Since the 1980s, economic inequality has been increasing in all advanced democracies. For example, in the United States, the richest 10% of Americans held over half of the country’s total. This course will provide a broad overview of the causes and consequences of this growing economic inequality in the U.S.A. and Europe. In doing so we will consider the relationship between inequality and the functioning of democracy. The course will begin by discussing what is meant by the term “economic inequality” and we will explore trends in inequality to place the current state of economic disparity in historical context. We will also touch on the question of why inequality should be studied in the first place— that is, why should anyone care about the growing gap between the rich and the poor? Some of the major themes of the course are: the causes of growing economic inequality, poverty, public opinion, inequalities in political voice and representation, the role of money and politics, and public policy.