Neoclassical economists don’t focus on inequality, in their teaching, research, or policy advice. But they’ve been forced to confront the problem because of the data compiled by Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez documenting a persistent and growing inequality in the distribution of income in the United States (not to mention the general discontent about CEO salaries, government bail-outs of banks that are “too big to fail,” the lack of health care, and much else).
The response of neoclassical economists has been to deny the existence of a problem, by arguing:
- inequality doesn’t exist (Alan Reynolds)
- inequality hasn’t increased by as much as people think (Scott Winship)
- even if inequality has been growing, it’s not the real problem (Will Wilkinson)
Still, the problem of inequality is not going away, nor are its consequences. . .
occasional links & commentary 
[…] Such as the MacArthur Foundation, when it decided to award two of this year’s “genius” grants to David Simon and Emmanuel Saez. […]
[…] in the rich world.” Yes, as I have documented from the very beginning on this blog (e.g., here, here, and here), there are plenty of mainstream economists who have attempted to prove that […]
[…] risen in the rich world.” Yes, as I have documented from the very beginning on this blog (e.g., here, here, and here), there are plenty of mainstream economists who have attempted to prove that […]