Journal of Economic Literature

Eaton, Charlie. Bankers in the Ivory Tower: The Troubling Rise of Financiers in US Higher Education

2026-05-29

Adam Looney of David Eccles School of Business, University of Utah, and the Brookings Institution reviews “Bankers in the Ivory Tower: The Troubling Rise of Financiers in US Higher Education” by Charlie Eaton. The Econlit abstract of this book begins: “Explores the relationship between rising student loan debt and the growth of concentrated endowment wealth, explaining how the resurgent power of financiers is tied to increasing inequality in higher education and America as a whole.”

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DOI https://doi.org/10.1257/jel.64.2.698.r5