Publications

Find at Harvard

Register to Read

29 Aug 2022
Op-Ed

Income Inequality Is Rising. Are We Even Measuring It Correctly?

finding ways to reduce inequality to create a more just and equal society for all. In making decisions on how to best intervene, policymakers commonly rely on the Gini coefficient, a statistical measure of resource distribution, including... View Details

Keywords: by Jon M. Jachimowicz, Kristin Blesch, and Oliver P. Hauser

2010
Book

Wealth and Justice: The Morality of Democratic Capitalism

By: Peter Wehner and Arthur C. Brooks

Popular opinion would have us believe that America's free market system is driven by greed and materialism, resulting in gross inequalities of wealth, destruction of the environment, and other social ills. Even proponents of capitalism often refer to the free market as... View Details

Keywords: Capitalism; Economic Systems; Ethics; Moral Sensibility

Find at Harvard

15 Nov 2007
Working Paper Summaries

The Dynamic Interplay of Inequality and Trust: An Experimental Study

Keywords: by Ben Greiner, Axel Ockenfels & Peter Werner

2007
Working Paper

The Dynamic Interplay of Inequality and Trust - An Experimental Study

By: Ben Greiner, Axel Ockenfels and Peter Werner

We study the interplay of inequality and trust in a dynamic game, where trust increases efficiency and thus allows higher growth of the experimental economy in the future. We find that trust is initially high in a treatment starting with equal endowments, but decreases... View Details

Keywords: Equality and Inequality; Performance Efficiency; Trust; Economics

11 Oct 2022
Research & Ideas

Shrinking the Racial Wealth Gap, One Mortgage at a Time

Hiring more minority loan officers could help people of color secure significantly more home loans and address one of the biggest factors driving the racial wealth gap, new research finds. In the white-dominated US banking industry,... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Financial Services

13 May 2018
Working Paper Summaries

Corporate Tax Cuts Increase Income Inequality

Keywords: by Suresh Nallareddy, Ethan Rouen, and Juan Carlos Suárez Serrato

2014
Working Paper

Islam, Inequality, and Pre-Industrial Comparative Development

By: Stelios Michalopoulos, Alireza Naghavi and Giovanni Prarolo

This study explores the interaction between trade and geography in shaping the Islamic economic doctrine and in turn the comparative development of the Muslim world. We build a model where an unequal distribution of land quality in presence of trade opportunities... View Details

Keywords: Islam; Inequality In Land Quality; Wealth Accumulation; Public Good Investment; Conflict; Wealth; Geography; Religion; Trade

July 2021
Article

Invisible Inequality Leads to Punishing the Poor and Rewarding the Rich

By: Oliver P. Hauser, Gordon T. Kraft-Todd, David Rand, Martin A. Nowak and Michael I. Norton

Four experiments examine how the lack of awareness of inequality affects behaviour towards the rich and poor. In Experiment 1, participants who became aware that wealthy individuals donated a smaller percentage of their income switched from rewarding the wealthy to... View Details

Keywords: Income Transparency; Income; Wealth; Equality and Inequality; Knowledge; Behavior; Outcome or Result; Society; Policy

2022
Working Paper

Distributional Consequences of Monetary Policy Across Races: Evidence from the U.S. Credit Register

By: Laura Alfaro, Ester Faia and Camelia Minoiu

We examine the consequences of monetary policy on racial disparities, focusing on the role of bank lending to firms through collateral and selection channels. Leveraging comprehensive loan-level data from the U.S. credit register (Y-14Q) of the Federal Reserve, we show... View Details

Keywords: Monetary Policy Transmission; Inequity; Credit Registry; Wealth; Collateral Channel; Selection; Racial Disparity; Racial Inequality; Equality and Inequality; Banks and Banking; Credit; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Banking Industry; United States

September 2020
Case

West Side United: Hospitals Tackle the Racial Health and Wealth Gap

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Paul Stramaglia

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. David Ansell, Darlene Hightower, and Ayesho Jaco, leaders of West Side United (WSU), a coalition of Chicago hospitals, community residents, banks, and small businesses conceived in 2016, reviewed progress toward WSU’s goal of ending... View Details

Keywords: COVID; COVID-19; Hospital; Coalition; Health Pandemics; Race; Health; Wealth and Poverty; Equality and Inequality; Change; Leadership; Chicago

Educators

03 Apr 2012
News

What Class Divide? Rich and Poor, Red and Blue Agree on Wealth Distribution

September 2020
Teaching Note

West Side United: Hospitals Tackle the Racial Health and Wealth Gap

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Joyce J. Kim

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 321-026. View Details

Keywords: COVID-19; COVID; Hospital; Coalition; Health Pandemics; Race; Health; Wealth and Poverty; Equality and Inequality; Change; Leadership; Chicago

July 2020
Article

Higher Economic Inequality Intensifies the Financial Hardship of People Living in Poverty by Fraying the Community Buffer

By: Jon M. Jachimowicz, Barnabas Szaszi, Marcel Lukas, David Smerdon, Jaideep Prabhu and Elke U. Weber

The current research investigates whether higher economic inequality disproportionately intensifies the financial hardship of low-income individuals. We propose that higher economic inequality increases financial hardship for low-income individuals by reducing their... View Details

Keywords: Economic Inequalty; Economy; Income; Equality and Inequality; Poverty; Civil Society or Community

Find at Harvard

26 Jan 2021
News

Clubs See Wealth in FemTech; Health Care Alumni Look at COVID Response

health care, inequities in female-specific disease areas, and the role of FemTech startups in disrupting women's health care and empowering women. Linda Greub (MBA 1987) Stasia Obremskey (MBA 1987) Alice Zheng (MBA 2014) Linda Greub (MBA... View Details

Keywords: Margie Kelley

2012
Chapter

Inflection Point: New Vision, New Strategy, New Organization

By: Nancy O. Andrews and Nicolas P. Retsinas

What does it cost to build a great society? More pointedly, what does it cost to lose a great society? Since the War on Poverty began almost 50 years ago, investments in America’s communities have spurred those questions. Today we face a society more unequal than... View Details

Keywords: Income Inequality; Equality and Inequality; Income; Residency; Poverty

Web

Democratizing development: Inequality in Latin America | Institute for Business in Global Society

Democratizing development: Inequality in Latin America Global Leadership Roundtable São Paulo, Brazil November 2023 In partnership with the HBS Latin America Research Center More Global Leadership Roundtables Play 2023 BiGS Latin America... View Details

July 2017 (Revised December 2018)
Case

Populism in America: Fake News, Alternative Facts and Elite Betrayal in the Trump Era

By: Rafael Di Tella and Sarah McAra

During the 2016 U.S. election, long-time politician Hillary Clinton, a Democrat, and celebrity billionaire Donald Trump, a Republican, faced off in a contentious race for president. In the primaries, candidates from both major political parties used anti-establishment... View Details

Keywords: Populism; Elites; Income Inequality; Government and Politics; Globalization; Political Elections; News; Media; Labor; Prejudice and Bias; Public Opinion; Social Issues; Wealth and Poverty; Social Media

Educators