Labs · Fariborz Aref
Interactive demonstrations in inequality and method.
Two labs that turn central ideas of sociology into models you can run. The Inequality Lab works with published data on income, wealth, and welfare states. The Methods Lab uses simulation to show how sound calculations lead to unsound conclusions.
They are written for students, colleagues, and anyone who wants to see an argument work rather than take it on trust.
Five demonstrations
The Inequality Lab
Where a life begins, how the world's income and wealth are shared, how inequality is measured, what states do to it, and how the gap between regions formed.
- IThe Birth Lottery
- IIThe Champagne Glass
- IIIThe Lorenz Curve and the Gini New
- IVRedistribution by Welfare Regime New
- VThe Great Divergence
Four demonstrations
The Methods Lab
Four places where a clean number points the wrong way, and the judgment that catches the error before it reaches print.
- ISimpson's Paradox
- IIThe Ecological Fallacy
- IIIWhat 95% Confidence Means New
- IVThe Garden of Forking Paths
Published data
Figures come from the World Inequality Report, the OECD, the World Bank, the UN, UNDP, and the Maddison historical series. Each source is listed with the demonstration that uses it.
Stated assumptions
Where a chart interpolates, approximates, or simulates, a note beneath it says so and explains how.
Built for teaching
Each demonstration fits a single class session and connects to the courses listed on the courses page.
Courses
The labs in the classroom
Each course follows the same sequence, from question to design to evidence to a claim that holds up under questioning. The labs are where several of those steps are practiced.
The author
Fariborz Aref
Sociologist. His research examines how welfare regimes and labor markets shape inequality across societies, using comparative and longitudinal methods.