Rourke O’Brien

Rourke O’Brien is an Assistant Professor of Sociology. His research focuses on the causes and consequences of social and economic inequalities with substantive interests in household and public finance, economic mobility and population health. He is coauthor of Taxing the Poor (UC Press) and his research has appeared in academic journals including the American Journal of Sociology, Demography, and the Review of Economic and Statistics and his policy writing has appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Washington Post.  From 2012 to 2014 Rourke served as a Senior Policy Advisor at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. He received his B.A. from Harvard University and his Ph.D. in Sociology & Social Policy from Princeton University and he also completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard.