Scholar Spotlight: Jonathan Cohen
Earlier this week, the Mega Millions lottery reached the second-highest jackpot ever, with a prize of over $1 billion. This week's spotlight shines on Jonathan Cohen, who wrote OpEds in The Washington Post, Vox, and CommonWealth Magazine about the history of lottery systems to generate state revenue and how states spend this money. Jonathan's piece in CommonWealth led to a meeting between him and two Massachusetts state representatives to discuss how to change the way the state distributes lottery earnings.
Scholar Spotlight
Cohen's research focuses on state-level gambling policy as it relates to issues of economic inequality and state-level tax policy. Overarching themes in Cohen's writings include changing rates in social mobility, the consequences of deindustrialization, and the role of the state in promoting the spread of gambling.