Towards Customizable Pedagogic Programming Languages

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Towards Customizable Pedagogic Programming Languages TOWARDS CUSTOMIZABLE PEDAGOGIC PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES by Kathryn E. Gray A dissertation submitted to the faculty of The University of Utah in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science School of Computing The University of Utah August 2006 Copyright c Kathryn E. Gray 2006 All Rights Reserved THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH GRADUATE SCHOOL SUPERVISORY COMMITTEE APPROVAL of a dissertation submitted by Kathryn E. Gray This dissertation has been read by each member of the following supervisory committee and by majority vote has been found to be satisfactory. Chair: Matthew Flatt Wilson Hsieh Gary Lindstrom Joe Zachary Gilad Bracha THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH GRADUATE SCHOOL FINAL READING APPROVAL To the Graduate Council of the University of Utah: I have read the dissertation of Kathryn E. Gray in its final form and have found that (1) its format, citations, and bibliographic style are consistent and acceptable; (2) its illustrative materials including figures, tables, and charts are in place; and (3) the final manuscript is satisfactory to the Supervisory Committee and is ready for submission to The Graduate School. Date Matthew Flatt Chair, Supervisory Committee Approved for the Major Department Martin Berzins Chair/Dean Approved for the Graduate Council David S. Chapman Dean of The Graduate School ABSTRACT In introductory education, pedagogic tools and languages can help focus students on the fundamental programming concepts. Subsets of a professional language support the presentation of the language’s syntax in step with the presentation of the underlying concepts, relieving students and instructors from superfluous details. This dissertation presents the design and implementation of pedagogic tools integrated with an introduc- tory computer science course. The tools described in this dissertation include languages, compilers, and libraries tailored to improve introductory education for students and instructors. Specifically, • three pedagogic subsets of the Java programming language. My method of designing these subsets, through a combination of assessing the supported curriculum and observation, may serve as a guide for creating other subsets. Discussion includes experiences using these subsets in classrooms, and how observations guided the design and modifications of the subsets. • an extension to Java supporting fine-grained interoperability between languages, which facilitates the reuse of existing libraries accessible within pedagogically appro- priate subsets of a language. More generally, I demonstrate how to support general interoperability between two languages. Discussion includes the interoperability mechanism and a library implementation using the language extension. • an examination of the compiler implementation supporting the subsets and in- teroperability extension. The compiler maps Java constructs into similar Scheme constructs for ease of use of Java programs within Scheme and vice versa. Discussion includes parsing multiple languages with coherent error messages, representing Java compilation units, and supporting dynamic checking of Scheme values in Java. To my parents CONTENTS ABSTRACT ...................................................... iv LIST OF FIGURES ............................................... ix LIST OF TABLES ................................................. x ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................... xi CHAPTERS 1. LANGUAGE SUPPORT FOR PEDAGOGY ..................... 1 1.1 Support from Language and Environment . 2 1.1.1 Language Support . 2 1.1.2 Environment Support . 4 1.2 Pedagogic Libraries . 4 1.3 Customizing Languages . 5 1.4 Towards Customization . 5 1.4.1 Pedagogic Subsets . 6 1.4.2 Programming in Multiple Languages . 7 2. CREATING PEDAGOGIC LANGUAGES ....................... 9 2.1 A Curriculum and Its Requirements . 9 2.2 Observations . 11 2.2.1 Observations Using Non-ProfessorJ Compilers . 11 2.2.2 Observations Using ProfessorJ Compiler . 16 2.3 General Lessons . 18 2.4 ProfessorJ Languages . 20 2.4.1 Beginner . 20 2.4.1.1 Ongoing observation. 