Collaborative Research on Inequality: Within and Beyond the Market

收入不平等作为经济增长的来源和结果都很重要，但人们对产生收入不平等的过程，特别是在市场经济中产生收入不平等的过程知之甚少。 本研究研究市场经济中经济不平等的演变、其对长期发展前景的影响以及公共政策在这方面的作用。需要研究的问题包括：市场是否具有内在均衡性？历史上的不平等能否解释各国发展道路的不同？心理特征，如同伴效应和愿望，是否可以在解释种族、种姓或地区之间的不平等方面发挥作用？ 这些因素如何与资本市场的不完善性相互作用？全球化或金融发展在国家内部和国家之间不平等的演变中发挥什么作用？ 再分配的财政政策、有关童工的法规或金融市场在促进资本积累和降低不平等方面的作用是什么？ 该研究将建立一个统一的理论，将教育和金融遗赠的共存，在竞争均衡的动态模型来解释收入不平等。 该理论将被扩展到分析全球化和再分配政策对收入不平等的长期影响，这项研究的科学价值在于该理论能够解释市场经济中宏观经济和微观经济层面的不平等的持续性。 这项研究的更广泛的影响是，所开发的分析框架可以被不同经济学领域的各种研究人员用来预测技术变化、市场法规或干预政策对收入不平等的长期影响。 另一个广泛的影响是，它将被纳入一本教科书，这本教科书可以成为高年级本科生或研究生关于不平等、体制和发展的课程的有用教学指南。 最后，本研究将促进两所美国大学和一所德国大学之间的合作，并通过雇用研究生作为研究助理来促进研究生教育

Income inequality is important both as a source and the result of economic growth, yet the process that generates income inequality, especially in market economies, is poorly understood. This research studies the evolution of economic inequality in market economies, its impact on long-term development prospects, and the role of public policy in this regard. The issues to be investigated include the following: Are markets inherently equalizing? Can historical inequality account for divergent paths of development across countries? Can psychological features, such as peer effects and aspirations play a role in explaining inequality between races, castes or regions? How do these factors interact with capital market imperfections? What role does globalization or financial development play in the evolution of inequality within and across countries? What is the role of redistributive fiscal policy, regulations concerning child labor or financial markets in fostering capital accumulation and lowering inequality? The research will build a unified theory that incorporates the co-existence of educational and financial bequests in a dynamic model of competitive equilibrium to explain income inequality. The theory will be extended to analyze the long run implications of globalization and redistributive policies on income inequality.The scientific merit of this research lies in the ability of the theory to explain the persistence of inequality at the macroeconomic and microeconomic levels in market economies. The broader impact of this research is that the analytical framework developed can be used by a wide variety of researchers in different fields of economics to develop predictions concerning the long term effects of changes in technology, market regulations or interventionist policies on income inequality. The other broad impact is that it will feed into a textbook, which can be a useful teaching guide in courses on inequality, institutions and development at either the advanced undergraduate or graduate level. Finally, this research will foster collaboration between two American universities and a German university as well as contribute to graduate education by employing graduate students as research assistants