Plus, Iraq’s response to the Israel-Gaza crisis and the role of partners in India’s China strategy.
| Measuring income inequality There is substantial evidence that income inequality in America rose throughout the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Influential research by Thomas Piketty, Emmanuel Saez, and Gabriel Zucman finds that inequality has risen markedly, with the top 1% of taxpayers’ share of after-tax-and-transfer income rising from 9% in 1960 to 15% in 2019. However, recently published work by Gerald Auten and David Splinter paints a different picture. The authors find that inequality has barely budged, with the top 1% receiving 9% of after-tax income in 2019, up only slightly from 8% in 1960. Remarkably, the two author teams use the same income concept and the same data to generate these contrasting results. How can such different conclusions arise given the similarity in approach? What is the right way to characterize income inequality? William G. Gale, John Sabelhaus, and Samuel I. Thorpe provide their assessment. |
| More research and commentary Iraq’s response to the Israel-Gaza crisis. In a recent Q&A, Marsin Alshamary explains the political landscape in Iraq and how that relates to the war, potential escalation between the United States and Iran-backed groups in Iraq, and more. How other countries factor into India’s China strategy. On a new episode of Global India, Tanvi Madan, C. Raja Mohan, and Garima Mohan discuss how New Delhi sees the role of partners like the United States, Europe, Australia, and Japan in its approach to China. |
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