American Economic Association Nashville, TN 0022-8282 Journal of Economic Literature http://www.aeaweb.org/journal.html 49 1 March 2011 http://www.aeaweb.org/issue.php?journal=JEL&volume=49&issue=1 Journal Article Front Matter 1 2 http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/jel.49.1.1 10.1257/jel.49.1.1 American Economic Association Nashville, TN 0022-8282 Journal of Economic Literature http://www.aeaweb.org/journal.html 49 1 March 2011 http://www.aeaweb.org/issue.php?journal=JEL&volume=49&issue=1 Articles Top Incomes in the Long Run of History Anthony B.AtkinsonNuffield College, U Oxford and London School of Economics ThomasPikettyParis School of Economics EmmanuelSaezU CA, Berkeley 3 71 A recent literature has constructed top income shares time series over the long run for more than twenty countries using income tax statistics. Top incomes represent a small share of the population but a very significant share of total income and total taxes paid. Hence, aggregate economic growth per capita and Gini inequality indexes are sensitive to excluding or including top incomes. We discuss the estimation methods and issues that arise when constructing top income share series, including income definition and comparability over time and across countries, tax avoidance, and tax evasion. We provide a summary of the key empirical findings. Most countries experience a dramatic drop in top income shares in the first part of the twentieth century in general due to shocks to top capital incomes during the wars and depression shocks. Top income shares do not recover in the immediate postwar decades. However, over the last thirty years, top income shares have increased substantially in English speaking countries and in India and China but not in continental European countries or Japan. This increase is due in part to an unprecedented surge in top wage incomes. As a result, wage income comprises a larger fraction of top incomes than in the past. Finally, we discuss the theoretical and empirical models that have been proposed to account for the facts and the main questions that remain open. (JEL D31, D63, H26, N30) http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/jel.49.1.3 10.1257/jel.49.1.3 American Economic Association Nashville, TN 0022-8282 Journal of Economic Literature http://www.aeaweb.org/journal.html 49 1 March 2011 http://www.aeaweb.org/issue.php?journal=JEL&volume=49&issue=1 Articles Frontiers of Real-Time Data Analysis DeanCroushoreU Richmond and Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia 72 100 In the past ten years, researchers have explored the impact of data revisions in many different contexts. Researchers have examined the properties of data revisions, how structural modeling is affected by data revisions, how data revisions affect forecasting, the impact of data revisions on monetary policy analysis, and the use of real-time data in current analysis. This paper summarizes many of the questions for which real-time data analysis has provided answers. In addition, researchers and institutions have developed better real-time data sets around the world. Still, additional research is needed in key areas and research to date has uncovered even more fruitful areas worth exploring. ( JEL C52, C53, C80, E01) http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/jel.49.1.72 10.1257/jel.49.1.72 American Economic Association Nashville, TN 0022-8282 Journal of Economic Literature http://www.aeaweb.org/journal.html 49 1 March 2011 http://www.aeaweb.org/issue.php?journal=JEL&volume=49&issue=1 Articles Thinking about the Firm: A Review of Daniel Spulber's The Theory of the Firm OliverHartHarvard U 101 13 In this review, I describe how economists have moved beyond the firm as a black box to incorporate incentives, internal organization, and firm boundaries. I then turn to the way that the theory of the firm is treated in Daniel Spulber's book The Theory of the Firm: Microeconomics with Endogenous Entrepreneurs, Firms, Markets, and Organizations. Spulber's goal is to explain why firms exist, how they are established, and what they contribute to the economy. To accomplish this, Spulber defines a firm to be a transaction institution whose objectives differ from those of its owners. For Spulber, this separation is the key difference between the firm and direct exchange between consumers. I raise questions about whether this is a useful basis for a theory of the firm. (JEL D21) http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/jel.49.1.101 10.1257/jel.49.1.101 American Economic Association Nashville, TN 0022-8282 Journal of Economic Literature http://www.aeaweb.org/journal.html 49 1 March 2011 http://www.aeaweb.org/issue.php?journal=JEL&volume=49&issue=1 Forum on Assessing The Squam Lake Report The Squam Lake Report: Commentary Charles A. E.GoodhartLondon School of Economics 114 19 The idea of the Squam Lake Report was to bring together some fifteen leading U.S. financial economists to see what regulatory changes they could jointly agree and thereby influence policy discussions. Seeking to find a consensus, however, meant that many issues were not mentioned in the Report, e.g., structural limitations, Pigovian taxes, procyclicality, and boundary problems between banks and nonbanks. But what is presented is generally, though not invariably, admirable, and the book is beautifully written in good, easily accessible English. (JEL E44, E52, G01, G21, G28, L51) http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/jel.49.1.114 10.1257/jel.49.1.114 American Economic Association Nashville, TN 0022-8282 Journal of Economic Literature http://www.aeaweb.org/journal.html 49 1 March 2011 http://www.aeaweb.org/issue.php?journal=JEL&volume=49&issue=1 Forum on Assessing The Squam Lake Report Financial Regulation: Lessons from the Recent Financial Crises TakeoHoshiU CA, San Diego 120 28 The experiences of the financial crises in the United States recently and in Japan in the 1990s suggest two lessons for future financial regulations. First, the lack of an orderly resolution mechanism for large and complex financial institutions created serious problems. Second, it is important to distinguish between individual financial institutions' health and stability of the whole financial system. Policy recommendations in the Squam Lake Report address these issues well. The Dodd-Frank Act could provide an effective regulatory framework to implement these recommendations, but the success depends on the details of the regulations that have not been specified. (JEL E44, E52, G01, G21, G28, L51) http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/jel.49.1.120 10.1257/jel.49.1.120 American Economic Association Nashville, TN 0022-8282 Journal of Economic Literature http://www.aeaweb.org/journal.html 49 1 March 2011 http://www.aeaweb.org/issue.php?journal=JEL&volume=49&issue=1 Journal Article Book Reviews 129 70 Links to individual book reviews now available online. http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/jel.49.1.129 10.1257/jel.49.1.129 American Economic Association Nashville, TN 0022-8282 Journal of Economic Literature http://www.aeaweb.org/journal.html 49 1 March 2011 http://www.aeaweb.org/issue.php?journal=JEL&volume=49&issue=1 Journal Article Annotated Listing of New Books 171 269 http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/jel.49.1.171 10.1257/jel.49.1.171 American Economic Association Nashville, TN 0022-8282 Journal of Economic Literature http://www.aeaweb.org/journal.html 49 1 March 2011 http://www.aeaweb.org/issue.php?journal=JEL&volume=49&issue=1 Journal Article JEL Classification System 270 84 http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/jel.49.1.270 10.1257/jel.49.1.270