MIT Economics Department Launches Stone Center on Inequality and the 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, and educational opportunities at MIT. The center will officially commence operations on July 1 and will host a public launch event in the fall of 2025.

The Stone Center will be under the leadership of Daron Acemoglu, an Institute Professor, along with co-directors David Autor, the Daniel (1972) and Gail Rubinfeld Professor in Economics, and Simon Johnson, the Ronald A. Kurtz (1954) Professor of Entrepreneurship. The center will become part of a global network of 11 wealth inequality centers funded by the Stone Foundation. This network aims to promote research on the causes and consequences of wealth accumulation at the top of the distribution.

Provost Cynthia Barnhart stated, “This generous gift from the Stone Foundation advances our pioneering economics research on inequality, technology, and the future of the workforce. This work will create a pipeline of scholars in this critical area of study, and it will help to inform the public and policymakers.”

Originally established with a gift from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation as part of MIT Blueprint Labs, the Shaping the Future of Work Initiative focuses on applying economics research to identify ways to create a more equitable labor market. The initiative specifically addresses the decline in labor market opportunities for workers without a college education, which has contributed to growing wealth inequality.

The Stone Foundation’s support will allow the new Stone Center to build upon the existing research agenda of the Shaping the Future of Work Initiative. It will also extend its focus to include the interplay between technology and inequality, as well as the role of the technology sector in shaping future inequality.

The core objectives of the James M. and Cathleen D. Stone Center on Inequality and Shaping the Future of Work include fostering connections among scholars researching automation, AI, the intersection of work and technology, and wealth inequality. This collaboration will span disciplines within the Department of Economics, the MIT Sloan School of Management, and the MIT Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing. Additionally, the center aims to strengthen the pipeline of emerging scholars and use research to inform the public, students, and policymakers.

James M. Stone noted, “Cathy and I are thrilled to welcome MIT to the growing family of Stone Centers dedicated to studying the urgent challenges of accelerating wealth inequality.”

Agustín Rayo, dean of the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, commented, “I am thrilled to celebrate the creation of the James M. and Cathleen D. Stone Center in the MIT economics department. Not only will it enhance the cutting-edge work of MIT’s social scientists, but it will support cross-disciplinary interactions that will enable new insights and solutions to complex social challenges.”

Jonathan Gruber, chair of the Department of Economics, added, “I couldn’t be more excited about the Stone Foundation’s support for the Shaping the Future of Work Initiative. The initiative’s leaders have been far ahead of the curve in anticipating the rapid changes that technological forces are bringing to the labor market, and their influential studies have helped us understand the potential effects of AI and other technologies on U.S. workers. The generosity of the Stone Foundation will allow them to continue this incredible work, while expanding their priorities to include other critical issues around inequality.”

Acemoglu, who was awarded the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel in 2024, stated, “We hope to go beyond exploring the causes of inequality and the determinants of the availability of good jobs in the present and in the future, but also develop ideas about how society can shape both the work of the future and inequality by its choices of institutions and technological trajectories.”

Johnson added, “We are incredibly fortunate to be joining the family of Stone Centers around the world. Jim and Cathleen Stone are far-sighted and generous donors, and we are delighted that they are willing to back us and MIT in this way.”

Autor concluded, “This support will enable us — and many others — to focus our scholarship, teaching and public outreach towards shaping a labor market that offers opportunity, mobility, and economic security to a far broader set of people.”