Why are some people wealthy while others are poor? To what extent can governments affect
inequality? Which instruments should they use? Answering these questions requires …

The saving patterns of retired US households pose a challenge to the basic life-cycle model
of saving. The observed patterns of out-of-pocket medical expenses, which rise quickly with …

The racial wealth gap is the largest of the economic disparities between Black and white
Americans, with a white-to-Black per capita wealth ratio of 6 to 1. It is also among the most …

This article discusses the economic effects of a potential cut-off of the German economy from
Russian energy imports. We show that the effects are likely to be substantial but …

From Nobel Prize–winning economist and New York Times bestselling author Robert
Shiller, a groundbreaking account of how stories help drive economic events—and why …

Women are less financially literate than men. It is unclear whether this gap reflects a lack of
knowledge or, rather, a lack of confidence. Our survey experiment shows that women tend to …

This paper formalizes and quantifies the secular stagnation hypothesis, defined as a
persistently low or negative natural rate of interest leading to a chronically binding zero …

Socioeconomic differences in behaviour are pervasive and well documented, but their
causes are not yet well understood. Here, we make the case that a cluster of behaviours is …

In the middle of the twentieth century, it came to be believed that 'a rising tide lifts all boats':
economic growth would bring increasing wealth and higher living standards to all sections of …

We present an improved panel database of national household surveys between 1988 and
2008. In 2008, the global Gini index is around 70.5%, having declined by approximately 2 …