How Do Firms Affect the Distribution of Income: The Roles of Productivity and Luck

The project will generate new knowledge – ten new research studies - on the causes and consequences of inter-firm differences in wages. The research will be accessible to policy-makers, researchers, as well as corporate managers who seek to understand the evolution of the U.S. income distribution and wage structure. The outlet will be a top academic journal, perhaps one that specializes in labor economics. The project will inform a long-standing debate about the extent to which earnings disparities are due to "luck" or "skill," and also guide the design of both public and private initiatives to support firms that are more likely to generate high-wage outcomes for workers.