Steffen Huck and David Brady have joined the WZB
Steffen Huck (University College London CL) and David Brady (Duke) have joined the WZB as new directors this year.
Steffen Huck is the director of the new department Economics of Change. The focus of the economist’s work is human behavior related to decisions, to markets and in social relationships. As WZB director, Huck will also remain professor at the University College London. Under Steffen Huck’s direction the department will examine social and economic change. Three questions direct the examination: How does economic change work? Here the focus is on the protagonists, dynamics and general framework. How can change be steered? Guidelines for politics, civil society and consumers are sought. How can one prepare for change? The goal is to develop strategies for dealing with the dramatic challenges of change, for example new alternatives in medicine or climate catastrophe.
Social inequality has been one of the core themes of the WZB over the past decades – and it will continue to be in the future. After Jens Alber retired last fall, American sociologist David Brady has joined the WZB as director of the unit Inequality and Social Policy. He has served as an associate professor in the sociology department of Duke University. Among David Brady’s main fields of interest is poverty and inequality, in particular their causes, measurement and consequences. At the WZB, he will conduct research on trends in racial differences in poverty in the US. Among the questions to be addressed are: how well do different measures of socio-economic status predict permanent income? How do race and class intersect to shape inequalities in life chances?