Let me admit up front that my academic interests have been, depending on your perspective, admirably diverse or annoyingly dissolute. I started my college career as a music major, but then discovered economics and political science. I started graduate school in international law. After a detour into theology, I finished my Ph.D. in political science and international relations. Along the way I picked up enough statistics and game theory to teach and publish in those areas as well. And my work has always been informed by a strong interest in political philosophy.
All this is to introduce another turn in my intellectual interests. A few years ago, I got a bug in my brain about the importance and centrality of women’s equality to my life individually, and to our world more generally. Running this down led me to the conclusion that women’s equality is not just an important idea, but really is the most important idea.
My work on this project corresponded with a decision to leave the comforts of a tenured academic position and move to Washington, D.C., which offered better career opportunities for my wife. In addition to the joys of the Jefferson reading room at the Library of Congress, the free museums of the Smithsonian, and a national park three blocks from our house, this shift has given me the latitude to turn to several intellectual adventures that fit less well into a narrow academic silo.
You can read more about the project on women’s equality here.
