Our objective in this paper is to assess how middle-income groups are faring with the global turn to the market. We suggest some simple measures of the middle-the size and income shares of households around the median (75/125%)-and their income status relative to wealthier counterparts. Our...

To date the literature on subjective well being has focused on the developed economies. We provide empirical evidence from two emerging market countries, Peru and Russia. Our results - and in particular a strong negative skew in the assessments of the respondents with the greatest income gains -...

Our objective in this paper is to assess how middle-income groups are faring with the global turn to the market. We suggest some simple measures of the middle--the size and income share of households around the median (75/125%)--and their income status relative to wealthier counterparts. Our...

This paper focuses on an age-old puzzle: why some societies peacefully tolerate high levels of inequality and others do not. The authors posit that opportunity and mobility over time are as important as current distributions are to the explanation. Assessments of past mobility and future...