We investigate the long-run consequences of historic, climatic temperatures (1730-2000) for the modern cross-country income distribution. Using a newly constructed dataset of climatic temperatures stretching over three centuries (18th, 19th, and 20th), we estimate a robust and significant...

This paper introduces a new comprehensive panel of annual state-level income inequality measures spanning the postwar period 1945-2004. For many states, the share of income held by the top decile experienced a prolonged period of stability after World War II, followed by a substantial increase...

A new line of theoretical and empirical literature emphasizes the pivotal role of fair institutions for growth. We present a model, a laboratory experiment, and a simple crosscountry regression supporting this view. We model an economy with an unequal distribution of property rights, in which...

The Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES) has been widely used to analyze climate change impacts, vulnerability and adaptation. The storylines behind these scenarios outline alternative development pathways, which have been the base for climate research and other studies at global,...

The theoretical literature has predicted that inequality affects long-run growth by reducing human and physical capital, particularly in the presence of imperfect credit markets and other contractual frictions. We test these four mechanisms using measures of inequality at the country-level,...

The purpose of this study is twofold. The first is to develop a new composite index of globalization based on data on 158 economies over the period 2006–2014. The second intention is to use the new index to evaluate empirically the possible effects of globalization on economic growth and...

The study of international well-being and its distribution remains focused on income. This paper addresses multidimensional well-being from a capabilities perspective during the last one-and-a-half centuries. Relative inequality (population-weighted) fell in health and education since the late...

We consider 134 countries during the period 1984-2019 and find a significant positive relation between Rule of Law (law and order provided by police and courts, respect for private property rights) and GDP per capita. Notably, this positive relation is getting stronger with time. This positive...

The purpose of this study is twofold. The first is to develop a new composite index of globalization based on data on 158 economies over the period 2006−2014. The second intention is to use the new index to evaluate empirically the possible effects of globalization on economic growth and...

As part of the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative (ASGISA), the National Treasury of the Republic of South Africa convened an international panel of economists through Harvard's Center for International Development. This panel spent two years analyzing the South African economy and its...