Income distribution and a gross rate of income for the middle class has been very different. It is hard to say what fraction of thise owes to unions, and what faction of these owes to minimum wages, educationa other factors. But altogether, i think the results have suggests that, broadly speaking, policies matter. Policies affect to pre tax and transferet distribution of the income. And thet matternot. Because if they didn't matter, we should see the moras the same trans in all the world's developed countries asno as in demons. And that's not at all what we see?
Gabriel Zucman of the University of California, Berkeley talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about his research on inequality and the distribution of income in the United States over the last 35 years. Zucman finds that there has been no change in income for the bottom half of the income distribution over this time period with large gains going to the top 1%. The conversation explores the robustness of this result to various assumptions and possible explanations for the findings.