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This study* sheds light on how a wide range of insurance and redistribution mechanisms operate at different points in the income distribution, and on how their respective roles have changed over the past 40 years: We conduct a systematic empirical study of cross-sectional inequality in the US, integrating data from the Current Population Survey, the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, the Consumer Expenditure Survey, and the Survey of Consumer Finances. In order to understand how different dimensions of inequality are related via choices, markets and institutions, we follow the mapping suggested by the household budget constraint from individual wages to ...

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