Facundo Alvaredo

Research website

Email

Affiliations

Co-Director, World Inequality Database (formerly, the World Wealth and Income Database, and even before, the World Top Incomes Database)

Co-Director, World Inequality Lab

Associate Member, Paris School of Economics

Senior Fellow, INET and Dept. of Social Policy and Intervention, Oxford University

Researcher IIEP-UBA-CONICET

Research Fellow CEPR

Research Fellow CESifo

Member of ECINEQ Council

Education

PhD in Economics, Paris School of Economics/École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales

Licenciado in Economics, Universidad de Buenos Aires

Research Interests

Public Economics, Income and Wealth Inequality, Economic History, History of Economic Doctrines, (Classical) Political Economy

Publications

Journal Articles

Acciari, Paolo, F. Alvaredo and Salvatore Morelli. 2024. The concentration of personal wealth in Italy 1995-2016. Journal of the European Economic Association, 22(3): 1228-1274. pdf.  Previous version as WID.world WP 14/2021 & CEPR DP 16053. pdf.

Alvaredo, F., François Bourguignon, Francisco Ferreira and Nora Lustig. 2024. Inequality Bands: Seventy-five years of measuring income inequality in Latin America. Forthcoming Oxford Open Economics. Previous versions as CEPR WP 18852, pdf; InterAmerican Development Bank Working Paper 0152, pdf; and LACIR-International Inequalities Institute Working Paper 111, pdf

Alvaredo, F., and Anthony B. Atkinson. 2022. Top Incomes in South Africa in the Twentieth Century. Cliometrica, 16:477-546. pdf.  Previous version as Colonial Rule, Apartheid and Natural Resources: Top Incomes in South Africa 1903-2007. OxCarre Research Paper 46 and CEPR DP 8155. pdf.

Alvaredo, F., Denis Cogneau and Thomas Piketty. 2021. Income inequality under colonial rule. Evidence from French Algeria, Tunisia, Cameroon, and Vietnam, and comparison with the British Empire 1920-1960. Journal of Development Economics, 152. pdf. Previous versions as CEPR DP 14969, pdf (2020) and pdf (2021).

Alvaredo, F., L. Chancel, Thomas Piketty, Emmanuel Saez, and Gabriel Zucman. 2020. Towards a System of Distributional National Accounts.  Économie et Statistique/Economics and Statistics, 517-518-519: 41-59. pdf (English). pdf (Français).

Alvaredo, F., Lydia Assouad and Thomas Piketty. 2019. Measuring lnequality in the Middle East 1990-2016: The World's Most Unequal Region? Review of Income and Wealth, 65(4): 685-711. pdf. appendix.

Alvaredo, F., Anthony B. Atkinson, and Salvatore Morelli. 2018. Top wealth shares in the UK over more than a century. Journal of Public Economics, 162: 26-47. pdf. appendix. Longer version published as CEPR DP 11759. pdf.

Alvaredo, F., L. Chancel, Thomas Piketty, Emmanuel Saez, and Gabriel Zucman. 2018. The elephant curve of global inequality and growth. American Economic Review Papers & Proceedings, 108:103-108. pdf.

Alvaredo, F., Guillermo Cruces, and Leonardo Gasparini. 2018. A Short Episodic History of Income Distribution in Argentina. Latin American Economic Review, 27(7). pdf.

Alvaredo, F., L. Chancel, Thomas Piketty, Emmanuel Saez, and Gabriel Zucman. 2017. Global Inequality Dynamics: New Findings from WID.world. American Economic Review Papers & Proceedings. 107(5): 404-409. pdf. Slightly longer version published as NBER WP 23119. pdf.

Alvaredo, F., Bertrand Garbinti, and T. Piketty. 2017. On the share of inheritance in aggregate wealth. Europe and the United States 1900-2010. Economica, 84: 239-260. pdf.

Alvaredo, F., Thomas Breda, Barra Roantree, and Emmanuel Saez. 2017. Contribution ceilings and the incidence of payroll taxes. De Economist-The Netherlands Economic Review. 165: 129–140. pdf.

Alvaredo, F., Augustin Bergeron, and Guilhem Cassan. 2017. Income concentration in British India 1885-1946. Journal of Development Economics. 127: 459-469. pdf.

