World Inequality Database

World Inequality Database
source
Name	World Inequality Database
Formation	2011
Founder	Thomas Piketty; Emmanuel Saez; Gabriel Zucman
Type	Research project
Purpose	Global income and wealth inequality data and analysis
Headquarters	Paris
Region served	Global
Leader title	Directors
Leader name	Thomas Piketty; Emmanuel Saez; Gabriel Zucman
Website	[official site]

Contents

World Inequality Database

The World Inequality Database is an international research initiative compiling harmonized statistics on income and wealth distribution across countries, linking microdata and national accounts for comparative analysis. It supports research by economists, historians, policymakers and institutions including International Monetary Fund, World Bank, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, United Nations Development Programme, and academics at universities such as Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, London School of Economics, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and University of California, Berkeley. The project informs debates involving figures like Joseph Stiglitz, Amartya Sen, Angus Deaton, Paul Krugman, and institutions such as International Labour Organization.

Overview

The database provides harmonized series on top income shares, wealth concentration, and distributional national accounts enabling comparisons across countries such as United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, China, India, Brazil, South Africa, Japan, Canada and regions like European Union. It integrates sources ranging from household surveys used by Luxembourg Income Study and Survey of Consumer Finances to tax records compiled by fiscal authorities like the Internal Revenue Service and ministries in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Spain, Italy and Portugal. The work is frequently cited in reports by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, International Monetary Fund, United Nations, OECD, World Bank Group and by nongovernmental organizations such as Oxfam and Transparency International.

Initiated in the early 2010s by economists including Thomas Piketty, Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman, the project built on earlier efforts by the Luxembourg Income Study, Atkinson Commission, and historical inequalities research at institutions like École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales and Paris School of Economics. It expanded through collaborations with national statistical offices such as INSEE (France), Office for National Statistics (United Kingdom), U.S. Census Bureau, and central banks including Bank of England and Federal Reserve Board. Major milestones include synthesis publications coauthored with researchers from London School of Economics, Princeton University, Columbia University, University of Oxford, and the release of interactive tools paralleled by data platforms at Harvard Dataverse and initiatives connected to The Econometric Society.

The project merges administrative tax data, national accounts produced by agencies like Eurostat, survey datasets from providers such as the Luxembourg Income Study and statistical bureaus including Statistics Canada and Australian Bureau of Statistics, and wealth records linked to central banks like European Central Bank. Methodological innovations draw on techniques advanced by scholars at National Bureau of Economic Research, Institute for Fiscal Studies, Brookings Institution, and Peterson Institute for International Economics to reconcile fiscal records with household surveys and account for top coding, tax evasion, and shadow economy estimates referenced in studies by Alberto Alesina and Dani Rodrik. The database publishes transparent protocols comparable to guidelines from International Labour Organization and international statistical standards from United Nations Statistical Commission.

Analyses derived from the database have been featured in books and articles authored or cited by Thomas Piketty (notably in works associated with École normale supérieure debates), Emmanuel Saez, Gabriel Zucman, and collaborators from London School of Economics and Harvard University. Influential findings document rising top income shares in United States and China, divergent trends in Nordic countries such as Sweden and Denmark, lasting wealth concentration in France and United Kingdom, and stark inequality in South Africa and Brazil. Publications have influenced policy discussions in forums like G20, World Economic Forum, United Nations General Assembly, and national parliaments, and informed proposals debated by political figures in France and United States as well as nongovernmental campaigns by Oxfam and ActionAid.

The initiative is coordinated by academic directors affiliated with Paris School of Economics, University of California, Berkeley, and University of California, Berkeley research centers, and involves data teams across institutions such as London School of Economics, Harvard University, École d'économie de Paris and Sciences Po. Funding and partnerships have included grants and support from foundations and institutions like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, European Research Council, National Science Foundation, Ford Foundation, and collaborative arrangements with central banks and statistical offices including Banco de México and Banco Central do Brasil.

Critiques stem from scholars and institutions including commentators associated with Institute of Economic Affairs, Cato Institute, Hoover Institution, and some central bank researchers who challenge measurement assumptions, treatment of capital gains, and adjustments for tax avoidance described in debates linked to Joseph Stiglitz and Paul Krugman critiques of redistribution policy. Disputes have arisen over data transparency, attribution of causal drivers of inequality discussed in venues like Brookings Institution seminars and Council on Foreign Relations panels, and over normative policy implications cited in media outlets such as The New York Times, Le Monde, Financial Times and The Economist.

Category:Databases Category:Economic research institutions