Chuck Collins is a national expert on economic inequality in the U.S. and coordinates a number of public policy initiatives to reduce income and wealth disparities. Based at the Institute for Policy Studies, he directs the Program on Inequality and the Common Good and chairs the Working Group on Extreme Inequality. He is an advisor to Business for Shared Prosperity, a national network of business leaders, which is a program of Demos. He co-edits www.inequality.org, a portal for data, analysis and action.
He is author of several books, including Economic Apartheid in America: A Primer on Economic Inequality and Insecurity (New Press, 2005). He coordinates a national effort to preserve the federal estate tax, our nation’s only tax on inherited wealth. He co-authored with Bill Gates Sr., Wealth and Our Commonwealth, a case for taxing inherited fortunes. His newest book co-authored with Mary Wright, The Moral Measure of the Economy (Orbis Press, May 2007), examines Christian perspectives on U.S. economic life. It was named as one of the Best Spiritual Books of 2007, according to Spirituality and Practice.
In 1995, he co-founded United for a Fair Economy (UFE) to raise the profile of the inequality issue and support popular education and organizing efforts to address inequality. In 1997, he co-founded Responsible Wealth, a to bring together business leaders and investors to publicly speak out against economic policies and corporate practices that worsen economic inequality. He was Executive Director of UFE from 1995-2001 and Program Director until 2005.
