Special Issue | 23 May 2014The science of inequality

This week's cover

INTRODUCTION—Science's special section on the science of inequality uses fresh waves of data to explore the origins, impact, and future of inequality around the world. [Read the full introduction]

 

Science Video

Talking mobility

Social mobility is linked with where we are born—but what's behind those connections?
 
 
News

The ancient roots of the 1%

H. Pringle
Don't blame farming. Inequality got its start among resource-rich hunter-gatherers.
News

Our egalitarian Eden

E. Pennisi
Today's economic inequality goes back thousands of years but in evolutionary time it is relatively recent.
News

Physicists say it’s simple

A. Cho
If the poor will always be with us, an analogy to the second law of thermodynamics may explain why.
 
Editorial

Inevitable inequality?

A. Deaton
The distribution of wealth between and within countries stems from progress in health and wealth that began 250 years ago.
Review

Inequality in the long run

T. Piketty and E. Saez
Everything you wanted to know and weren’t afraid to ask about income and wealth.
News

Tax man’s gloomy message: the rich will get richer

E. Marshall
With a massive database of income tax records, a French superstar challenges conventional wisdom on inequality.
map
News Graphic

A world of difference

Emily Underwood
New data allow researchers to map inequality the world over.
 
 

Also in this Special Issue:


News

Can disparities be deadly?

E. Underwood
Controversial research explores whether living in an unequal society can make people sick.
Review

The intergenerational transmission of inequality

A. Aizer and J. Currie
Helping needy mothers helps their children.
Review

On the psychology of poverty

J. Haushofer and E. Fehr
Being poor exacts psychological costs, too.
News

While emerging economies boom, equality goes bust

M. Hvistendahl
Inequality spikes in developing nations around the world.
Review

Income inequality in the developing world

M. Ravallion
Growth does not widen the gap between rich and poor.
 
Review

Skills, education, and the rise of earnings inequality among the "other 99 percent"

D. H. Autor
A rising tide lifts some people's boats, but capsizes others
News

Tracking who climbs up—and who falls down—the ladder

J. Mervis
Researchers seek new ways to understand social mobility and opportunity in America
Book Review

Social mobility: Fixed forever?

M. Corak
A review of "The Son Also Rises Surnames and the History of Social Mobility" by Gregory Clark et al.
Science Insider Package

More on the science of inequality

J. Mervis
How two social scientists got unique access to tax records, the meaning of "IGE" and more…
Science Video

Millennials on Mobility

Join two Washington D.C.-based artists for dinner as they share what social mobility means to their generation.
 
 
 

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