The Dynamics of Inequality

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Gabaix, Xavier; Lasry, Jean-Michel; Lions, Pierre-Louis; Moll, Benjamin
• 署名单位: Harvard University; Universite PSL; Universite Paris-Dauphine; Universite PSL; College de France; Princeton University
• 刊物名称: ECONOMETRICA
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0012-9682
• DOI: 10.3982/ECTA13569
• 发表日期: 2016
• 页码: 2071-2111
• 关键词: UNITED-STATES; earnings inequality; Top income; zipfs law; WEALTH; MODEL; economies; Pareto; GROWTH; rise

摘要

The past forty years have seen a rapid rise in top income inequality in the United States. While there is a large number of existing theories of the Pareto tail of the long-run income distributions, almost none of these address the fast rise in top inequality observed in the data. We show that standard theories, which build on a random growth mechanism, generate transition dynamics that are too slow relative to those observed in the data. We then suggest two parsimonious deviations from the canonical model that can explain such changes: scale dependence that may arise from changes in skill prices, and type dependence, that is, the presence of some high-growth types. These deviations are consistent with theories in which the increase in top income inequality is driven by the rise of superstar entrepreneurs or managers.