23 2.4.2 Intermediate . 24 2.4.2.1 Ongoing observation. 25 2.4.3 Advanced . 26 2.5 Connecting to the Environment . 29 2.6 Supporting Error Messages . 31 2.7 Related Work . 33 2.7.1 Language Levels . 33 2.7.2 Pedagogic Languages . 35 2.7.3 Pedagogic Tools Without Language Levels . 35 3. ADDING LIBRARY SUPPORT ................................ 37 3.1 Language Mixings . 38 3.1.1 A Dynamically-Checked Pedagogic Language . 38 3.1.2 Parametrically Polymorphic Library . 39 3.1.3 A Dynamically-Typed Library . 41 3.2 Extending the Language with dynamic ........................... 41 3.2.1 Syntax and Extensions . 41 3.3 Writing Libraries with dynamic ................................. 43 3.3.1 Dynamically-Checked Student Language . 43 3.3.2 Polymorphic Library . 44 3.4 A Teaching Library . 44 3.4.1 The Library . 45 3.4.2 Implementation Options . 45 3.5 The Implementations . 47 3.5.1 Image . 47 3.5.1.1 Native Method Implementation. 47 3.5.1.2 Java + dynamic Implementation. 49 3.5.1.3 Discussion. 49 3.5.2 View . 50 3.5.2.1 Native Method Implementation. 50 3.5.2.2 Java + dynamic Implementation. 50 3.5.2.3 Discussion. 53 3.5.3 GameWorld . 53 3.5.3.1 Native Method Implementation. 53 3.5.3.2 Java + dynamic Implementation. 55 3.5.3.3 Discussion. 55 4. EXPLORING DYNAMIC ...................................... 57 4.1 Type Checking dynamic ....................................... 57 4.2 Protecting Type-Safety . 60 4.2.1 Contracts . 60 4.2.2 Contracts and Java + dynamic ............................. 61 4.2.3 Checking Contracts . 63 4.3 Adding Support for dynamic ................................... 67 4.3.1 Mirrors and Reflection . 67 4.3.2 Implementing dynamic with Mirrors . 68 4.3.3 Static Types from Dynamic Values . 70 4.4 Related Work . 71 4.4.1 Mixing Dynamic and Static Types . 71 4.4.2 Language Interoperability . 72 5. BUILDING THE SYSTEM ..................................... 74 5.1 Compiling for Multiple Languages . 75 5.1.1 Parsing . 75 5.1.2 Type Checking Multiple Languages . 76 5.1.3 Error Messages . 76 5.2 Type Checking dynamic ....................................... 77 5.3 Compiling to Scheme . 78 vii 5.3.1 Compilation Units . 78 5.3.2 Classes . 81 5.3.3 Fields and Methods . 82 5.3.4 Nested Classes . 84 5.3.5 Statements and Expressions . 85 5.3.6 Native Methods . 88 5.4 Compiling for Interoperability . 88 5.4.1 Objects and Methods . 88 5.4.2 Fields . 89 5.4.3 Inserting Dynamic Checks . 89 5.4.4 Supporting Equality and Casting . 92 5.4.5 Inheritance . 92 5.4.6 Naming Conventions . ..
Recommended publications
  • Giants: the Global Power Elite
    Secrecy and Society ISSN: 2377-6188 Volume 2 Number 2 Teaching Secrecy Article 13 January 2021 Giants: The Global Power Elite Susan Maret San Jose State University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/secrecyandsociety Part of the Civic and Community Engagement Commons, Other Sociology Commons, Politics and Social Change Commons, and the Public Affairs, Public olicyP and Public Administration Commons Recommended Citation Maret, Susan. 2021. "Giants: The Global Power Elite." Secrecy and Society 2(2). https://doi.org/10.31979/2377-6188.2021.020213 https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/ secrecyandsociety/vol2/iss2/13 This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the School of Information at SJSU ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Secrecy and Society by an authorized administrator of SJSU ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. Giants: The Global Power Elite Keywords human rights, C. Wright Mills, openness, power elite, secrecy, transnational corporations, transparency This book review is available in Secrecy and Society: https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/ secrecyandsociety/vol2/iss2/13 Maret: Giants: The Global Power Elite Review, Giants: The Global Power Elite by Peter Philips Reviewed by Susan Maret Giants: The Global Power Elite, New York: Seven Stories Press, 2018. 384pp. / ISBN: 9781609808716 (paperback) / ISBN: 9781609808723 (ebook) https://www.sevenstories.com/books/4097-giants The strength of Giants: The Global Power Elite lies in its heavy documentation of the "globalized power elite, [a] concept of the Transnationalist Capitalist Class (TCC), theorized in the academic literature for some twenty years" (Phillips 2018, 9).
