Making America Equal Again: an Interview With Robert Ahdieh

• Publication year: 2017

Making America Equal Again: An Interview with Robert Ahdieh

Prasad Hurra

SPECIAL PRESIDENTIAL INAUGURATION ISSUE 2017: AN INTERVIEW WITH ROBERT AHDIEH

MAKING AMERICA EQUAL AGAIN

Introduction

During the recently completed presidential election cycle, a number of the most contentious issues concerned questions of equality—including debates around wealth distribution, access to health, women's issues, and race relations. Robert B. Ahdieh is the Vice Dean and K.H. Gyr Professor of Private International Law at Emory University School of Law. He is a leading expert in corporate law and financial regulation, international trade, and administrative law. The Emory Corporate Governance and Accountability Review (ECGAR) is fortunate that Dean Ahdieh was able to take time to share his thoughts with Prasad Hurra¹ regarding the priorities for the next president—and particularly on the need to prioritize the nation's pursuit of equality for all its citizens.

I. Interview

Prasad Hurra: Dean Ahdieh, thank you very much. ECGAR is very grateful to you for talking to us for the new Presidential Inauguration Issue we are publishing. You have cited equality as the highest priority for the next president of the United States. Can you tell us what you mean?

Dean Ahdieh: Among the most fundamental values of our nation is a commitment to equality. In particular, equality of opportunity. But also equal access. Equal treatment under the law. And the fundamental right to be protected against invidious discrimination. The Equal Protection Clause may date only to

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1868, but I believe the seed of equality—even if long dormant and unattended— was planted at the Founding.

Hurra: What are some of the ways in which equality will present itself as a challenge for the next president?

Ahdieh: While many areas could be cited, four particularly stand out to me: First, the growing disparity of wealth and poverty in the United States. Second, the substantial burden—and suffering—imposed on those of our fellow Americans who lack access to basic healthcare. Third, the persistent challenges facing women in their pursuit of equal treatment. And finally, the desperate need to mediate race relations in America.

Hurra: What do you mean by the disparity of wealth and poverty?

Ahdieh: When you look at the statistics, you see the ways in which the distribution of wealth is growing more and more extreme. That's an international phenomenon, to be sure, but it extends to the United States as well. When you look at the allocation of new wealth, you find that as GDP grows, the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting (at least relatively) poorer. Equally important, there is a significant squeeze on the middle class, causing it to shrink. In broad strokes, that's what I think of as the challenge of income disparity in the United States.

Hurra: What are some of the specific ways in which income disparity manifests itself in our society?

Ahdieh: Obviously, it starts with what I've already described: a reality in which a few enjoy access to tremendous wealth, while many struggle to make ends meet—or even survive.

I think part of it is also the way in which different worlds interact (or fail to interact) with each other in America today. It used to be the case—given the structure of our communities, a less stark urban-rural divide, and the greater role of various social institutions (including the church and other social organizations) in our lives—that there was a reasonable degree of interaction across class divides. My sense is that there is significantly less of such interaction in the United States today. Some of that is because we have less social structure as a society generally. Robert Putnam famously wrote about Americans "bowling alone"—the idea that we as a country do less communal

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activity than we used to.² Some of it is geographic: it's a matter of where we live and where we work. Whatever the drivers, the trend is toward less and less interaction across classes. If I am in a certain income bracket today, my interaction with people of a meaningfully different class is diminished, compared to what it used to be.

A third aspect of income inequality that I would cite is its tendency to self-perpetuate. If income disparity were not a multi-generational problem, we might worry less about it. The problem is that socio-economic mobility is not nearly what it used to be. If I am born to wealthy parents, the odds that I will end up in poverty or unemployed are exceedingly low. Perhaps more distressingly, if am born into a poor family, the odds that I will be able to achieve significant wealth are relatively low. Of course, there are the anecdotal examples to the contrary; but those are less common than...