Ep. 85 Expert Researcher Wojciech Kopczuk Explains Why Economists Have Such Different Estimates of Inequality in Wealth Concentration and Tax Payments
Wojciech Kopczuk is a Columbia economics professor who co-authored (in 2004) one of the leading estimates of wealth concentration in the literature, along with current progressive darling Emmanuel Saez. But ever since Thomas Piketty’s bestselling book on wealth inequality, Saez has published research with Gabriel Zucman, showing dramatically different results. Kopczuk explains why economists can disagree on the basic facts of wealth concentration, and why there is controversy about Saez and Zucman’s latest claim that billionaires pay a lower income tax rate than the working class.
Mentioned in the Episode and Other Links of Interest:
- The YouTube video version of this interview (highly recommended because of supporting graphs).
- Wojciech Kopczuk’s homepage at Columbia University.
- Kopczuk and Saez’s 2004 article on wealth inequality using estate tax data.
- Saez and Zucman’s 2019 New York Times article.
- Kopczuk’s NBER paper contrasting the different measures of wealth inequality.
- Help support the Bob Murphy Show.
The audio production for this episode was provided by Podsworth Media.
About the author, Robert
Christian and economist, Chief Economist at infineo, and Senior Fellow with the Mises Institute.