    [Show full text]
  • The World's 500 Most Influential Muslims, 2021
    PERSONS • OF THE YEAR • The Muslim500 THE WORLD’S 500 MOST INFLUENTIAL MUSLIMS • 2021 • B The Muslim500 THE WORLD’S 500 MOST INFLUENTIAL MUSLIMS • 2021 • i The Muslim 500: The World’s 500 Most Influential Chief Editor: Prof S Abdallah Schleifer Muslims, 2021 Editor: Dr Tarek Elgawhary ISBN: print: 978-9957-635-57-2 Managing Editor: Mr Aftab Ahmed e-book: 978-9957-635-56-5 Editorial Board: Dr Minwer Al-Meheid, Mr Moustafa Jordan National Library Elqabbany, and Ms Zeinab Asfour Deposit No: 2020/10/4503 Researchers: Lamya Al-Khraisha, Moustafa Elqabbany, © 2020 The Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre Zeinab Asfour, Noora Chahine, and M AbdulJaleal Nasreddin 20 Sa’ed Bino Road, Dabuq PO BOX 950361 Typeset by: Haji M AbdulJaleal Nasreddin Amman 11195, JORDAN www.rissc.jo All rights reserved. No part of this book may be repro- duced or utilised in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanic, including photocopying or recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Views expressed in The Muslim 500 do not necessarily reflect those of RISSC or its advisory board. Set in Garamond Premiere Pro Printed in The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan Calligraphy used throughout the book provided courte- sy of www.FreeIslamicCalligraphy.com Title page Bismilla by Mothana Al-Obaydi MABDA • Contents • INTRODUCTION 1 Persons of the Year - 2021 5 A Selected Surveyof the Muslim World 7 COVID-19 Special Report: Covid-19 Comparing International Policy Effectiveness 25 THE HOUSE OF ISLAM 49 THE
    [Show full text]
  • The Spectacular Environmentalism of Cecil the Lion by Sandra Gillian Mccubbin A
    The Spectacular Environmentalism of Cecil the Lion by Sandra Gillian McCubbin A thesis submitted to the Department of Geography and Planning in conformity with the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Queen’s University Kingston, Ontario, Canada January, 2020 Copyright © Sandra Gillian McCubbin, 2020 Abstract In July 2015, Cecil the lion’s death sparked international furore over the practice of lion trophy hunting. Interest in the Cecil story was truly spectacular. The story cut across space and scale ensnaring actors from southern Africa, the United Kingdom, and North America, from rural African villagers and Western publics to an American celebrity and a billionaire philanthropist. This dissertation investigates the Cecil story - how it unfolded, and its implications for lion conservation – as a window through which to explore broader questions relevant to human-environment geography, particularly the fields of political ecology and animal geography. Broadly, it is concerned with how spectacular discourses of global environmental crises take shape, (mis)represent environmental problems, and (re)produce power in particular ways. This dissertation draws on reading across political ecology and animal geography. Through analysis of media, documents, events, and interviews using actor-network theory and discourse analysis, this dissertation traces the Cecil Moment, the Cecil Movement, and the dissonance between the two. It also connects insights from the Cecil story to conservation politics more broadly through comparative analysis. Ultimately, the research uncovers a shift in the politics of the Cecil story. It finds that the Cecil Moment operated to dismiss the anti-trophy hunting politics that sparked and fuelled it in the first place; yet, the momentum of the Cecil Moment was grasped and re-directed toward other lion conservation priorities.
