This file is my general research statement, written at a fairly high level of abstraction; this is part of my job market file. The first chapter of my dissertation has received a Revise & Resubmit at the American Journal of Sociology. The second is approaching final submission to The Journal of Economic Inequality, and the third remains in manuscript form at present.
Published:
Income inequality in the United States rose substantially in the three and a half decades following 1980. Most sociological analyses of this phenomenon posit, implicitly or explicitly, that inequality is a function of differences in individuals’ labor-market characteristics, such as their level of education or their exposure to occupational closure. If this were true, labor income would be an important statistical contributor to inequality. However, the present paper demonstrates, using rich tax data, that most income inequality is instead driven by capital income, i.e., income received from the ownership of assets. Therefore, the unequal distribution of capital-ownership is instead the core inequality-generating mechanism. This study also provides a theoretical resolution to a puzzle posed by past analyses which stress the role of ownership relations. Eschewing the static class maps of those traditions, into which individuals fit poorly, it instead conceptualizes individuals as split into the roles of capital-owner and worker.