The Changing Distribution of Income in an Open U.S. Economy

There have been dramatic changes in the distribution of earnings and income in the United States during recent years. This volume presents original papers, contributed by eminent economists, on the measurement and causes of growing income inequality in the U.S. and other major industrialized countries. The first part examines the definition of income, decomposition of earnings into capacity and capacity utilization rates, and alternative methodologies for estimating income and earnings dispersion. The second part investigates theoretically or empirically alternative causes of income inequality: international trade, macroeconomic conditions and policies, technological progress, productivity growth, institutions, demographic labor supply, and sectoral labor demand. In the final part of the volume policy implications and recommendations are discussed.

The volume will be valuable for academic departments (economics, political science, sociology); economic policy institutes and Federal Reserve Bank research departments; economists in government.