Alvaredo, F., Anthony B. Atkinson, and Salvatore Morelli. 2016. The challenge of measuring UK wealth inequality in the 2000s. Fiscal Studies. 37(1): 13-33, 2016. pdf. Previous version published as CEPR DP 10810. pdf.

Alvaredo, F. and Juliana Londoño Vélez. 2014. Altos ingresos e impuesto de renta en Colombia 1993-2010. Revista de Economía Institucional. 16(31): 157-194 (in Spanish). pdf. English version:  High Incomes and Personal Taxation in a Developing Economy: Colombia 1993-2010. CEP WP 12/2013. pdf.

Alvaredo, F., Anthony B. Atkinson, Thomas Piketty, and Emmanuel Saez. 2013. The top 1 percent in international and historical perspective. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 27(3), pp. 3-20. pdf. Previous version published as NBER WP 19075. pdf.

Alvaredo, F. 2011. A Note on the Relationship between Top Income Shares and the Gini Coefficient; Economics Letters, 110(3): 274-277. pdf. Updated version as CEPR DP 8071. pdf.

Alvaredo, F., and Emmanuel Saez. 2009. Income and Wealth Concentration in Spain from a Historical and Fiscal Perspective. Journal of the European Economic Association, 7(5): 1140-1167. pdf. Updated series in the World Inequality Database.

Alvaredo, F. 2009. Top Incomes and Earnings in Portugal 1936-2005; Explorations in Economic History, 46(4): 404-417. pdf. appendix. Updated series in the World Inequality Database.

Ahumada, Hildegart, F. Alvaredo, and Alfredo Canavese. 2009. La Méthode Monetaire pour l’Estimation de l’Économie Informelle: Une Étude Critique de ses Usages, with Hildegart Ahumada and Alfredo Canavese. Revue Économique, 60(5): 1069-1078.

Ahumada, Hildegart, F. Alvaredo, and Alfredo Canavese. 2008. The Monetary Method to Measure the Shadow Economy: The Forgotten Problem of the Initial Conditions. Economics Letters, 101(2): 97-99. pdf.

Ahumada, Hildegart, F. Alvaredo, and Alfredo Canavese. 2007. The Monetary Method and the Size of the Shadow Economy: A Critical Assessment. Review of Income and Wealth, 53(2): 363-371. pdf.

Chapters in books

Alvaredo, F., Lydia Assouad and Thomas Piketty. 2021. Measuring inequality in the Middle East. In H. Hakimian (editor) The Routledge Handbook on the Middle East Economy, chapter 12. Routledge. Link.

Alvaredo, F., L. Chancel, Thomas Piketty, Emmanuel Saez, and Gabriel Zucman. 2018. Distributional National Accounts. In J. E. Stiglitz, J. P. Fitoussi, M. Durand (editors) For Good Measure: Advancing Research on Well-being Metrics Beyond GDP, chapter 6. OECD. Link.

Alvaredo, F., and Leonardo Gasparini. 2015. Recent trends in inequality and poverty in developing countries. In A. B. Atkinson and F. Bourguignon (editors) Handbook of Income Distribution, chapter 9, pp. 697-805. North Holland. pdf. Previous version published as CEDLAS Working Paper 151/2013. pdf.

Alvaredo, F., and Emmanuel Saez. 2010. Income and Wealth Concentration in Spain in a Historical and Fiscal Perspective. In A. Atkinson and T. Piketty (editors) Top Incomes over the Twentieth Century: A Global Perspective, Oxford: Oxford University Press, chapter 10 (longer version of Alvaredo and Saez, 2009, ut supra). pdf. Updated series in the World Inequality Database.

Alvaredo, F. 2010. Top Incomes and Earnings in Portugal 1936-2005. In A. Atkinson and T. Piketty (editors) Top Incomes over the Twentieth Century: A Global Perspective, Oxford: Oxford University Press, chapter 11 (longer version of Alvaredo, 2009, ut supra). pdf

Alvaredo, F. 2010. The Rich in Argentina over the Twentieth Century 1932-2004. In A. Atkinson and T. Piketty (editors) Top Incomes over the Twentieth Century: A Global Perspective, Oxford: Oxford University Press, chapter 6. pdf. Updated series in the World Inequality Database.

Alvaredo, F., and Elena Pisano. 2010.Top Incomes in Italy 1974-2004. In A. Atkinson and T. Piketty (editors) Top Incomes over the Twentieth Century: A Global Perspective, Oxford: Oxford University Press, chapter 12. pdf.