    [Show full text]
  • The Jlambda Language ∗ Version 3428
    The JLambda Language ∗ version 3428 Ian A. Mason,† David Porter,‡ Carolyn Talcott§ July 21, 2019 ∗Ben Funnell and Linda Briesemeister suggested improvements to this manual. †SRI International, Menlo Park, California, USA, 94025. [email protected][email protected] §SRI International, Menlo Park, California, USA, 94025. [email protected] 1 Contents 1 Introduction 4 2 The JLambda Language. 4 2.1 Keywords ........................................ 5 2.2 Variables ....................................... .. 5 2.3 Definitions...................................... ... 5 2.4 PrimitiveData................................... .... 6 2.5 NumericOperations............................... ..... 7 2.6 BooleanRelations................................ ..... 7 2.7 Arrays.......................................... 8 2.7.1 ArrayConstruction.. .... .... ... .... .... .... .... ... 8 2.7.2 ArrayAccess ................................... 10 2.7.3 ArrayAssignment ............................... 10 2.8 Strings......................................... .. 11 2.9 ArbitraryObjects ................................ ..... 11 2.9.1 ObjectConstruction . ... 11 2.9.2 FieldAccess ................................... 12 2.9.3 FieldUpdating ................................. 12 2.9.4 MethodInvocation .............................. .. 13 2.10ControlForms................................... .... 14 2.10.1 LexicalBinding.... .... .... ... .... .... .... .... ... 14 2.10.2 Sequencing ................................... 15 2.10.3 LambdaExpressionsandClosures . ....... 15 2.10.4 ClosureApplication
    [Show full text]
  • FOR THINGS to REMAIN (SORT OF) the SAME, EVERYTHING MUST CHANGE1 | India’S First Generation Professional Elites & the Surreptitious Reproduction of Hierarchy
    Legal Studies Research Paper Series No. 2020-36 For Things to Remain (sort of) the Same, Everything Must Change India’s First Generation Professional Elites & The Surreptitious Reproduction of Hierarchy (Chapter IN: Mapping the elite : power, privilege, and inequality, Surinder S. Jodhka and Jules Naudet, editors, New Delhi, India : Oxford University Press, 2019) Swethaa S. Ballakrishnen [email protected] University of California, Irvine ~ School of Law The paper can be downloaded free of charge from SSRN at: Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3575055 FOR THINGS TO REMAIN (SORT OF) THE SAME, EVERYTHING MUST CHANGE1 | India’s First Generation Professional Elites & The Surreptitious Reproduction of Hierarchy Research on international inequality has begun to reveal an increasing heterogeneity in who constitutes as “elite” in an interconnected world (Behrends and Lentz 2012; Naudet 2015; Pereyra 2014). Even though the nature and extent of these changes have depended on local institutional contexts (Ghezzi and Mingione 2007; Van Veen and Kratzer 2011), market liberalization, especially in emerging economies, has brought forth new kinds of elite landscapes and a new demographic of people who can aspire to inhabit them (Domhoff & Zweigenhaft 1998; Letntz 2008; Liu et al. 2014). Consequently, although access into traditional elite networks and spaces remains relatively predetermined, new kinds of actors and institutions have begun to form a version of a cosmopolitan “global elite” (Freeland 2011; Friedman 2000). This Chapter aims to locate one newly minted strain of neoliberal elite in India – elite professionals. The literature on elites in India has, for good reason, predominantly focused on political and/or economic elites with a standing assumption of ascription.
    [Show full text]
  • Tail Call Optimization in the Java Hotspot™ VM
    Tail Call Optimization in the Java HotSpot™ VM MASTERARBEIT zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades Diplom-Ingenieur im Masterstudium MASTERSTUDIUM INFORMATIK Eingereicht von: Arnold Schwaighofer, 9920231 Angefertigt am: Institut für Systemsoftware Betreuung: o.Univ.-Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Dr. h.c. Hanspeter Mössenböck Mitbetreuung: Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Christian Wimmer Linz, März 2009 Abstract Many programming language implementations compile to Java bytecode, which is exe- cuted by a virtual machine (e.g the Java HotSpotTM VM). Among these languages are functional languages, which require an optimization that guarantees that certain kinds of method calls do not cause the execution stack to grow unlimitedly. This optimization is called tail call optimization and is currently not supported by the HotSpotTM VM. Implementations of functional languages have to resort to alternative techniques to guar- antee that the stack space does not increase unboundedly. These techniques complicate the implementation and also incur a performance penalty. This thesis presents techniques for supporting tail call optimization in the Java HotSpotTM Virtual Machine. Our optimization is implemented in the interpreter, the client com- piler and the server compiler. Tail call optimization normally removes stack frames to guarantee that the stack space stays bounded. However, some stack frames are required for the Java access security mechanism to work and hence cannot be removed. The virtual machine features a mechanism called deoptimization that allows one to rewrite stack frames. We describe an approach that uses the deoptimization infrastructure to compress stack frames when tail call optimization was disabled because of the security mechanism. This approach allows a series of tail calls to execute in bounded stack space in the presence of a stack-based security mechanism.
