Alexander Hicks

Hicks’ academic work has focused on safety net and “redistributive” policy – for example; social insurance; tax; and anti-unemployment policy in the United States and in the rich democracies of North America; Europe and Australia and New Zealand more generally. Some of his published work has been descriptive of such policies (e.g.; the redistributive impact of taxing and spending in the U.S at the federal and state levels as well as across the EU nations); some has attempted to identify the causes of such policy – especially policies related to the party composition of governments and the strength of labor unions and business associations. He has canvassed for progressive candidates running for national and state offices; participated in Emory campus events around elections (most notably as a debater for the Emory Young Democrats in 1996); and written articles for limited publication in small venues on public issues (e.g. a critique of U.S. policy for the Emory Wheel in 2005). He is currently working on U.S. income inequality with a focus on the sources of the income shares of the richest 1% and 0.1 % of U.S. households and on key limiting and enabling characteristics of partisan politics for U.S. socioeconomics when partisan power is viewed in the context of U.S. legislative and executive institutions and; over the longer term; the regional migrations and ideological transformations of the Democratic and Republican parties.