For a large set of countries, we document how the labor earnings inequality varies with GDP per capita. As countries get richer, the mean-to-median ratio and the Gini coefficient decline. Yet, this decline masks divergent patterns: while inequality at the top of the earnings distribution falls,...

Integrating Roy with Becker, this paper studies occupational choice and matching in the labor market. Our model generates occupation earnings distributions which are right skewed, have firm fixed effects, and large changes in aggregate earnings inequality without significant changes in within...

This paper investigates the importance of heterogeneity in the labor earning shock processes. We analyze the earning shock process for both male and female workers in several countries. We argue that unlike time series analysis, in a life cycle model the forecasting horizon is finite and in...