Through certainty equivalent consumption (CE) measures, we show that dispersion of current earnings, expenditures, and net worth overstate welfare inequality. This is largely due to the unaccounted value of future earnings, which we call human wealth. The latter mitigates permanent-income...

The Global Repository of Income Dynamics (GRID) is a new open-access, cross- country database that contains a wide range of micro statistics on income in- equality, dynamics, and mobility. It has four key characteristics: it is built on micro panel data drawn from administrative records; it...

We characterize the salient features of the distribution of (log) earnings of formal workers in Mexico using social security records for the period 2005-2019. The analysis is based on a nonparametric approach and is focused primarily on the properties of the distribution of earnings changes. We...

We construct a structural model of entry into self-employment to evaluate the impact of policies supporting entrepreneurship. Previous work has recognized that workers may opt for self-employment due to the nonpecuniary benefits of running a business and not necessarily because they are good at...

Elite college attendance significantly impacts students' entrepreneurship decisions and career dynamics. We find that an elite college degree is positively correlated with entrepreneurship (i.e., owning an incorporated business) but not with other self-employment forms. Our overlapping...