Gary Hoover is the Executive Director of the Murphy Institute at Tulane University. He is also a professor of economics and is an affiliate professor of law.

From 2015-2020, he was a President’s Associates Presidential Professor and the Chair of the Economics Department at the University of Oklahoma.

Dr. Hoover received his PhD in economics from Washington University in St. Louis in 1998. Since then, he has published numerous scholarly research papers, book chapters, books, and reviews on topics concerning income redistribution/poverty, political economy, and ethics in the economics profession. He is the author of the forthcoming book "Ladder of Lottery: The Economics of the Social Contract." Dr. Hoover was the co-chair of the American Economic Association Committee on the Status of Minority Groups in the Economics Profession from 2011 to 2024. From 2022-2023 he was the president the Southern Economic Association. He is on the advisory board of the Opportunity and Inclusive Growth Institute at the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank. In addition, he has been on the board of the National Tax Association since 2023. He is also on the selection committee for the National Science Foundation Alan T. Waterman Award.

Dr. Hoover is the founding and current editor of the Journal of Economics, Race, and Policy. He has been a visiting scholar at the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin. Dr. Hoover is a network member at the Center for Economic Studies & ifo Institute in Munich, Germany. He has also been a guest professor at the Universities of Hannover and Konstanz in Germany, the University of Vienna in Austria and X’ian University in China.

"Ladder or Lottery? The Economics of the Social Contract"

Author: Gary A. Hoover

Ladder or lottery? asks the reader a simple question: are people positioned on the economic spectrum by their own choice? Scholars have argued that with the creation of the market-based economy, starting position matters little given that society has created a social contract which assures upward mobility if certain actions are taken.

Hoover discusses what the “social contract” requires of its citizens and what is promised in return. The book then explores what happens when individuals who feel that they have done the required actions do not get their promised results. The author explores protests such as Occupy Wall Street, The Tea Party, the Arab Spring, and Student Debt Forgiveness as case studies.

The book then makes predictions about where future protests can be expected if results promised are not results delivered. The book tackles challenging issues around income inequality, health care, and the coming challenges brought by artificial intelligence.

In the end, the author answers the question of whether the data and case studies should lead us to believe that our social contract is a ladder to higher standings or simply a lottery which most will attempt but not be successful.