Angus Deaton
Sir Angus Deaton is now a Senior Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson School, where his main interests are in poverty, inequality, health, development, well-being, and the use of evidence in social science and medicine. He also has a part-time appointment as Presidential Professor of Economics at the University of Southern California. He has taught at Cambridge University and at the University of Bristol. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy, and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He is a fellow of the Econometric Society, and was the first recipient of the Society's Frisch Medal for Applied Econometrics. His current pursuits include research on poverty and inequality around the world, on the appropriate use of randomized controlled trials, and on the determinants of health and well-being, particularly on relationships with income, both domestically and internationally. He was President of the American Economic Association in 2009. Ph.D. Cambridge University. He holds honorary doctorates from the University of Rome, Tor Vergata, University College, London, the University of St Andrews, the University of Edinburgh, the University of Cyprus, Brown University, and the University of Cambridge. He was the recipient of the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel in 2015. In 2016, he was made a Knight Bachelor for his services to economics and international affairs.
Income Inequality
Angus Deaton: Today’s Inequalities Are Signs That Democratic Capitalism Is Under Threat
At the launch of the IFS Deaton Review, a 5-year review of rising inequalities in the UK, Sir Angus Deaton decried extreme inequality and the...
Latest news
Antitrust and Competition
The Kroger-Albertsons Merger Threatens Smaller Upstream Suppliers
Much of the conversation of the proposed Kroger-Albertsons merger has focused on the risks to consumers. However, the merger also poses serious implications for the grocers’ upstream suppliers, particularly smaller regional firms.
Regulation
Why Have Uninsured Depositors Become De Facto Insured?
Due to a change in how the FDIC resolves failed banks, uninsured deposits have become de facto insured. Not only is this dangerous for risk in the banking system, it is not what Congress intends the FDIC to do, writes Michael Ohlrogge.
Antitrust and Competition
Merger Law Reaches Acquirer Incentives and Private Equity Strategies
Steven C. Salop argues that Section 7 of the Clayton Act prohibits mergers in which the acquiring firm’s unilateral incentives and business strategy are likely to lessen market competition.
Antitrust and Competition
Tim Wu Responds to Letter by Former Agency Chief Economists
Former special assistant to the president for technology and competition policy Tim Wu responds to the November 27 letter signed by former chief economists at the Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department Antitrust Division calling for a separation of the legal and economic analysis in the draft Merger Guidelines.
Book Reviews
Can the Public Moderate Social Media?
ProMarket student editor Surya Gowda reviews the arguments made by Paul Gowder in his new book, The Networked Leviathan: For Democratic Platforms.
Income Inequality
Uninhibited Campaign Donations Risks Creating Oligarchy
In new research, Valentino Larcinese and Alberto Parmigiani find that the 1986 Reagan tax cuts led to greater campaign spending from wealthy individuals, who benefited the most from this policy. The authors argue that a very permissive system of political finance, combined with the erosion of tax progressivity, created the conditions for the mutual reinforcement of economic and political disparities. The result was an inequality spiral hardly compatible with democratic ideals.
ESG, Corporate Governance & Future of the Firm
Did the Meme Stock Revolution Actually Change Anything?
Many financial commentators thought that the surge of retail investors participating in the stock market, the most notable of whom boosted “meme stocks” like GameStop, would democratize corporate governance and improve prosocial firm behavior, including the promotion of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals. In new research, Dhruv Aggarwal, Albert H. Choi, and Yoon-Ho Alex Lee find evidence that the exact opposite took place.