Zach Parolin

"The housing shortage in the United States not only drives up rents, it is also a significant driver of poverty." The New York Times summarizes my collaboration Pew, which quantifies how high housing costs lead to higher poverty rates for 10 U.S. states. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/29/r...

Are inequality researchers too concerned with the ultra-rich? Proud to take part in the Atkinson Conference at Nuffield College (Oxford). On Sep 10, I’ll discuss with Mike Brewer moderated by Juliana de Castro Galvao. Info: atkinsonconference.github.io

Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER) and LIS Data Center are hiring a 3-year postdoc for work on public policy, welfare and socio-economic inequality. Open to economics, sociology, pol sci and related disciplines. Apply by Sep 15th: jobs.liser.lu/job/Esch-sur...

How well can we predict which children will end up poor adults or rich adults? Or how much education they'll earn? In a new working paper, @zparolin.bsky.social and I show the predictability of life outcomes depends on the country and outcome. www.inet.ox.ac.uk/publications... Highlights below! 🧵👇

New analysis from me & Diane Schanzenbach, possibly my favorite piece ever: We study the SNAP payment error rate and explain why tying how much a state will have to contribute toward SNAP payments to its PER is inherently empirically unstable. Remand. www.hamiltonproject.org/publication/...

No child poverty in Sweden? Think again! We found big differences in poverty rates, poverty gaps and poverty buffers between children of Swedish-born and foreign-born parents. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/... With @siddarthaaradhya.bsky.social and @rafgrotti.bsky.social

Job alert! 📣 I’m recruiting a 3-year postdoc for my ERC Stg project DIVREP, which examines within-country variation in reproductive behaviour and its determinants across the globe. 🗓️ Deadline: 16 September 2026 www.sociology.ox.ac.uk/events/postd... Please share and apply!

Feeling deprived of academic talks over the summer? This Thursday I'm presenting new work with @zparolin.bsky.social for the Oxford Metrics & Models seminar. Online talk and all are welcome! 2pm Oxford time, 7am Colorado time. Happy to share the MS Teams link with you. metrics-and-models.github.io

#Walmart #Supercenter openings are associated with a 2.2 percentage point (18%) rise in #poverty, and the increase persists for at least a decade. Our article is now published in #LabourEconomics, with @zparolin.bsky.social, Clemente Pignatti & Rafael Pintro-Schmitt.

Power and poverty: The distributional consequences of Walmart Supercenter openings doi.org/10.1016/j.la... Paper in Labour Economics by Lukas Lehner, @nuffieldcollege.bsky.social Fellow @zparolin.bsky.social, Clemente Pignatti and Rafael Pintro Schmitt

With @joshuachoper.bsky.social & @lukaslehner.bsky.social in the American Sociological Review, we ask: What happens to organized labor when Walmart Supercenters enter a local labor market? Broadly, how do worker power and buyer power interact to shape inequality? journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

TODAY! ▶️"The EU Anti-Poverty Strategy: A Discussion with the European Commission and an Expert Panel." 2pm UK / 3pm CEST via Zoom as part of the INET Oxford Inequality Working Group. Join us to to discuss the Commission's new strategy to reduce poverty in the EU. www.inet.ox.ac.uk/events/the-e...

Last week to apply! It's shaping up to be an exciting event on inequality, bringing together perspectives across disciplines and beyond academia. Researchers, policy experts, civil servants and others working on inequality are all welcome.

The Atkinson Conference on Economic and Social Inequality will take place on 10-11 September at Nuffield College (Oxford). ▶️Plenaries: Philippe Aghion, Janet Gornick & roundable moderated by FT's Sarah O'Connor. 🚩CfP Deadline: 22 May. Join us in Oxford! Details here: atkinsonconference.github.io

A postdoc position is now available in my project Markets and Mobility: How Employers Structure Economic Opportunity. Start date flexible within the next 12 months, apply by 9 May. www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...

Join us today online for Alexandra Roulet's talk on "Making Labor Markets Work for Workers and Businesses", hosted by @zparolin.bsky.social @inetoxford.bsky.social @oxmartinschool.bsky.social. I'll be moderating the event and look forward to a vibrant discussion. www.inet.ox.ac.uk/events/makin...

📢 In this Social Forces article, I introduce occupational elitism as a novel measure of social closure: the share of upper-class background workers within an occupation. Its consequences for earnings stratification can be examined using a social closure theory lens. 🔓 doi.org/10.1093/sf/s...

On Feb 17, our @inetoxford.bsky.social team will launch the INET Oxford Inequality Working Group, an online seminar series that invites discussion on inequality and public policy. Our first speaker: @drodrik.bsky.social presents his new book. Details & registration: www.inet.ox.ac.uk/events/share...

Billionaire Backlash is published today! (If you are in the US, this is a teaser -- out March 17 there). I had a fantastic conversation about the book with @hugorifkind.bsky.social from Times Radio yesterday. Link below (interview starts at about 50:30). Or join us for the launch in Oxford tonight.

My new article, now online @sfjournal.bsky.social, examines trends in Black-White inequality by gender in earnings losses among displaced workers. Lost earnings premia, disadvantageous re-sorting, and statistical discrimination play distinct roles in shaping inequality. doi.org/10.1093/sf/s...

