MIT Economics Department Launches Stone Center on Inequality and Future of Work
The MIT Department of Economics is set to launch the James M. and Cathleen D. Stone Center on Inequality and Shaping the Future of Work in July. This initiative is made possible through a generous gift from the James M. and Cathleen D. Stone Foundation, marking a significant expansion of research, policy efforts, and educational opportunities for the next generation of scholars.
The new center builds upon the foundation laid by MIT’s Shaping the Future of Work Initiative and will be officially inaugurated with a public event in the fall of 2025. It will join a global network of 11 wealth inequality centers funded by the Stone Foundation, all dedicated to advancing research on the causes and consequences of wealth accumulation at the top of the distribution.
Daron Acemoglu, Institute Professor, will lead the Stone Center, with David Autor, the Daniel (1972) and Gail Rubinfeld Professor in Economics, and Simon Johnson, the Ronald A. Kurtz (1954) Professor of Entrepreneurship, serving as co-directors. The center’s core mission involves fostering connections among scholars across various disciplines, including the Department of Economics, the MIT Sloan School of Management, and the MIT Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing.
The James M. and Cathleen D. Stone Center on Inequality and Shaping the Future of Work will focus on several key objectives:
- Promoting research on automation, AI, and the intersection of work, technology, and wealth inequality.
- Strengthening the pipeline of emerging scholars in these fields.
- Informing and engaging a wider audience, including the public, students, and policymakers.
Support from the Stone Foundation will enable the center to expand its research, host more events, facilitate collaboration among scholars, provide resources for research affiliates, and enhance public outreach. James M. Stone expressed his enthusiasm for welcoming MIT to the network of Stone Centers addressing wealth inequality.
Agustín Rayo, dean of the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, highlighted the center’s potential to enhance social science research and foster interdisciplinary collaboration. Jonathan Gruber, chair of the Department of Economics, emphasized the initiative’s foresight in anticipating the impact of technology on the labor market.
Acemoglu, a Nobel laureate in Economic Sciences, stated the center aims to explore the causes of inequality and develop ideas on how society can shape the future of work and inequality through institutional and technological choices. Johnson added that he looks forward to collaborating with colleagues to advance understanding and practical approaches to these challenges. Autor emphasized the importance of shaping a labor market that offers opportunity and economic security to a broader population.
The Shaping the Future of Work Initiative was initially established with support from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and is known for its nonpartisan research aimed at revitalizing labor market opportunities for workers without a college education. The Stone Center will build on this foundation by focusing on the interplay between technologies and inequality, as well as the technology sector’s role in defining future inequality.
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