Is income inequality in the United States primarily driven by disparities between ethnic groups or within them? The evidence reveals a striking pattern: 96% of U.S. income inequality arises from variation within groups sharing common ancestral origins, far overshadowing the comparatively small...

This paper provides a methodological contribution to the study of historical income inequality by examining the construction and use of social tables for the nineteenth century. In a period when modern household surveys were absent, social tables represent one of the only feasible approaches for...

Abstract We study life expectancy inequality in a Mirrleesian life-cycle framework. Life expectancy shapes the efficiency dimension of redistribution via the pension wedge. Moreover, cost- and preference-based channels arising from the income-lifespan gradient reduce the mechanical value of...

Why did enduring socio-economic inequality emerge between the 4th and 3rd millennium BCE, after millennia of substantial egalitarianism? We test the hypothesis of inequality being a by-product of state formation in an archeological panel covering Southern Iraq between 3900 and 1900 BCE. We...

We characterize optimal climate policy in an economy with heterogeneous households and non-homothetic preferences. We focus on constrained efficiency, where the planner is restricted from transferring resources across households. We derive three results. First, the constrained-optimal carbon tax...

This paper provides a methodological contribution to the study of historical income inequality by examining the construction and use of social tables for the nineteenth century. In a period when modern household surveys were absent, social tables represent one of the only feasible approaches for...

The Philippines aspires to become a predominantly middle-class society by 2040. Significant strides have been achieved in the reduction of extreme poverty. However, the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the fragility of recent gains and the vulnerability of many households to economic shocks. This study...

This paper describes a new public-access online database containing internationally comparable estimates of inequality of opportunity for seventy-two countries, covering two-thirds of the world's population. The estimates were computed directly from the unit-record microdata for 196 household...

Market forces, and notably the role of trade openness, contribute to shaping inequality in South Africa and may limit the inclusiveness of its growth path. Recently, policy reforms may have helped to mitigate these effects. To better understand these developments, we analyse trends in post-tax...

We show that high-income buyers earn higher capital gains on housing using detailed transaction data from Denmark. Geographic location statistically accounts for nearly all the difference, with little role for aggregate market timing, property type, or other buyer characteristics. This finding...

South Africa's education system remains shaped by a legacy of colonialism and apartheid, with persistent racial disparities in attainment despite multiple post-1994 reforms. Using wave 5 of the National Income Dynamics Study, this paper examines intergenerational education mobility across...

Die Dekade 2010 bis 2019 war ein Jahrzehnt mit starkem Wirtschaftswachstum: Löhne und Gehälter stiegen deutlich an, Erwerbslosigkeit sank auf ein sehr niedriges Niveau. Gleichzeitig lässt in diesem Zeitraum die Umverteilungskraft des Steuerund Transfersystems deutlich nach. Die hohe...

Das vorliegende Policy Paper befasst sich mit dem Zusammenhang zwischen Wahrnehmungen politischer Selbstwirksamkeit und ökonomischer Ungleichheit. Die aktuellen Daten des Konstanzer Ungleichheitsbarometers zeigen, dass viele Menschen ihre Einflussmöglichkeiten auf die Politik und auch die...

In Deutschland bestehen im Vergleich zu anderen Ländern hohe Bildungsungleichheiten nach sozialer Herkunft, wofür die frühe Aufteilung der Schülerinnen und Schüler in verschiedene Schulformen und die relativ geringe Durchlässigkeit des Bildungssystems als ein Erklärungsansatz diskutiert...

Financial student aid improves educational outcomes and reduces social inequality, yet many eligible students do not take it up. To examine whether correcting misperceptions increases take-up, I conducted an RCT with 6,225 university students across Germany who were not receiving aid. I find...

Economic development under capitalism is uneven, both socially and spatially. The existing literature, both mainstream social sciences and Marxist political economy, generally separates social inequality (inequality among classes and class-fractions) from spatial inequality. It also pays...

It can be argued that the rich world has long reached the social limits to growth, which were presciently seen by key figures in post-Keynesian economics. Reducing working hours, therefore, may have a greater potential to increase people's life satisfaction than more economic growth. One of the...

As financial globalization continues to evolve, it has played a pivotal role in the development of financial sectors in developing countries, enhancing efficiency and fostering competition. However, this trend has also raised concerns regarding its socio-economic impacts, particularly in...

Digitalization plays a critical role in economic development and ensuring social equity. The advancement of digitalization is expected to expand economic opportunities for previously underserved populations, thereby narrowing income disparities. However, it may also exacerbate inequality due to...

This paper constructs a new global historical database on public expenditure and revenue and their components—particularly education and health expenditure—covering all world regions over the 1800-2025 period. We document a large rise of human capital expenditure (as % of GDP) in all parts...