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Reposted by Morten N. Støstad

Mark G. Sheppard @markgsheppard.com · Jul 22

Research by @mortenstostad.bsky.social & Lobeck finds most say rising inequality fuels many social ills — while narrowing it boosts trust, well‑being, democracy, public services, growth & innovation. #EconSky

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Morten N. Støstad @mortenstostad.bsky.social · Jul 5

Could giving $1,000 to the poor and $2,000 to the rich be a progressive policy?

Yes.

(For legal purposes I do not endorse this policy)

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Reposted by Morten N. Støstad

Wouter Leenders @leenders.bsky.social · Apr 21

According to the latest BEA data for Q4 2024, profits booked in Ireland by US multinationals have bounced back and reached a new high.

The UK and Singapore are now nearly as important for US multinationals' profits as the Netherlands. Profits booked in Mexico and Canada remain relatively small.

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Morten N. Støstad @mortenstostad.bsky.social · Apr 19

It is even possible that inequality could have _positive_ externality effects, increasing innovation and growth.

Students are not taught this idea either. Societal functioning is implicitly kept entirely separate from the economic distribution.

Surely no one believes this.

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Morten N. Støstad @mortenstostad.bsky.social · Apr 19

It makes zero sense that students leave their degrees thinking inequality is a pure equity issue.

Particularly in the world we live in, where the only developed country to drastically increase inequality in recent decades is also the only one undergoing a constitutional crisis.

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Morten N. Støstad @mortenstostad.bsky.social · Apr 19

In a world where it is increasingly clear that economic inequality is an externality -- as it weakens political systems, increases crime and unrest, and decreases trust -- it is malpractice not to teach students this in ECON101.

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Reposted by Morten N. Støstad

Wouter Leenders @leenders.bsky.social · Apr 17

Just finished teaching a class on taxation in the Economics and Public Policy master's at @sciencespo.bsky.social.

My slides, heavily inspired by courses by Charles Brendon, @gabrielzucman.bsky.social, and Emmanuel Saez, are here:

👉 wouterleenders.eu/KAFP3355/06_...

Feedback very welcome!

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Morten N. Støstad @mortenstostad.bsky.social · Mar 26

There is an over-supply of PhDs that want to do research-adjacent activities. There is an under-supply of replication.

Solution: Large government-funded replication institutes. These institutes would be strong deterrents for bad research, improving overall research quality.

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Morten N. Støstad @mortenstostad.bsky.social · Mar 25

NEW: A groundbreaking survey on fairness across the world with 65,000 individuals across 60 countries -- from colleagues at @nhhecon.bsky.social.

Key findings:

* The West is especially meritocratic.
* What drives inequality? Globally, people believe luck matters more than merit.

bit.ly/41V6zJe

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Morten N. Støstad @mortenstostad.bsky.social · Mar 13

I wish BlueSky added a good algorithm. This is the huge, huge problem with this website. I come on here to see the biggest, most interesting things that are happening online -- but "Discover" is just very bad, approaching current Twitter levels. Not sure if this is everyone's experience?

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Morten N. Støstad @mortenstostad.bsky.social · Mar 13

Twitter's "For you" page has become complete slop. I don't see big posts from accounts I follow, just terrible content and right-wing propaganda. "Following", meanwhile, is like the Facebook feed of whoever posted in the last hour.

It's really taken a complete nosedive.

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Morten N. Støstad @mortenstostad.bsky.social · Mar 9

The problem with BlueSky is that it's so dead, at least for me. Not sure if I'm missing something or if people just gave up on social media altogether. It's a shame, community is good.

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Morten N. Støstad @mortenstostad.bsky.social · Mar 9

I'm not sure if it's changes in the algorithm or everyone leaving, but Twitter is becoming more unbearable every day. How's everyone doing on BSky?

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Morten N. Støstad @mortenstostad.bsky.social · Feb 26

A point about top taxation I think is overlooked is that both the mechanical effect and behavioral responses reduce inequality.

The mechanical effect also collects revenue, which is great. But both reduce inequality.

Morten N. Støstad @mortenstostad.bsky.social · Jan 28

Come join us at the Berkeley Stone Center Summer School on Inequality! Great opportunity for early-stage PhDs to get a crash course on modern inequality research.

Gabriel Zucman @gabrielzucman.bsky.social · Jan 28

🚨Applications are now open for the 2025 Berkeley Stone center Summer School on inequality

A unique program geared towards students at the beginning of their PhD, taught by leading scholars in the field, all costs covered!

Apply now

👇👇👇

sites.google.com/berkeley.edu...

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Morten N. Støstad @mortenstostad.bsky.social · Dec 28

I've been posting both here and on Twitter lately. The engagement on both:

(Likes on BSky / Likes on Twitter)
0 - 16
4 - 589
0 - 5
2 - 190

...where is everyone? Any hints welcome!

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Morten N. Støstad @mortenstostad.bsky.social · Dec 25

In reality we're almost certainly somewhere in the middle. There is not nearly enough research on the trade-off, however.

Morten N. Støstad @mortenstostad.bsky.social · Dec 25

If what really matters to people is relative incomes (think Easterlin paradox), then the social planner should minimize inequality at all costs

If what really matters is absolute incomes, then the social planner should maximize incomes. Inequality still matters (DMUI), but less.

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Morten N. Støstad @mortenstostad.bsky.social · Dec 25

A short bonus:

This paper relates to a broader point I find fascinating, which is that relative income concerns in a population immediately means that inequality is an externality for the social planner.

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Morten N. Støstad @mortenstostad.bsky.social · Dec 25

We usually talk about inequality and fairness, but I firmly believe that inequality is primarily an efficiency concern.

Unequal countries function worse than equal countries in many, many ways. The incentive benefits of inequality have to be huge to make up those costs.

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Morten N. Støstad @mortenstostad.bsky.social · Dec 25

The resulting efficiency cost of inequality (an increased chance of crisis) implies an inequality externality.

This adds to a long and growing literature on inequality's externality effects.

Here are a few other macro examples (there are many others):

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Morten N. Støstad @mortenstostad.bsky.social · Dec 25

The relevant channel is housing status - you want more because I have more and vice versa. This drives up spending and debt. The authors argue that this can explain 15% of the increase in the mortgage-to-income ratio.

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Morten N. Støstad @mortenstostad.bsky.social · Dec 25

A new paper argues that rising inequality contributed to the pre-2007 crisis debt boom.

The idea is that people increased their housing expenditure to keep up with their neighbors' increased spending, fueling unsustainable demand.

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Morten N. Støstad @mortenstostad.bsky.social · Dec 20

Both Republicans and Democrats are likely to think inequality worsens democratic institutions.

An AI summary of their explanations when asked why:

"Economic inequality enables the wealthy to exert disproportionate influence on political processes, [...] undermining democracy."

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Morten N. Støstad @mortenstostad.bsky.social · Dec 14

I did. They sent a shipping notification a long time ago, so I'm assuming it was lost in transit somehow. Got in touch with them only recently, so I'm sure it'll get here eventually. Looking forward to it in any case!

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