Inequality in America

Emmanuel Saez has won the John Bates Clark Medal for his work on taxation and income inequality in the U.S.

There has been increased interest in whether and how financial crises affect income inequality. I have argued previously that crises increase inequality significantly, in part through the differential recovery effect of the poor and the rich.

Over at The Curious Capitalist, Justin Fox recently made a similar argument for the U.S., using the data that Saez collected with Thomas Piketty. I hope Saez receiving this great award means that this issue won't get forgotten as we all debate the next steps in how to handle the financial crisis.