Income and Wealth Inequality

  • Nicholas Bloom
  • Raj Chetty
  • Emmanuel Saez

Leaders: Nicholas Bloom, Raj Chetty, Emmanuel Saez

The CPI is home to some of the country’s most influential analyses of the income and wealth distribution. The purpose of the Income and Wealth RG is to monitor the ongoing takeoff in income inequality, to better understand its sources, and to analyze its implications for labor market performance, educational attainment, mobility, and more. The following is a sampling of the CPI’s research projects within this area.

Trends in income and wealth inequality: What are the key trends in U.S. income and wealth inequality? The U.S. increasingly looks to Emmanuel Saez and his research team for the latest data on U.S. economic inequality.

Distributional National Accounts: In an ambitious infrastructural project, Emmanuel Saez and his team are building a “Distributional National Accounts” based on tax returns, a data set that will eliminate the current gap between (a) national accounts data based on economic aggregates and (b) inequality analysis that uses micro-level tax data to examine the distribution of income but is not consistent with national aggregates. This new data set will in turn make it possible to evaluate the extent to which economic growth, which has long been represented as a preferred poverty-reduction approach, is indeed delivering on that objective.

The rise of between-firm inequality: How much of the rise in earnings inequality can be attributed to increasing between-firm dispersion in the average wages they pay? This question can be addressed by constructing a matched employer-employee data set for the United States using administrative records.

Rent and inequality: It is increasingly fashionable to argue that “rent” accounts for much of the takeoff in income inequality. The Current Population Survey can be used to assess whether this claim is on the mark. 

Income And Wealth - CPI Research

Title Author Media
Real Inequality in Western Europe since 1500 Philip T. Hoffman, David Jacks, Patricia Levin,...

Real Inequality in Western Europe since 1500

Author: Philip T. Hoffman, David Jacks, Patricia Levin,...
Publisher: Journal of Economic History
Date:
Earnings Losses of Displaced Workers Jacobson, Louis S., Robert J. Lalonde and Daniel...

Earnings Losses of Displaced Workers

Author: Jacobson, Louis S., Robert J. Lalonde and Daniel...
Publisher: American Economic Review
Date:
Egalitarian Societies Woodburn, James.

Egalitarian Societies

Author: Woodburn, James.
Publisher:
Date:
Luxury Fever: Why Money Fails to Satisfy in an Era of Excess Robert H Frank

Luxury Fever: Why Money Fails to Satisfy in an Era of Excess

Author: Robert H Frank
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Date:
The Evolution of Retirement: An American Economic History, 1880-1990 Dora L. Costa

The Evolution of Retirement: An American Economic History, 1880-1990

Author: Dora L. Costa
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Date:

income and wealth - CPI Affiliates

Jennie Brand Professor of Sociology and Statistics
UCLA
Robert J. Flanagan's picture Robert J. Flanagan Konosuke Matsushita Professor of International Labor Economics and Policy Analysis, Emeritus
Stanford University
Mark G. Kelman's picture Mark G. Kelman James C. Gaither Professor of Law; Vice Dean; Jurist
Stanford University
Patricia A. Roos's picture Patricia A. Roos Professor of Sociology
Rutgers University-New Brunswick
Joanne Martin's picture Joanne Martin Fred H. Merrill Professor of Organizational Behavior (emerita); Professor of Sociology (by courtesy)
Stanford University

Pages

Income And Wealth - Other Research

Title Author Media
The Role of Shocks and Institutions in the Rise of European Unemployment: The Aggregate Evidence Olivier J. Blanchard and Justin Wolfers

The Role of Shocks and Institutions in the Rise of European Unemployment: The Aggregate Evidence

Author: Olivier J. Blanchard and Justin Wolfers
Publisher: The Economic Journal
Date:
Punishment and Inequality in America Bruce Western

Punishment and Inequality in America

Author: Bruce Western
Publisher: Russell Sage Foundation
Date:
Manufacturing Consent: Changes in the Labor Process under Monopoly Capitalism Michael Burawoy

Manufacturing Consent: Changes in the Labor Process under Monopoly Capitalism

Author: Michael Burawoy
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Date:
The Winner-Take-All Society Robert H. Frank and Philip J. Cook

The Winner-Take-All Society

Author: Robert H. Frank and Philip J. Cook
Publisher: Penguin Books
Date:
Cohabitation and the Declining Marriage Premium for Men Philip N. Cohen

Cohabitation and the Declining Marriage Premium for Men

Author: Philip N. Cohen
Publisher: Work and Occupations
Date:

Income And Wealth - Multimedia

Sorry, but no media items exist for this research group.