Equality And Inequality - Publications - Faculty & Research

October 2014
Article

The Promise of Positive Optimal Taxation: Normative Diversity and a Role for Equal Sacrifice

A prominent assumption in modern optimal tax research is that the objective of taxation is Utilitarian. I present new survey evidence that most people disagree with this assumption, preferring tax policies based at least in part on a classic alternative objective: the... View Details

Keywords: Taxation; Theory

While current levels of economic inequality in Africa receive ample attention from academics and policymakers, we know little about the long-run evolution of inequality in the region. Even the new and influential ‘global inequality literature’ that is associated... View Details

04 Dec 2018
News

Larry Summers: urban-rural inequality and the importance of work

04 Dec 2018
Podcast

Larry Summers: Urban-rural inequality and the importance of work

Examining the realities of rural America, Larry Summers concludes that the problem is not just one of providing people with incomes—it’s about the very basic human connection between work and satisfaction. Speaking with Bill, Summers advocates “employer subsidies” to... View Details

12 May 2014
News

Noam Wasserman | Not all founders are equal

25 Mar 2024
Blog Post

DC Alumni and BEI Present Talk on Inequality and Climate Change

Society, and Audrey Choi (MBA 2004), the Former Chief Sustainability Officer at Morgan Stanley. The chat, titled Inequality and Climate Change: Implications for Business Policy... View Details

18 Oct 2016
News

How unequal should America be? Take this inequality quiz.

09 May 2000
Research & Ideas

Stock Options Are Not All Created Equal

Most of the companies I've studied don't pay a whole lot of attention to the way they grant options. Their directors and executives assume that the important thing is just to have a plan in place; the details are trivial. As a result,... View Details

Keywords: by Brian Hall

18 Feb 2015
News

Steve Grossman, Michael Porter team up on income inequality

24 Sep 2016
News

Popular acceptance of inequality due to brute luck and support for classical benefit-based taxation

19 Aug 2013
Research & Ideas

Studying How Income Inequality Shapes Behavior

public outrage and protests, as well as a fair amount of handwringing on the part of politicians. What's less clear is how this rising level of inequality has affected the nation. Researchers have tried to... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

07 Jun 2024
Video

Latin American Businesses Acting on Advancing Economic Equality

19 Oct 2010
News

The curious politics of income inequality

16 Sep 2014
News

Harvard Study Warns Business Community Of Economic Inequality Risks

Article

Popular Acceptance of Inequality Due to Innate Brute Luck and Support for Classical Benefit-based Taxation

By: Matthew C. Weinzierl

U.S. survey respondents' views on distributive justice differ in two specific, related ways from what is conventionally assumed in modern optimal tax research. When expressing their preferences over allocations in stylized, hypothetical scenarios meant to isolate key... View Details

Keywords: Optimal Taxation; Welfarism; Luck; Benefit-based Taxation; Taxation; Equality and Inequality; Attitudes

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December 16, 2012
Article

Not all Money Market Funds Are Equal

By: Robert C. Pozen and Theresa Hamacher

Citation

Research Summary

'Optimal Incentive Contracts under Inequity Aversion' (with Achim Wambach) ), 2005

We analyze the Moral Hazard problem, assuming that the agent is inequity averse. Our results differ from conventional contract theory and are more in line with empirical findings than these standard results. Our key findings are: Inequity aversion alters the structure... View Details

September 2019 (Revised December 2022)
Background Note

African American Inequality in the United States

By: Janice H. Hammond, A. Kamau Massey and Mayra G. Garza

This note describes how historical and on-going policies and practices that discriminate against African Americans led to present-day inequality. Topics include slavery, segregation, Jim Crow laws, “black codes,” and policies and practices relating to criminal justice,... View Details

Keywords: African Americans; Justice; Slavery; Discrimination; Race; Equality and Inequality; Prejudice and Bias; Policy; History; United States

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November 2020 (Revised February 2022)
Case

CommonSpirit Health: Integrating a Merger of Equals

By: Robert S. Huckman, Hise Gibson and Nicole Gilmore

Soon after closing the 2019 merger of Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI) and Dignity Health to create CommonSpirit Health, Lloyd Dean and Kevin Lofton-–jointly appointed to the role of CEO—must make several operational and strategic decisions related to the integration... View Details