Part I: Concepts and approaches 1. Income distribution in the history of economic thought Agnar Sandmo 2. Inequality, income and well-being Marc Fleurbaey, Erik Schokkaert and Koen Decancq 3. Multi-dimensional inequality and poverty Andrea Brandolini and Rolf Aaberge 4. Equality of opportunity John E. Roemer and Alain Trannoy 5. Polarization Jean-Yves Duclos 6. Statistical methods for distributional analysis Frank Cowell and Emmanuel Flachaire Part II Evidence 7. Long-run trends in the distribution of income and wealth Daniel Waldenstrom and Jesper Roine 8. Post-1970 trends in within-country inequality and poverty Timothy Michael Smeeding, Jeffrey Thompson and Salvatore Morelli 9. Post-1970 trends in inequality and poverty in developing and emerging countries Facundo Alvaredo and Leonardo Gasparini 10. Income mobility Markus Jantti and Stephen Jenkins 11. The Global distribution of income Sudhir Anand and Paul Segal 12. Gender inequality Dominique Meurs and Sophie Ponthieux 13. Experimental and survey evidence about attitudes to inequality Andrew Clark and Conchita d'Ambrosio

"Thirteen papers explore advances made in the past fifteen years in understanding the extent, causes, and consequences of inequality." --Journal of Economic Literature, Handbook of Income Distribution, Vol 2A "The literature on income distribution has undergone transformative change in the decade and a half since the first Handbook appeared. These timely new volumes by recognized scholars provide a comprehensive review of our current state of understanding and the challenges that inequality poses." --Robin Boadway, Queens University "Few issues are more topical, in both the academic and policy debates, than the distribution of income and wealth. This handbook takes the reader to the frontier of all aspects of these debates: its superb contributions, by the foremost experts in the field, cover historical developments, data issues, statistical methods, theoretical approaches, and policy implications. A must for academics and interested general readers alike." --Roberto Perotti, Università Bocconi "The increase in inequality is a pressing problem. Too often it is addressed with uninformed, oversimplified ideological slogans. If you want to go beyond those and really learn about this complicated topic, this is the essential and most complete book to read. A gem." --Alberto Alesina, Harvard University "In every academic discipline, fads come and fads go. But in economics the very core of our subject is the study of the distribution of income and well-being across the population. From this analysis stems all our best theories and our best empirical research. This Handbook distills that wisdom and presents the latest findings by those who happen to be giants in our discipline. Its chapters will provide the platform from which will emerge the most exciting and important research for decades to come." --Danny Quah, London School of Economics

The volumes define and organize key areas of income distribution studies Contributors focus on identifying newly developing questions and opportunities for future research The authoritative articles emphasize the ways that income mobility and inequality studies have recently gained greater political significance