Part 3 of SPIA in NJ's Fall 2024 series, New Jersey and the American Economy: What’s Needed for the Garden State to Lead a Thriving Country:

As big ideas like basic income and reparations evolve and advance, how do we think about them in a broader and holistic understanding of our economy that meets the tangible needs of our communities? The economy, after all, is people. This conversation will explore the idea of an economics that promotes human rights, justice, and love as explicit goals when policymakers design and implement public policy. What does that mean at the local level and the national level, and how can New Jersey lead in this vein?

Co-sponsored by: Department of African American Studies, Julis-Rabinowitz Center for Public Policy and Finance (JRCPPF), Princeton Public Lectures, The Program for Research on Inequality, Labyrinth Books, and Princeton Public Library.

Asha Banerjee, Doctoral Student - Program in Population Studies

Asha Banerjee enters the Population Studies and Social Policy program from the Chief Economist’s Office at the U.S. Department of Labor where she was an economic analyst. Previously she was an analyst on the research team at the Economic Policy Institute. Asha’s research interests focus on labor and the historical development and persistence of racial disparities and structural inequality in the economy. She hopes to analyze the roles migration and demographic change play, as well as the power and limitations of government and other institutional interventions. 

Asha has a B.A. in Economics and History with a minor in Classics from Columbia University, and MPhil with distinction in Economic and Social History from the University of Oxford.

Darrick Hamilton, University Professor - The New School

Darrick Hamilton is a university professor, Henry Cohen Professor of Economics and Urban Policy, and founding director of the Institute on Race, Power, and Political Economy at The New School. Considered one of the nation’s foremost public intellectuals, Professor Hamilton redefines how an economy should work, identifies powerful opportunities for investment in human capacity, and propells collaboration alongside field leaders to advance the realization of economic inclusion, social equity and civic engagement for all people in the US and across the globe. One of the pioneers of identity group stratification, he has been profiled in the New York Times, Mother Jones, Bloomberg’s Business Week and the Wall Street Journal. He has developed and collaborated on transformative policy proposals that have shifted billions of dollars into the hands of people, inspiring legislative proposals at the federal, state, and local levels, including baby bonds, guaranteed income, and a federal job guarantee. Professor Hamilton was named a Freedom Scholar by the Marguerite Casey Foundation. He advises national and global leaders on economic policy, including the Joint Economic Committee and the Senate Banking Committee. Born and raised in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, New York, he is a graduate of Oberlin College and received a PhD in Economics from the University of North Carolina

Ryan P. Haygood, Esq., President & CEO - New Jersey Institute for Social Justice

Ryan P. Haygood, a nationally respected civil rights lawyer, is President & CEO of the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice. Under Ryan’s leadership, the Institute’s racial justice advocacy—powered by a dynamic team and stellar Board of Trustees—has become a model for states as places to build community power from the ground up. Prior to leading the Institute, Ryan served as Deputy Director of Litigation at the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), where he litigated some of the most important civil rights cases of our time. This included twice serving on LDF’s team that defended the heart of the Voting Rights Act before the United States Supreme Court and successfully challenging Texas’ racially discriminatory photo ID law.

He received his J.D. from the University of Colorado School of Law and B.A. in American History and Political Science cum laude from Colorado College, where he was nominated for a Rhodes Scholarship and received an honorary doctorate. He also earned academic and athletic All-American and hall of fame honors as a football player.   

Ryan is a Trustee and Vice-Chair of the Board of Colorado College and a member of the Board of Directors of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center.

Moderator: Brandon McKoy, President - The Fund for New Jersey

Brandon McKoy is an established leader in state policy analysis and advocacy in New Jersey and nationwide. He completed his bachelor’s degree at The College of New Jersey and earned a master’s degree from the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University. Brandon worked as a Program Associate at The Fund for New Jersey and served as its first philanthropy fellow from 2012-2014. He then went on to spend more than seven years at New Jersey Policy Perspective in several roles, first as a State Policy Fellow through the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities’ program, then as a Policy Analyst, and then as Director of Government and Public Affairs, before assuming leadership of the organization as NJPP’s President for nearly 3 years. In 2024, Brandon rejoined The Fund for New Jersey as President, after more than two years at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington, DC, where he was Vice President for state partnerships and co-leader of the State Fiscal Policy Division. He is a lifelong New Jerseyan who was born in Secaucus, raised in South Orange, and now resides in Hunterdon County with his family.

Sponsorship of an event does not constitute institutional endorsement of external speakers or views presented.