I'm hiring a post-doctoral researcher to join us at the University of Oxford and our @inetoxford.bsky.social Inequality team. Ideal candidate has experience in the fields of inequality, social mobility, and/or public policy. We can sponsor visas for non-UK applicants. www.inet.ox.ac.uk/vacancies

First day of my research visit at Oxford! Many thanks to @zparolin.bsky.social for the generous invitation. I’ll be presenting on simulating human behavior with LLMs on Jan 28 at the @nuffieldcollege.bsky.social Sociology Seminar. If you’ll be around Oxford, feel free to reach out!

we have 5 positions open at @goetheuni.bsky.social in Frankfurt - a 4,5 year postdoc in my @erc.europa.eu project on the educational cleavage - 2 postdoc & 2 PhD positions, 4 years, in a research group on Reconfiguration & Internalization of Social Structure www.uni-frankfurt.de/48794784/FB0...

🚨 JOB ALERT! 🚨 We're hiring an Associate Professor in Sociology in association with @nuffieldcollege.bsky.social! We welcome applicants with a wide range of empirical specialisations and regional focuses 🌍 Apply now ➡️ my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...

🚨 #Hiring! 3yr #postdoc w/survey methodology experience to join the ERC-project SINGLE for its next stage of designing & launching a comparative multidisciplinary singlehood #survey in EU. Research area is open! Application deadline: 12-Jan-2026 (12PM CET). Barcelona-based. 👉🏻 shorturl.at/CmY0F

If you’ll be at APPAM, consider joining for the Kershaw Award Lecture on Thurs at 3:30pm. I’ll discuss new research on the intergenerational persistence of poverty: How does it compare to other measures of mobility? How it has evolved in the US? Which policies are effective in reducing it? & more.

LAST CALL! #Sociology Professorships in Copenhagen, Denmark! We're hiring 2+ open-rank profs (Asst/Assoc/Full). Any area. Deadline: this Saturday, Nov 15! Join a leading European sociology department. Please repost! jobportal.ku.dk/videnskabeli...

📣 Vacancy alert: We are seeking to recruit a Research Officer (post-doctoral researcher) for a 24-month period to conduct original research on topics related to inequality, intergenerational mobility, and inequality of opportunity. Apply by 20 November ⬇️ buff.ly/M23KHL9

🚨 Another interesting post doc opportunity at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), register-based analysis of child protection services, deadline for application 21 Oct.: valtiolle.fi/en/jobs/seni... #postdoc

I'm truly honored to receive this year's Kershaw Award. I came into the policy research world almost by accident after a failed stint in the Australian Baseball League. To have my work recognized like this is a testament to the wonderful mentors and colleagues I've learned from these past 10 years.

New WP: We study how minimum wage increases affect poverty and food hardship in the U.S from 1981-2019. Different from recent work, we study the Supplemental Poverty Measure + two measures of food hardship, factor in cost-of-living differences, and more. www.iza.org/publications...

📖 📻 New IRP Book Talk is now available in your podcast feed: Jane Waldfogel on Child Benefits: A Smart Investment for America’s Future. She shares research on child benefits around the world and makes a case for implementing a similar program in the US. Listen now: www.irp.wisc.edu/resource/irp...

Unionized careers boost up wealth. Very interesting article by Purdue's Alec Rhodes: academic.oup.com/sf/advance-a....

🚨 Job! 🚨 Brown Sociology & the Watson School of International & Public Affairs are hiring a TT assistant professor whose research focuses on social policy (broadly conceived). Apply by 9/15: apply.interfolio.com/172655 Happy to chat about life at Brown, etc!

WORK! The Sociology Department at Utrecht University is hiring a new assistant prof, with expertise on migration/integration/polarization/stratification. Come join us! www.uu.nl/organisatie/...

Job alert! Join us at @nuffieldcollege.bsky.social as a postdoctoral fellow to work on your own research for three years. #sociology

Bocconi University in Milan is hiring in sociology at any level (open rank). Ideal candidate might focus on inequality, social policy, computational, labor markets, or similar. Happy to answer questions about my time there for anyone considering applying. More details: jobmarket.unibocconi.eu

We're hiring! Please share with your networks! The Department of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison invites applications for a tenure-track position at the rank of assistant professor in the field of demography of health and aging beginning in August 2026 jobs.wisc.edu/jobs/assista...

Ready to make plans for the academic year 2026/27? Why not visit us: www.nuffield.ox.ac.uk/our-research...

This September, I’m launching a new series as part of my Respect the Marble Substack called:
 Etched in Marble: Conversations with writers about how & why they write I wrote about in my latest post: catherineeunicedevries.substack.com/p/introducin... 🧵

In a new preprint, I report a fascinating finding on multigenerational effects: First cousins are more similar in their educ. attainment among Black than white Americans—yet extended family (e.g., grandparental) effects are essentially zero for both groups. #sociology 1/2 osf.io/preprints/so...

New preprint from @tobyhandfield.bsky.social and me! We analyze authorship order norms from two perspectives: (1) why do disciplines have different norms and (2) do those different norms affect what kinds of collaborations take place. arxiv.org/abs/2507.07364