We investigate the association between adult health and the income inequality they experienced as children up to 80 years earlier. Our inequality data track shares of national income held by top percentiles from 1913 to 2009. We average those data over the same early-life years and merge them to individual data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics data for 1984-2009. Controlling for demograp...

This paper addresses the complex relationship between geography and macroeconomic growth. It investigates the ways in which geography may matter directly for growth, controlling for economic policies and institutions, as well as the effects of geography on policy choices and institutions. It finds that location and climate have large effects on income levels and income growth through their effe...

This paper shows that growth and income distribution dynamics are closely linked through occupation, financial intermediation, and education. We use the micro data from Thailand for 1976-1996. The compositional changes across these characteristics account for half of the Thai inequality increase and forty percent of the Thai growth and poverty reduction. Financial deepening and educational expa...

In recent years, with the implementation of the tax rate increases and ad hoc earnings base increases included in the 1977 amendments to the Social Security Act, many observers have noted that Social Security taxes (for the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI), Disability Insurance (DI), and Hospital Insurance (HI) programs combined) now exceed Federal income taxes for many families. A compar...

Energy Institute at Haas working papers are circulated for discussion and comment purposes. They have not been peer-reviewed or been subject to review by any editorial board. Short sections of text, not to exceed two paragraphs, may be quoted without explicit permission provided that full credit is given to the source. Abstract: Since 2001, California's investor-owned utilities have operated wi...