Inequality / Edward L. Glaeser.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Glaeser, Edward L.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w11511.

NBER working paper series no. w11511

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2005.

Summary:

This paper reviews five striking facts about inequality across countries. As Kuznets (1955) famously

first documented, inequality first rises and then falls with income. More unequal societies are much

less likely to have democracies or governments that respect property rights. Unequal societies have

less redistribution, and we have little idea whether this relationship is caused by redistribution

reducing inequality or inequality reducing redistribution. Inequality and ethnic heterogeneity are

highly correlated, either because of differences in educational heritages across ethnicities or because

ethnic heterogeneity reduces redistribution. Finally, there is much more inequality and less

redistribution in the U.S. than in most other developed nations.

Notes:

Print version record

August 2005.