This paper provides new empirical insights on the joint distribution of consumption, income, and wealth in three of the poorest countries in the world — Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda — all located in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The first finding is that while income inequality is similar to...

This paper provides new empirical insights on the joint distribution of consumption, income, and wealth in three of the poorest countries in the world - Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda - all located in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The first finding is that while income inequality is similar to that of...

Over the past two decades, no two economies have averaged more rapid economic growth than China and Vietnam.But while China‘s income inequality has risen rapidly over that same time frame, Vietnam‘s has only grown moderately. Structural and socio-cultural determinants fail to account for...

Without data on individual consumption, inequality across individuals is almost invariably inferred by applying adult equivalence scales to household-level consumption data. To assess whether these household-based measures of inequality are effective, we exploit a rare opportunity in which...

Despite the fact that China and Vietnam have been the world’s two fastest growing economies over the past two decades, their income inequality patterns are very different. In this paper, we take a deep look at political institutions in the two countries, demonstrating that profound differences...

We propose a quantitative theory of wealth creation and distribution during China's transitional growth from the early 1990s, when barriers to setting up private businesses, trading housing, and migrating from rural to urban areas are struck down. In response to the changing economic...

We propose a quantitative theory of wealth creation and distribution during China’s transitional growth from the early 1990s, when barriers to setting up private businesses, trading housing, and migrating from rural to urban areas are struck down. In response to the changing economic...