    [Show full text]
  • Explaining the Rockefeller and Gates Foundation's Influence in The
    Agency Through Adaptation: Explaining The Rockefeller and Gates Foundation’s Influence in the Governance of Global Health and Agricultural Development by Michael Stevenson A thesis presented to the University of Waterloo in fulfillment of the thesis requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Global Governance Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, 2014 © Michael Stevenson 2014 AUTHOR'S DECLARATION I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this thesis. This is a true copy of the thesis, including any required final revisions, as accepted by my examiners. I understand that my thesis may be made electronically available to the public. ii Abstract The central argument that I advance in this dissertation is that the influence of the Rockefeller Foundation (RF) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) in the governance of global health and agricultural development has been derived from their ability to advance knowledge structures crafted to accommodate the preferences of the dominant states operating within the contexts where they have sought to catalyze change. Consequently, this dissertation provides a new way of conceptualizing knowledge power broadly conceived as well as private governance as it relates to the provision of public goods. In the first half of the twentieth-century, RF funds drove scientific research that produced tangible solutions, such as vaccines and high-yielding seed varieties, to longstanding problems undermining the health and wealth of developing countries emerging from the clutches of colonialism. At the country-level, the Foundation provided advanced training to a generation of agricultural scientists and health practitioners, and RF expertise was also pivotal to the creation of specialized International Organizations (IOs) for health (e.g.
    [Show full text]
  • An Improved Analyzer for Access-Control and Configuration Policies
    Margrave: An Improved Analyzer for Access-Control and Configuration Policies by Tim Nelson A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Computer Science April 2010 APPROVED: Professor Kathi Fisler and Professor Daniel Dougherty, Thesis Advisors Professor Craig Wills, Reader Professor Michael Gennert, Head of Department Abstract As our society grows more dependent on digital systems, policies that regulate access to electronic resources are becoming more common. However, such policies are notoriously difficult to configure properly, even for trained professionals. An in- correctly written access-control policy can result in inconvenience, financial damage, or even physical danger. The difficulty is more pronounced when multiple types of policy interact with each other, such as in routers on a network. This thesis presents a policy-analysis tool called Margrave. Given a query about a set of policies, Margrave returns a complete collection of scenarios that satisfy the query. Since the query language allows multiple policies to be compared, Margrave can be used to obtain an exhaustive list of the consequences of a seemingly innocent policy change. This feature gives policy authors the benefits of formal analysis without requiring that they state any formal properties about their policies. Our query language is equivalent to order-sorted first-order logic (OSL). There- fore our scenario-finding approach is, in general, only complete up to a user-provided bound on scenario size. To mitigate this limitation, we identify a class of OSL that we call Order-Sorted Effectively Propositional Logic (OS-EPL).
    [Show full text]
  • Superclass the Global Power Elite and the World They Are Making 1St Edition Download Free
    SUPERCLASS THE GLOBAL POWER ELITE AND THE WORLD THEY ARE MAKING 1ST EDITION DOWNLOAD FREE David Rothkopf | 9780374531614 | | | | | Superclass: The Global Power Elite and the World They Are Making Through the interviews I have done and the background information I have collected, a picture begins to emerge—both of the group as it is today and as it is likely to be in the future. It is the first in-depth examination of the connections between the global communities of leaders who are at the helm of every major enterprise on the planet and control its greatest wealth. Related Authors. And I have to admit, it was a great job while it lasted. He builds off the scholarship of writers such as Mill who were quite hostile to the superclass as it existed in his time, anyway while also dealing with the often quite self-congratulatory figures he's studying and their hangers-on without ever allowing either side to completely warp his perspective. Like getting a free ride on a raconteur billionaire's private jet on the way to Davos. This in turn has led some to wonder whether we are at a turning point for the superclass, whether we might see the beginning of the end of a golden era of greed and excess. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer Socialism for the rich and capitalism for the poor Too big to fail. No trivia or quizzes yet. Rowling, the second-best-selling author on the planet. What happens behind closeddoor meetings in Davos or aboard corporate jets at 41, feet? A descriminating look at who is really running the world.
