Income and wealth inequality rose over the first 150 years of U.S. history. They may have risen at times in Britain before 1875. The first half of this century equalized pre-fisc incomes more in Britain than in America. From the 1970s to the 1990s inequality rose in both countries, reversing...

Income and wealth inequality rose over the first 150 years of US history. They rose in Britain before 1875, especially 1740–1810. The first half of the 20th century equalized pre-fisc incomes both in Britain and in America. From the 1970s to the 1990s inequality rose in both countries,...

When other economic measurements are scarce or unreliable, height and the body mass index (BMI) are now well accepted measures for cumulative and current net nutrition. However, as the ratio of weight to height, BMI is the ratio of current to cumulative net nutrition, therefore, does not fully...

When other economic measurements are scarce or unreliable, height and the body mass index (BMI) are now well accepted measures for cumulative and current net nutrition. However, as the ratio of weight to height, BMI is the ratio of current to cumulative net nutrition, therefore, does not fully...

Historical inequality is difficult to measure, especially at the sub-country level and beyond the top income shares. This paper presents new evidence on the level of inequality in Manhattan from 1880 to 1910 using housing rents. Rental prices and characteristics, including geocodable locations,...

This paper studies the level and the causes of earnings inequality in late nineteenth century America and Britain using microdata from the United States Commissioner of Labor Survey in 1890 and 1891. We examine whether lessons from studies on changes in earnings inequality over time - the...

There is a large body of literature analyzing the onset of the Great Depression or the factors influencing economic recovery in the 1930s, especially the New Deal. The role of income inequality before and during the Great Depression, however, has almost never been discussed thoroughly. This...

What accounts for the rise in income inequality since the 1970s? According to most economists, the answer lies in structural changes in the economy - in particular, technological changes that have raised the demand for highly skilled workers and thereby boosted their pay. Opposing this...

Recent influential work finds large increases in inequality in the U.S., based on measures of wealth concentration that notably exclude the value of social insurance programs. This paper revisits this conclusion by incorporating Social Security retirement benefits into measures of wealth...