This paper discusses and assesses critiques of the author's reformulation of the median voter hypothesis and its testing. The author rephrases and redefines more correctly the redistribution hypothesis and clarifies its relationship with the median voter hypothesis. He also reviews four types of...

The results of new direct price level comparisons across 148 countries in 2005 have led to large revisions of purchasing power parity exchanges rates, particularly for China and India. The recalculation of international and global inequalities, using the new purchasing power parity rates, shows...

Using social tables, the author makes an estimate of global inequality (inequality among world citizens) in the early 19th century. The analysis shows that the level and composition of global inequality have changed over the past two centuries. The level has increased, reaching a high plateau...

The objective of the paper is to answer an often-asked question: if tariff rates are reduced, what will happen to wage inequality? We consider two types of wage inequality: between occupations (skills premium) and between industries. We use two large databases of wage inequality that have become...

Using for the first time household survey data from 26 post-Communist countries, covering the period 1990-2005, this paper examines correlates of unprecedented increases in inequality registered by most of the economies. The analysis shows, after controlling for country fixed effects and type of...

The authors develop and implement a method for measuring the frequency of changes in power among distinct leaders and ideologically distinct parties that is comparable across political systems. The authors find that more frequent alternation in power is associated with the emergence of better...

Using national income and expenditure distribution data from 119 countries, the authors decompose total income inequality between the individuals in the world, by continent and by region(countries grouped by income level). They use a Gini decomposition that allows for an exact breakdown (without...

Is inequality largely the result of the Industrial Revolution? Or, were pre-industrial incomes and life expectancies as unequal as they are today? For want of sufficient data, these questions have not yet been answered. This paper infers inequality for 14 ancient, pre-industrial societies using...

In Latvia, only 1.5 percent of households receive social assistance, which for those households represents 20 percent of income. The allocation of social assistance is unequal. Urban households outside the capital (Riga) and those headed by male adults are systematically discriminated against....