Inequality has become again a prominent topic of global debate. A largely understudied area is the distribution of wealth. A new GLO Cluster “Labor and Wealth” deals with the human resources challenges. The GLO Cluster Lead is GLO Fellow Eva Sierminska (LISER, the Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research) currently visiting the University of Arizona.

Labor and Wealth — GLO Cluster Abstract

The Great Recession and the retrenchment of welfare states have increased the role of private assets for the economy and the household.  In addition, inheritance and gifts are shown to affect labor market decisions. At the same time, labor market outcomes and decisions play a dominant role in wealth accumulation for a majority of the population. The role of institutions, policies and tax structures in this context is also substantial. The recent advances in data collection have spurred and enabled a new interest in these themes.

The GLO cluster Labor and Wealth focuses on unraveling these themes into systematic findings while focusing on intra-household decision making, financial education and labor market outcomes. Identifying the role of institution in this respect can help identify policies needed to reduce vulnerabilities among households (throughout the wealth distribution).

GLO Fellow Eva Sierminska is also a Managing Editor of the Journal of Income Distribution that currently has a Call for Papers for a Special Issue on “Comparative Wealth and Income Research” (deadline July 31, 2017).

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