Emmanuel Saez

Emmanuel Saez
Name	Emmanuel Saez
Birth date	1972
Birth place	Amiens, France
Nationality	French-American
Alma mater	École Normale Supérieure, Université Paris-Sud (Paris XI), Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Occupation	Economist, Professor
Institutions	University of California, Berkeley, National Bureau of Economic Research, École Normale Supérieure
Field	Public finance, Income inequality, Tax policy

Emmanuel Saez is a French-born economist noted for empirical research on income and wealth distribution, taxation, and social mobility. He is known for developing widely used datasets on top income shares and for collaborative work on optimal taxation theory. His research has informed academics, policymakers, and media debates about inequality in countries such as the United States, France, and across Europe.

Early life and education

Saez was born in Amiens and educated in France and the United States, attending the École Normale Supérieure and earning degrees from Université Paris-Sud (Paris XI) before completing a Ph.D. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. During his formative years he interacted with scholars associated with French economics, the Cambridge School, and researchers linked to tax policy debates in the European Union and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. His doctoral work built on methods used by economists who studied income distribution and social mobility in the twentieth century.

Academic career and positions

Saez has held faculty positions at University of California, Berkeley and affiliations with research organizations including the National Bureau of Economic Research and the Centre de Recerca en Economia Internacional. He has served as a visiting scholar at institutions such as Harvard University, Princeton University, and London School of Economics, and has collaborated with colleagues at University of Chicago and Yale University. Saez has been involved with editorial boards of journals connected to American Economic Association venues and has taught graduate courses alongside faculty from Columbia University and Stanford University.

Research and contributions

Saez is best known for constructing and updating high-quality series on top income and wealth shares using tax-return microdata, a methodology that complements work by researchers at Institute for Fiscal Studies, OECD, and national statistical offices. He has collaborated extensively with Thomas Piketty and Gabriel Zucman, producing influential analyses of long-run trends in inequality, capital accumulation, and taxation across countries such as the United States, France, and United Kingdom. His theoretical contributions to optimal tax theory draw on models developed by James Mirrlees, Joseph Stiglitz, and Tony Atkinson, addressing questions about marginal tax rates, redistribution, and labor supply incentives. Empirical papers by Saez have examined the effects of top marginal tax rate reforms in the 1980s and 1990s, complementing empirical strands from scholars at Brookings Institution, National Bureau of Economic Research, and International Monetary Fund. Saez has also contributed to literature on intergenerational mobility alongside researchers from Princeton University and Stanford University.

Awards and honors

Saez's work has received recognition including prizes and fellowships from bodies such as the John Bates Clark Medal-level committees, research grants from the National Science Foundation, and awards associated with the European Economic Association. He is elected as a fellow of organizations comparable to the Econometric Society and has been honored with visiting scholar appointments at institutes like the Institute for Advanced Study and the Russell Sage Foundation.

Public policy engagement and influence

Saez's findings on rising top income shares have been cited in policy debates in capitals including Washington, D.C., Paris, and London. He has testified or advised legislators and agencies analogous to the U.S. Congress budget committees, contributed to reports produced by think tanks such as the Brookings Institution and Peterson Institute for International Economics, and engaged with civil society organizations involved in taxation and social policy. Media outlets and documentary projects have featured his analyses alongside commentary by economists like Paul Krugman, Joseph Stiglitz, and Thomas Piketty. His empirical estimates have been used to evaluate proposals for progressive taxation, wealth taxes, and reforms inspired by models from Mirrlees Review-style exercises.

Selected publications and works

- Saez, with Thomas Piketty and Gabriel Zucman: long-run series on income and wealth concentration across countries (multiple articles in leading journals). - Saez: empirical studies of top marginal tax rates and income reporting responses, published in journals read by members of the American Economic Association. - Saez & collaborators: policy-oriented papers on optimal taxation and redistribution, building on frameworks by James Mirrlees and Tony Atkinson. - Saez & Zucman: analyses of wealth accumulation and tax avoidance with implications for proposals discussed in European Union and United States policy circles.

Category:French economists Category:Public finance economists Category:Berkeley faculty