    [Show full text]
  • Getting Eclipse Into the Classroom
    GETTING ECLIPSE INTO THE CLASSROOM Dwight Deugo Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa ON, K1S 5B6, Canada Keywords: Eclipse, Teaching, Java, Open Source. Abstract: In this paper, I describe an approach to integrating Eclipse into the classroom for the purpose of having students develop assignments using the Java, Scheme and Prolog programming languages. The approach attempts to overcome three problems. 1) Students wanting to learn about Eclipse have no idea where to start. 2) Educators wanting to teach Eclipse do not have available the breadth of material required to introduce students to it. 3) In most institutions, there is no room in the existing curricula to dedicate courses for explicitly teaching Eclipse. 1 INTRODUCTION problem is CS educators wanting to teach Eclipse do not have available the breadth of material required to In a survey conducted in November 2006 by BZ introduce students to Eclipse. The third, and perhaps Media (BZ Media, 2006), 66.3% of SD Times the largest problem, is that in most CS institutions subscribers surveyed reported that developers within there is no room in their existing curricula to their organizations used Eclipse (Eclipse, 2008). dedicate courses for explicitly teaching Eclipse. Their primary reasons for choosing Eclipse were its I believe the simple solution to the last problem low cost (free) and that it is open source. The major is to have Eclipse used as a common tool for uses of Eclipse reported were for its Java developing various course concepts, rather than it Development tools, followed by its J2EE Standard being the course concept itself.
    [Show full text]
  • The Adventures of a Pythonista in Schemeland Release 0.1
    The Adventures of a Pythonista in Schemeland Release 0.1 Michele Simionato August 05, 2009 CONTENTS 1 A bit of history3 1.1 My target.....................................3 1.2 A bit of history: Fortran and Lisp........................4 1.3 The algorithmic language Scheme........................5 2 About Scheme implementations7 2.1 About Scheme implementations.........................7 2.2 About the library problem............................8 2.3 Additional difficulties.............................. 10 3 Of parentheses and indentation 13 3.1 Of parens and indentation............................ 13 3.2 About the prefix syntax............................. 15 4 Scheme bibliography (and a first program) 17 4.1 Scheme resources for beginners......................... 17 4.2 A simple Scheme program............................ 18 5 About tail call optimization (and the module system) 21 5.1 There are no for loops in Scheme....................... 21 5.2 There is no portable module system....................... 23 5.3 A simple benchmark............................... 25 6 The danger of benchmarks 29 6.1 Beware of wasted cycles............................. 29 6.2 Beware of cheats................................. 31 6.3 Beware of naive optimization.......................... 32 6.4 Recursion vs iteration.............................. 33 7 Symbols and lists 35 7.1 Symbols..................................... 35 7.2 Lists....................................... 37 7.3 Some example.................................. 38 8 Quoting and quasi-quoting 41 8.1 Quoting.....................................
    [Show full text]
  • PLUTOCRATS Chrystia Freeland
    PLUTOCRATS THE RISE of the NEW GLOBAL SUPER-RICH and the FALL OF EVERYONE ELSE Chrystia Freeland THE PENGUIN PRESS NEW YORK 2012 1 CONTENTS Introduction ONE HISTORY AND WHY IT MATTERS TWO CULTURE OF THE PLUTOCRATS THREE SUPERSTARS FOUR RESPONDING TO REVOLUTION FIVE RENT-SEEKING SIX PLUTOCRATS AND THE REST OF US CONCLUSION Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography 2 INTRODUCTION The poor enjoy what the rich could not before afford. What were the luxuries have become the necessaries of life. The laborer has now more comforts than the farmer had a few generations ago. The farmer has more luxuries than the landlord had, and is more richly clad and better housed. The landlord has books and pictures rarer and appointments more artistic than the king could then obtain. —Andrew Carnegie Branko Milanovic is an economist at the World Bank. He first became interested in income inequality studying for his PhD in the 1980s in his native Yugoslavia, where he discovered it was officially viewed as a “sensitive” subject—which meant one the ruling regime didn’t want its scholars to look at too closely. That wasn’t a huge surprise; after all, the central ideological promise of socialism was to deliver a classless society. But when Milanovic moved to Washington, he discovered a curious thing. Americans were happy to celebrate their super-rich and, at least sometimes, worry about their poor. But putting those two conversations together and talking about economic inequality was pretty much taboo. “I was once told by the head of a prestigious think tank in Washington, D.C., that the think tank’s board was very unlikely to fund any work that had income or wealth inequality in its title,” Milanovic, who wears a beard and has a receding hairline and teddy bear build, explained in a recent book.
    [Show full text]