Inequality and climate change are both global problems that cannot be solved by a single country. Yet we are stuck with the political limitations of the nation-state.
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How Finance Affects Income Inequality
There is mounting evidence that income inequality and disparities in wealth have been rising in advanced economies in the recent decades. Using data on advanced and emerging economies, this column investigates the link between an economy’s financial structure—that is, the mix of bank-provided versus market-provided funds—and income inequality. Results show that the relationship is not monotonic. More finance reduces income inequality up to a point, but beyond that point inequality rises, especially if finance is expanded via market-based financing.
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Amazon’s Latest Supplier Purge Is a Classic Indicator of Price Predation
Regulators in Washington should immediately launch an investigation into Amazon’s e-commerce business.
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Regulators Should Not Change the Regulatory Environment to Include Labor Market Concentration
Research has shown that labor markets with higher levels of labor market concentration have lower wages. It does not necessarily follow that regulators should limit merger activity because of labor market concentration.
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“Emmanuel Macron Is Not a Liberal, He Just Pretends to Be”
The French president found himself under fire following an attempted police raid on the offices of the investigative news site Mediapart. While many around the world were shocked, Mediapart’s journalists themselves were not entirely surprised.
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The “Biggest Puzzle in Economics”: Why the “Superstar Economy” Lacks Any Actual Superstars
A new study finds that the contribution of superstar firms to US productivity growth has decreased by more than 40 percent over the past 20 years.
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When the Interests of Monopolists and Authoritarians Coalesce
It is when the behemoth of monopoly enterprise consorts with the leviathan of the authoritarian state that both are likely to achieve permanence, writes Raghuram Rajan.
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Governments Bear Much of the Responsibility for Rising Inequality—But Also Have the Tools to Reduce It
A new study tracks the influence of public policy on inequality and argues that the main rise in inequality has been a result of the decline in public sectors in the OECD countries.
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The Road to Digital Serfdom? The Visible Hand of Surveillance Capitalism
Surveillance capitalism is not the capitalism of old, writes Harvard professor emerita Shoshana Zuboff in her new book The Age of Surveillance Capitalism.
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The Anticompetitive Effects of Low Interest Rates
A new study argues that declining interest rates are in fact the cause of the recent decline in competition.
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Chicago Booth/Kellogg School Financial Trust Index Shows Americans’ Trust in Financial Institutions Increasing After Rocky Decade
Financial trust increased from 22 percent in 2008 to 28 percent at the end of 2018, according to a survey marking the 10-year anniversary of the financial crisis.
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Is Amazon Violating the Sherman Act?
A new paper suggests that Amazon’s negative cash flow rapid expansion story may in fact conceal a long-term predatory pricing strategy that violates existing antitrust laws.
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