Alvaredo, F., and Thomas Piketty. 2010. The Dynamics of Income Concentration in Developed and Developing Countries: A View from the Top. In L. Lopez-Calva and N. Lustig (editors) Declining Inequality in Latin America: A Decade of Progress?, chapter 4; Washington DC: The Brookings Institution. link.

Other Publications

Alvaredo, F. and Cecilia García Peñalosa. 2018. Top incomes, wealth, and inheritance: special issue in homage to Tony Atkinson. Journal of Economic Inequality, 16: 131-136. pdf

World Inequality Report 2018. pdf.

Working Papers

Alvaredo, F., Mauricio De Rosa, Ignacio Flores Beale, and Marc Morgan. 2022. Desigualdad del ingreso en la República Dominicana 2012-2020. Una revisión a partir de la combinación de fuentes de información. Publicación de las Naciones Unidas.

Alvaredo, F., Mauricio De Rosa, Ignacio Flores Beale, and Marc Morgan. 2022. The inequality (or the growth) we measure. Data gaps and the distribution of incomes (in Latin America). WID.world WP 07/2022 pdf & CEPR DP 17135 pdf.

Alvaredo, F., A.B. Atkinson, T. Blanchet, L. Chancel, L. Bauluz, M. Fisher-Post, I. Flores, B. Garbinti, J. Goupille-Lebret, C. Martinez-Toledano, M. Morgan, T. Neef, T. Piketty, A-S. Robilliard, E. Saez, L. Yang, G. Zucman 2020. Distributional National Accounts (DINA) Guidelines 2020 : Concepts and Methods used in the World Inequality Database. Update of WID.world wp 2016/1. pdf.

Alvaredo, F., Anthony B. Atkinson, L. Chancel, Thomas Piketty, Emmanuel Saez, and Gabriel Zucman. 2016. Distributional National Accounts (DINA) Guidelines: Concepts and Methods used in WID.world. WID.world wp 2016/1. pdf.

Alvaredo, F., Anthony B. Atkinson, and Salvatore Morelli. 2015. Reply to Consultation about ceasing publication of HMRC's Personal Wealth National Statistics, UK (pdf). pdf.

Work in progress

The outline of economic science. A research program for social change rooted in the history of Political Economy. Essay in honour of Pablo Levín, with Ingrid Bleynat and Pilar Piqué.

A hundred years of measuring income inequality in the world, with François Bourguignon, Francisco Ferreira and Nora Lustig.

On the Distribution of Estates and the Distribution of Wealth, with Yonatan Berman and Salvatore Morelli.

Income inequality in Mexico: evidence from household surveys, tax registries and national accounts, with Santiago Garriga and Florencia Pinto.

Wealth Concentration at Death and Wealth inequality in Spain. Global vs. Local Forces, 1901-2010, with Miguel Artola.

The World Inequality Database

Access here. Between December 2015 and March 2018, labelled The World Wealth and Income Database. 

The World Top Incomes Database (on line January 2011-November 2015)

By F. Alvaredo, Tony Atkinson, Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez. Homepage archived here. Data subsequently subsumed in the World Wealth and Income Database and the World Inequality Database.

Translations

Levin, Pablo. "An Outline of Economic Science".  Original, in Spanish, published as Levin, Pablo, 2010, "Esquema de la Ciencia Económica", Revista de Economía Política de Buenos Aires, 7-8, pp. 247-289. Translated by: Facundo Alvaredo, Ingrid Bleynat, Pilar Piqué, and Daniel Sánchez Ordóñez. Original: pdf. Translation to English: pdf.

Data call: Register data from developing countries

On access to register data for distributional analysis in developing countries. The World Wealth and Income Database Methodological Notes 1/2015. pdf.

Miscellanea

A few minutes of extraordinary singing:

Macbeth, by Maria Callas (a studio recording, here).

I Puritani, by Giuseppe di Stefano.

Medea, by Maria Callas.

In Memoriam

Tony Atkinson: webpage

Pablo Levin: "¿Quién planifica a quién?" [Who plans whom?]

Alfredo Canavese: pdf (text written by P. Gerchunoff and D. Heymann, in Spanish) picture

Francisco Pancho Azamor: picture ("En arte no hay progreso. No hay pueblo sin arte. Vemos lo que sabemos.")