Current Issues

Presents comparative, empirical research on a topic that has long preoccupied scholars, politicians, and everyday citizens: economic inequality. While income and wealth inequality across all populations is the primary focus, the contributions to this book pay special attention to the middle class, a segment often not addressed in inequality literature.

Inequality has been rising in many countries over the last decades and the process seems to have accelerated with the Great Recession. Not only is income distribution more unequal today than 40 years ago, but also its transmission through generations has increased. In other words, many countries no longer experience upward economic mobility as was prevalent in the past. Research in Labor Economics volume 43 contains new and innovative research on the causes and consequences of inequality. Topics include the way inequality is measured, the level of equal opportunities across countries, the impact of education, the effect of changing occupational structure, the consequences of changing productivity within the firm, the roles of stagnating average real wages, the decline of union membership, the effect of maternal labor supply on labor market outcomes of their children, and the link between income inequality and health.

Studies of wage and income inequality among U.S. citizens over the past thirty years have engendered the common wisdom that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. But is it really that simple? The authors contend that the evolution of income and wage inequalities offers only a partial picture of changes in prosperity in recent decades. Studying changes in the distribution of consumption and expenditure helps to amplify this picture - income, after all, is valued in large part because it allows consumption - and yields a more complete understanding of economic well-being in America.