Peter H. Lindert

Bio: Peter H. Lindert is an academic researcher from University of California, Davis. The author has contributed to research in topics: Economic inequality & Inequality. The author has an hindex of 44, co-authored 126 publications receiving 9470 citations. Previous affiliations of Peter H. Lindert include National Bureau of Economic Research & University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Capital in the 21st Century

Abstract: On 19 December 2014, the Centre for Economic Policy Research and the Bank of England hosted a discussion forum based around Thomas Piketty’s book, Capital in the twenty-first century, with a number of economists from academia, public sector bodies and private sector institutions. Four speakers presented research on various issues relating to inequality, including: access to education; wealth and taxation policy; and the role of governance and institutions. This article presents each speaker’s key arguments, and includes a summary of the open-floor debate that followed.

Growing Public: Social Spending and Economic Growth Since the Eighteenth Century

Abstract: Part V. The Underlying Framework: 13. A minimal theory of social transfers 14. A guide to the tests Part VI. Accounting for Social Spending, Jobs and Growth: 15. Explaining the rise of mass public schooling 16. Explaining the rise of social transfers 17. What drove postwar social spending? 18. Social transfers hardly affected growth 19. Reconciling unemployment and growth in the OECD Appendices.

Does Globalization Make the World More Unequal

Abstract: The world economy has become more unequal over the last two centuries. Since within- country inequality exhibits no ubiquitous trend, it follows that virtually all of the observed rise in world income inequality has been driven by widening gaps between nations, while almost none of it has driven by widening gaps within nations. Meanwhile, the world economy has become much more globally integrated over the past two centuries. If correlation meant causation, these facts would imply that globalization has raised inequality between nations, but that it has had no clear effect on inequality within nations. This paper argues that the likely impact of globalization on world inequality has been very different from what these simple correlations suggest. Globalization probably mitigated rising inequality between participating nations. The nations that gained the most from globalization are those poor ones that changed their policies to exploit it, while the ones that gained the least did not, or were too isolated to do so. The effect of globalization on inequality within nations has gone both ways, but here too those who have lost the most from globalization typically have been the excluded non-participants. In any case far too small to explain the observed long run rise in world inequality.

Income Distribution and Macroeconomics

Abstract: This paper analyzes the role of wealth distribution in macroeconomics through investment in human capital. It is shown that in the presence of credit markets' imperfections and indivisibilities in investment in human capital, the initial distribution of wealth affects aggregate output and investment both in the short and in the long run, as there are multiple steady states. This paper therefore provides an additional explanation for the persistent differences in per-capita output across countries. Furthermore, the paper shows that cross-country differences in macroeconomic adjustment to aggregate shocks can be attributed, among other factors, to differences in wealth and income distribution across countries.

Economic growth and income inequality

Abstract: We investigate whether income inequality affects subsequent growth in a cross-country sample for 1965-90, using the models of Barro (1997), Bleaney and Nishiyama (2002) and Sachs and Warner (1997), with negative results. We then investigate the evolution of income inequality over the same period and its correlation with growth. The dominating feature is inequality convergence across countries. This convergence has been significantly faster amongst developed countries. Growth does not appear to influence the evolution of inequality over time. Outline