TRB columnist Timothy Noah to speak about income inequality

Individuals protesting economic and social inequality march on Wall Street in NYC. (_PaulS_)

Tim Noah, former Slate columnist and current TRB columnist at the New Republic, will be speaking to students on the Fairfax campus about income inequality.

The presentation and discussion will take place Wednesday, Oct. 26 at 1:30 p.m. in Robinson B, room 228. The event is open to all students, faculty and staff.

Noah has been invited to speak by current Robinson Professor Steven Pearlstein as part of an open meeting of GOV 319: Money, Markets and Economic Policy, taught by Pearlstein.

“He [Noah] is a wonderful journalist who has taken a difficult and sometimes arcane topic and made it accessible enough for everyone to participate in the conversation,” said Pearlstein.

It’s a good thing Noah keeps it simple because, according to Pearlstein, simple language and a lack of numbers are principles inherent to the course.

“My course is for non-economics majors and we keep it in English,” said Pearlstein. “I like to say the class is a jargon-free and math-free zone.”

Noah will be speaking during the week the class topic is “Why Are Incomes Becoming Less Equal?”

Despite recent news coverage surrounding the Occupy Wall Street movement, Pearlstein said the issue of income inequality isn’t a new one.

“It [income inequality] has been a hot issue among economists for two decades now,” said Pearlstein.

During his time as a columnist at Slate, Noah wrote extensively on the issue of income inequality.  

“Tim wrote a series of columns last year for Slate which did a marvelous job at boiling down the data and presenting and evaluating all the various "causes" of growing income inequality,” said Pearlstein in an email to C2M.

Pearlstein said he had already planned to include the Slate columns as assigned reading for his students before Noah agreed to speak to the class.

According to Pearlstein, Noah has since expanded the Slate columns for a book he plans to publish sometime next year.

Professors who would like to bring their class to the event, should contact Prof. Pearlstein at spearls2@gmu.edu

Tim Noah has been the TRB columnist for the New Republic since September. His work can be read at http://www.tnr.com