Team > Charlie Eaton

Charlie Eaton's research investigates the role of organizations in the interplay between economic elites and disadvantaged social groups. His work asks what forms of organization strengthen elite efforts to consolidate power in politics and the economy? Alternatively, what are effective organizational structures and strategies by which non-elites can achieve more equitable distributions of power, wealth, and status?

 

Alongside Prof. Laura Hamilton, Prof. Adam Goldstein, and Prof. Frederick Wherry, Prof. Eaton is engaging in several distinct projects using SLLI’s proprietary historical FFELP loan data, including examining the role of for-profit school ownership structures in borrower outcomes and studying the effectiveness of state solutions to predatory for-profit institutions, such as state grant eligibility, consumer disclosures, recruitment incentive bans, and enforcement actions. Moreover, these professors are using SLLI’s datasets to explore the role of the secondary student loan refinance market in exacerbating racial and social class inequalities. As for-profit institutions continue to saddle borrowers with tens of thousands of dollars in loans that they will struggle to repay, this research will reveal the most effective policy interventions that state and federal policymakers and regulators can use to increase oversight and accountability of these companies.