We propose a framework for comparing the relationship between poverty and personal characteristics across countries (or across years), and use it to compare levels and patterns of relative poverty in the USA, Great Britain and Germany during the 1990s. The higher aggregate poverty rates in the...

How do mechanisms that enforce cooperation emerge in a society where none are available and agents are endowed with just raw power that allows a more powerful agent to expropriate a less powerful one? We study a model where expropriation is costly and agents can choose whether to engage in...

This chapter analyzes the incidence on income distribution by a comprehensive array of direct and indirect taxes in ten Latin American countries circa 2018. The study finds that although there is a significant heterogeneity, the redistributive impact is equalizing for direct taxes and...

This article outlines income and wealth distribution trends in Germany since the 19th century, compared to other Western industrialised countries. We first discuss the evolution of aggregate wealth-to-income ratios. We then explore how the concentration of income and wealth among the top...

Die Betrachtung der Gini-Koeffizienten sowohl vor als auch nach Umverteilung zeigt, dass die Verteilung der persönlichen Einkommen in den USA zwischen 1947 und 2020 ungleicher geworden ist. Dieser Beitrag untersucht die möglichen Konzepte, die den Zielvorgaben für die Einkommensverteilung...

This paper examines long-term trends in aggregate wealth and inheritance and in their distributions, focusing on developed economies. A key stylized fact is that wealth is less equally distributed than income. Financial assets predominate among the wealthy, while owner-occupied housing is...

The observation of the remarkably stable development of inequality indicators in Germany in the relevant period suggests that it is unlikely that they represent a major explanatory factor for the rise of the AfD. Furthermore, in an EU comparison, the success of radical right-wing parties appears...

This paper empirically examines the impact of labour market counter-reforms on real GDP per capita and employment growth in 25 OECD countries between 1973 and 2012. We use a novel, narrative-based dataset of reform indicators and apply the local projections approach. We consider not only...

Individuals with extensive debt may be granted debt relief in court. We provide a comprehensive evaluation of the Danish debt relief program with data from court records linked to nationwide register data. Using event-study methods and quasi-random assignment of applicants to court trustees with...

The problem of land inequality has attracted renewed interest in the development literature due to its potential effects on the welfare of smallholder farmers. Poverty reduction is an important sustainable development goal and a clearer understanding of the factors that could lead to poverty is...