Social Impact

For three years, Darden Professors Jim Freeland and Ed Freeman, initially with the help of Professor Ed Hess, have taught a popular course titled “Economic Inequality and Social Mobility” to help students become more aware of what may be one of the defining challenges of their lifetime — economic inequality — and to focus on what business can do to

Economic inequality may be one of the defining challenges of our time. Income mobility has decreased, and the reinforcing loops of economic and opportunity inequality correlate with health and societal harms. What will happen as artificial intelligence rises and human employment decreases?

Darden Professors Frank Warnock and Veronica Cacdac Warnock bring their financial acumen to bear on one of the most pressing needs in the world — adequate housing.

Professor Peter Belmi’s research examines the insidious structural and psychological factors that contribute to social and income inequality, often despite people’s best intentions.

Is it possible for economic growth to make some people worse off? If so, under what circumstances?

Early in 2017, Darden Professor Morela Hernandez led a weeklong Darden Worldwide Course of 30 MBA students to Havana, Cuba, in which small student teams engaged with a set of self-employed individuals.

Darden Professor Peter Belmi's recent work found that class-based inequality persists not only because of external factors like bias and “glass ceilings,” but also because of structural factors that discourage relatively low-class people from seeking positions of power in the first place.

Can social impact bonds — a new and unique public-private partnership that raises private capital to invest in programs designed to improve social issues?