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Creator of Chart of Doom Defends Chart Badly and Casts Aspersions
Teaser: If you are going to accuse someone of cherry-picking data, you want to make sure your case is pretty solid. In particular, you don’t want to criticize them for being anti-empirical when your...
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5 Reasons Janet Yellen Shouldn't Focus on Income Inequality
Teaser: Since 1970, income inequality has increased for a number of reasons that should not concern Janet Yellen.Janet Yellen heads one of the most important agencies in America, the Board of Governors...
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Inequality Does Not Reduce Prosperity
Teaser: Since the Great Recession, inequality has loomed large in policy debates in the United States and around the world. Losses from the recession and the slow pace of recovery since have fueled...
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The Simple Economics of Income Inequality
Teaser: The real danger from focusing on inequality is that it leads to a static view of the economy. The only way to benefit people in the long run is to focus on economic growth, and paying attention...
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Income Inequality Is Good For The Poor
Teaser: A comparison of global data shows that developed countries with more income inequality have higher standards of living for the poor and middle class.This article originally appeared in the...
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Steven Rattner’s Missing Case for Reducing Inequality
Teaser: Since Americans are less likely than Europeans to worry about inequality, it should come as no surprise that we redistribute less than in continental Europe. Rattner does not like that we...
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Are Democrats Out of Data Analysts?
Teaser: Ezra Klein recently took up the question of whether the Democratic party is out of ideas. I tend to agree with Yuval Levin that both the Left and the Right haven’t modernized their agendas. But...
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Did Inequality Rob Middle-Class Households Of $18,000?
Teaser: Last week, the Economic Policy Institute released a report on trends in wages, earnings, and incomes called, “Wage Stagnation in Nine Charts.” The report, by EPI president Larry Mishel, Elise...
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Have 91% of Gains During the Recovery Gone to the Top?
Forgive me for going out of order and not taking up the Economic Policy Institute’s productivity/compensation chart as promised in my inaugural column in this series. But Berkeley economist Emmanuel...
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Another (Over-) Dramatic Portrayal of the Rise in Income Inequality
Teaser: Berkeley economist Emmanuel Saez has published his latest estimates on income concentration in the United States, extending a series he has produced with Thomas Piketty. He concludes that the...
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Yes, the Rich Have Become Poorer Since the Recession Started
Teaser: The top one percent is obviously not hurting by anyone’s standards, but it remains the case that income inequality is lower and the rich are poorer than at the start of the recession. Have the...
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Does America Have Less Economic Mobility? Part 1
Teaser: The new evidence does not suggest that the U.S. has especially high economic mobility, but it does indicate that America is not the international laggard that has been portrayed by earlier...
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Has Middle-Class Pay Risen As Much As It Should Have?
Teaser: Even if rising inequality did come at the expense of the middle class (or the poor), there is a values question that is separate from the empirical question: should the middle class (or the...
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Debunking The Great Gatsby Curve
Teaser: The Great Gatsby Curve has certainly generated plenty of heat, but very little light. The measure of “mobility” used in the Curve — the “intergenerational elasticity” — worsens when the rate of...
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Shrinking Households Indicate Rising Living Standards
Teaser: When looking at trends in household income, it is important to adjust incomes for household size when analyzing trends in living standards because households are smaller today than in the...
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