The Inequality that Matters
The use of micro-data now makes it possible to trace some high earners by income and thus construct a partial picture of what is going on among the upper echelons [...]
Dividends, Share Repurchases, and Tax Clienteles: Evidence from the 2003 Reductions in Shareholder Taxes
This paper jointly evaluates firm-level changes in investor composition and shareholder distributions following a 2003 reduction in the dividend and capital gains tax rates for individuals. We find that directors [...]
The Size of the U.S. Finance Industry: A Puzzle?
I use the neo-classical growth model to study financial intermediation in the U.S. over the past 130 years. I measure the cost of financial intermediation on the one hand, and [...]
Does Inequality Lead to a Financial Crisis?
The recent global crisis has sparked interest in the relationship between income inequality, credit booms, and financial crises. Rajan (2010) and Kumhof and Rancière (2011) propose that rising inequality led [...]
Jobs and Income Growth of Top Earners and the Causes of Changing Income Inequality
This paper presents summary statistics on the occupations of taxpayers in the top percentile of the national income distribution and fractiles thereof, as well as the patterns of real income [...]
Wages and Human Capital in the U.S. Financial Industry: 1909-2006
We study the allocation and compensation of human capital in the U.S. finance industry over the past century. Across time, space, and subsectors, we find that financial deregulation is associated [...]
The Asset Price Meltdown and the Wealth of the Middle Class
I find that median wealth plummeted over the years 2007 to 2010, and by 2010 was at its lowest level since 1969. The inequality of net worth, after almost two [...]
Financial Sector Ups and Downs and the Real Sector: Up by the stairs, down by the parachute
We examine how financial expansion and contraction cycles affect the broader economy through their impact on real economic sectors in a panel of countries over 1960-2005. Periods of accelerated growth [...]
Executive compensation, risk taking and the state of the economy
In this paper we present a model of executive compensation to analyze the link between incentive compensation and risk taking. Our model takes into account the loss in the value [...]
The Future of the Government Sponsored Enterprises: The Role for Government in the U.S. Mortgage Market
This paper analyzes options for reforming the U.S. housing finance system in view of the failure of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as government sponsored enterprises (GSEs). The options considered [...]