Rising inequality has two implications for individuals’ ability to rebound from temporary setbacks and contribute to economic growth: poorer households don’t have savings to fall back on during temporary income losses, and richer households are able to self-insure and find social insurance programs less valuable. This research will investigate whether and how credit policies could help lower-income individuals better weather shocks and contribute to economic growth.

Researchers increasingly point out the importance of a child’s early years for the development of skills that will help them succeed later in life. Much of this scholarship focuses on the importance of cognitive skills, such as reading, but the development of non-cognitive skills, such as motivation and interpersonal skills, is also critical. These five researchers will look at how inequality across home environments affects the development of these non-cognitive skills. This channel could have major consequences for the life prospects of children, as economic inequality across families may be magnified for the next generation. Understanding these differences is vital to improving the prospects for disadvantaged children and the growth prospects for our economy.

Low-income students disproportionately attend for-profit colleges and universities where low graduation rates and high levels of student debt are common. This research will utilize administrative data to test whether new rules that require graduation and debt standards change matriculation at for-profit schools.

This research will examine the implications of tax structures for inequality and growth, focusing on innovation. The researcher will investigate this question by looking at cross-national differences in tax policy and innovation.

This research will explore political support for different kinds of tax structures. Better understanding tax preferences is key to better understanding the range of possible tax policies and their contribution to inequality and growth.

This research will look at how the wealthy re-label income and wealth to avoid taxes. This study will help us better understand the distribution of wealth and income at the very top of the distribution, as well as the implications of mislabeling for capital accumulation and economic growth.