Inequality
Is Economic Insecurity Behind the Specter of Populism?
A new study examines the role of the 2007–9 global financial crisis and its metastasis in Europe on voting and political beliefs, showing that crisis-driven economic...
The Rate of Return on Everything
A new paper purports to have finally unlocked the mystery of the rate of return on capital. Here the authors report on their research on...
Editors’ Briefing: On Our Radar This Week (Dec. 22– Jan. 5)
This week in political economy.
In Project Syndicate, Joseph Stiglitz writes about the GOP’s recently-passed tax package, which he dubs “The US Donor Relief...
Inequality, Imperialism, and the First World War
Branko Milanovic on his new paper with Thomas Hauner and Suresh Naidu exploring inequality prior to World War I and providing empirical support for...
Editors’ Briefing: On Our Radar This Week (Dec. 9–Dec. 16)
This week in political economy.
House and Senate Republicans released the final version of their tax bill late Friday afternoon. The Washington Post breaks...
America's "Lost Einsteins" Are Dealing a Blow to Innovation
A new paper finds that America is full of "lost Einsteins" among women, minorities, and low-income groups: high performers who never become inventors because...
Who Are the Top 1 Percent in America? The Answer from New Research Might Surprise You
A new paper challenges Thomas Piketty’s portrayal of an income distribution dominated at the top by passive rentiers who do nothing to earn their money,...
Raghuram Rajan: Populist Nationalism Is “the First Step Toward Crony Capitalism”
The former governor of the Reserve Bank of India discussed the “concentrated and devastating” impact that technology and trade had on blue-collar communities, the anger...
The Rise of Market Power and the Decline of Labor’s Share
A new paper argues that the decline of the labor and capital shares, as well as the decline in low-skilled wages and other economic trends, have been...
Is There a Connection Between Market Concentration and the Rise in Inequality?
A Stigler Center panel debates: Is rising inequality connected to monopolies, rent-seeking, and concentration?
The rise in wealth and income inequality has been at the forefront of...
