Inequality and Economic Growth: Implications for Australia and the OECD

The publication of Piketty's highly influential book, Capital in the 21st Century, has sparked a surge in research on inequality to address the increased public concern about inequality and the negative side-effects of inequality such as reduced growth. Piketty proposes three laws that explain and predict inequality paths over time. However, the empirical evidence and the theoretical foundations for Piketty's laws are strikingly lacking. Constructing annual macroeconomic data on inequality and several key variables for Australia and other OECD countries over two centuries, this project will examine and extend Piketty's laws and investigate factors that shape inequality and its relation to growth.