Friday November 6, 2020
12:30-1:30 p.m.
Online Zoom Meeting
Dear Colleagues:
Greetings, and I hope that you and yours are healthy and safe in this socially-distanced time.
As part of that distancing, we’re continuing the “Friday Lunch” as an online event. After over thirty-years of in-person discussions it’s a bit of an adjustment; but it has been good to see colleagues who have moved away and now can take advantage of the new format.
Although we may all be obsessing about the election this Friday – and COVID-19 will still be with us – I doubt there will be much to add to whatever is in the news. So we’re going to recognize that other things do happen, and hear about a significant policy reform in which one of our faculty members has been involved.
Some participants in our discussions may recall last year’s talk by Michael Shields about “Punishment Beyond Prison” – how “collateral sanctions” make it very hard for ex-prisoners to do what we claim to want them to do: reintegrate into society as productive members. This week we’ll consider a less official policy: employers requiring that potential employees report whether they have a criminal record. The goal is to have prospective employers consider job qualifications first, rather than dismissing candidates with no further investigation.
Over time, numerous states and local governments have adopted policies restricting such policies (e.g. “the box” to be checked about a criminal record). Last December the “Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act of 2019” was passed as part of the annual National Defense Authorization Act. Effective December 2021, this law would prohibit most federal agencies and contractors from requesting a job applicant’s arrest and conviction record until after conditionally offering the job to the applicant.
Professor Shoag has done research on both the labor market consequences of previous “ban the box” laws and their effects on high-crime neighborhoods. Based on his research, he also advocated directly for the new legislation. He joins us to talk both about the substance, based on his research, and the politics, based on his advocacy experience.
Signing In
This semester’s discussions will begin at 12:30 p.m., the usual time. The meeting will be set up as from Noon to 2:00 p.m., so people are not all signing in at the same time and to allow for the discussion to run a bit long. Each week we will send out this newsletter with information about the topic. It will also include a link to register (for free) for the discussion. Every Monday the same information will be posted on our website: fridaylunch.case.edu.
If you register, you will automatically receive from the Zoom system the link to join the meeting. This week’s link for registration is:
https://cwru.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0rfu6upjsqG9auhjc1dop7eL7WC3isrfTW
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
Please e-mail padg@case.edu if you have questions about how the Zoom version of the Friday Lunch will work or any other suggestions. Or call at 216 368-2426 and we’ll try to get back to you. We are very pleased to be partnering this semester with the Siegal Lifelong Learning Program to share information about the discussions.
Best wishes for safety and security for you and yours,
Joe White
Luxenberg Family Professor of Public Policy and Director, Center for Policy Studies
About Our Guest
Daniel Shoag is Associate Professor of Economics at the Weatherhead School of Management. He earned his BA and PhD in Economics at Harvard University, and was Associate Professor at the Harvard Kennedy School before coming to CWRU.
His research focuses on state and local government finance, worker signaling and the hiring process, and regional and urban economics. Shoag’s research has been published in major academic journals and has been featured, among other outlets, in The New York Times, Bloomberg, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal. He was selected as one of Forbes magazine’s 30 under 30 in 2012.
Shoag has worked as a visiting scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, a visiting professor at Tel Aviv University, and was selected as a rising new scholar by the Stanford University Center on Poverty and Inequality. He has received research grants from the U.S. Department of Transportation, the Russell Sage Foundation, the Laura and John Arnold Foundation. He co-founded and now co-chairs the 200+ person HumTech conference in Boston and is a co-editor of the annual peer-reviewed conference proceedings volume.
Schedule of Friday Lunch Upcoming Topics and Speakers:
November 13: Targeted Assassinations and Other Red and Not-So-Red Lines. With Shannon E. French, Ph.D., Professor of Philosophy, Inamori Professor of Ethics, and Director, Inamori International Center for Ethics and Excellence.
November 20: What’s the Beef? The Controversy Over the Health Effects of Red Meat. With Hope Barkoukis, Ph.D., Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Professor in Wellness and Preventive Care and Chair, Department of Nutrition.
December 4: The Economics of Sports After (?) COVID-19. With Jonathan Ernest, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Economics. |
