the same name, will be held on Wednesday 8 January at the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce: 7, rue Alcide de Gasperi, L-2981, Luxembourg from 17:00.

The key speakers of the event are:

• Prof Janet Gornick, Director of LIS and the LIS Center at the City University of New York, and;
• Prof Markus Jäntti of Stockholm University’s Swedish Institute for Social Research and Research Director of LIS.

Following the speaker presentations a panel discussion will take place where Serge Allegrezza, Director of STATEC, among others, will give a brief presentation of different chapters of the book.

This event is organised in the framework of the University of Luxembourg’s Chair of the Programme Excellence Award for Research in Luxembourg (PEARL) financed by the National Research Fund (FNR). The Chair is led by Prof Louis Chauvel and Prof Conchita D’Ambrosio of the Institute for Research on Socio-Economic Inequality.

The conference will also be the occasion where the title of LIS Senior Scholar will be bestowed upon both PEARL professors.

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The conference will be held in English and prior registration is required to irsei@uni.lu.

The book “Income Inequality: Economic Disparities and the Middle Class in Affluent Countries” is available from Stanford University Press in standard and e-book format for 65 USD.

More information about the key speakers

Janet Gornick is a political economist and sociologist. She is Professor of Political Science and Sociology at The Graduate Center of The City University of New York (CUNY) in the United States. She holds a BA in Psychology and Social Relations, a Masters in Public Administration, and a PhD in Political Economy and Government, all from Harvard University. She has held various positions at LIS for over twenty years, and has served as Director since 2006. As Director, she oversees all aspects of LIS’ work, including its administrative, management, development and data production functions. She is also Director of the Luxembourg Income Study Center, a satellite office of LIS located at The Graduate Center of CUNY.

Most of her research is comparative, across the industrialised countries, and concerns social welfare policies and their impact on family well-being and gender equality.

Markus Jäntti is an economist. He is Professor of Economics at the Swedish Institute for Social Research at Stockholm University in Sweden. He holds a PhD in Economics from Åbo Akademi University in Turku, Finland. After a long association with LIS, he became Research Director in 2005. As Research Director, he advises the LIS data staff on data harmonisation, data quality, data production planning and research methods.

His research centres on income and wealth inequality, as well as poverty and socio-economic mobility, with a focus on cross-national comparisons. He is especially interested in the importance of family background in the distribution of economic resources.