The dramatic rise in inequality in the United States over the past generation has occasioned considerable attention from economists, but strikingly little from students of American politics. This has started to change: in recent years, a small but growing body of political science research on...

The papers included in this issue are the result of sustained collaborations within the Successful Societies program, which has meet three times a year since 2003. Each team of authors developed their contribution through extensive discussions at meetings of the entire group over two years....