Economists warn that policies to level the economic playing field come with a hefty price tag. But this so-called 'equality-efficiency trade-off' - has proven difficult to document. The data suggest, instead, that the extraordinary levels of economic inequality now experienced in many economies...

Cover -- The New Economics of Inequality and Redistribution -- Series Editor -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Illustrations -- Figures -- Table -- Preface -- 1: The new economics of inequality and redistribution -- Inequality, institutions, and economic performance -- Market...

Most Americans strongly favor equality of opportunity if not outcome, but many are weary of poverty's seeming immunity to public policy. This helps to explain the recent attention paid to cultural and genetic explanations of persistent poverty, including claims that economic inequality is a...

We explore the contribution of reciprocity and other non selfish motives to the political viability of the modern welfare state. In the advanced economies, a substantial fraction of total income is regularly transferred from the better off to the less well off, with the approval of the...

Merit and justice / Amartya Sen -- Equality of opportunity / John E. Roemer -- IQ trends over time: intelligence, race, and meritocracy / James R. Flynn -- Genes, culture, and inequality / Marcus W. Feldman, Sarah P. Otto, and Freddy B. Christiansen -- Schooling, intelligence, and income in...