What new theories, evidence, explanations, and policies have shaped our studies of income distribution in the 21st century?

Editors Tony Atkinson and Francois Bourguignon assemble the expertise of leading authorities in this survey of substantive issues. In two volumes they address subjects that were not covered in Volume 1 (2000), such as education, health and experimental economics; and subjects that were covered but where there have been substantial new developments, such as the historical study of income inequality and globalization. Some chapters discuss future growth areas, such as inheritance, the links between inequality and macro-economics and finance, and the distributional implications of climate change. They also update empirical advances and major changes in the policy environment.

Reviews

"The literature on income distribution has undergone transformative change in the decade and a half since the first Handbook appeared. These timely new volumes by recognized scholars provide a comprehensive review of our current state of understanding and the challenges that inequality poses." --Robin Boadway, Queens University

"Few issues are more topical, in both the academic and policy debates, than the distribution of income and wealth. This handbook takes the reader to the frontier of all aspects of these debates: its superb contributions, by the foremost experts in the field, cover historical developments, data issues, statistical methods, theoretical approaches, and policy implications. A must for academics and interested general readers alike." --Roberto Perotti, Universita Bocconi

"The increase in inequality is a pressing problem. Too often it is addressed with uninformed, oversimplified ideological slogans. If you want to go beyond those and really learn about this complicated topic, this is the essential and most complete book to read. A gem." --Alberto Alesina, Harvard University

"In every academic discipline, fads come and fads go. But in economics the very core of our subject is the study of the distribution of income and well-being across the population. From this analysis stems all our best theories and our best empirical research. This Handbook distills that wisdom and presents the latest findings by those who happen to be giants in our discipline. Its chapters will provide the platform from which will emerge the most exciting and important research for decades to come." --Danny Quah, London School of Economics

Feature

• The volumes define and organize key areas of income distribution studies
• Contributors focus on identifying newly developing questions and opportunities for future research
• The authoritative articles emphasize the ways that income mobility and inequality studies have recently gained greater political significance

Part III Explanations

14. Inequality in macro-economics.?? Jose-Victor Rios-Rull and Vincenzo Quadrini

15. Wealth and inheritance.?? Thomas Piketty

16. Intra-Household inequality.? Pierre-Andre Chiappori and Costas Meghir

17. Health and inequality.?? Owen O'Donnell, Eddy van Doorslaer and Tom Van Ourti

18. Labour-market institutions and the dispersion of wage earnings.?? Wiemer Salverda and Daniele Checchi

19. Cross-country studies of the multiple causes of inequality in the OECD area.?? Michael F. Forster and Istvan Gyorgy Toth

20. Globalization and inequality.? Ravi Kanbur

Part IV: Policies

21. Democracy, political institutions and inequality.?? James Robinson and Daron Acemoglu

22. Equitable development policies.?? Martin Ravallion

23. The welfare state and anti-poverty policy in rich countries.?? Brian Nolan, Ive Marx and Javier Olivera

24. Micro-simulation and policy analysis.?? Holly Sutherland, Alari Paulus and Francesco Figari?