Income distribution data from before the Industrial Revolution usually comes in the shape of social tables: inventories of a range of social groups and their mean incomes. These are frequently reported without adjusting for within-group income dispersion, leading to a systematic downward bias in...

This paper analyzes the dynamics of income and wealth inequality in two of the largest ancient empires, Han China and Rome. Pervasive structural similarities emerge from this comparative survey. In both cases, resource concentration at the top of society was greatly amplified by rent-seeking and...

Focuses on the government's allocation of resources among sectors of the population and how this may erode equality. Examines Supreme Court doctrine dealing with the conferral of advantages. Proposes a new test for official giving, based on two little-used constitutional provisions, the...