This paper compares the tax systems of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and the US, and summarizes the evidence about top income shares.

Australia’s top earners have increased their share of income more than three fold over the last three decades, according to updated research based on a 2006 paper. The study, conducted by ANU economist Professor Andrew Leigh from the Research School of Economics, in conjunction with Oxford University’s Sir Tony Atkinson, used taxation statistics to estimate...

A common critique of most measures of income inequality, which are based on a single year's income, is that they fail to take account of income mobility. If income fluctuations are large, and individuals can smooth consumption, then high inequality and high mobility may be no worse than low inequality and low mobility. To test...

Does faster economic growth increase pressure for democratic change, or reduce it? Using data for 154 countries for the period 1963-2007, the authors examine the short-run relationship between economic growth and moves toward and away from greater democracy. To address the potential endogeneity of economic growth, they use variation in precipitation, temperatures, and commodity prices...

This paper tests for gender discrimination by sending fake CVs to apply for entry-level jobs. Female candidates are more likely to receive a callback, with the difference being largest in occupations that are more female-dominated.