Why I wrote Ending Income Inequality: A Critical Approach to the Law and Economics of Redistribution

Income inequality has been steadily rising in the United States, yet our legal frameworks and policy tools remain largely anchored in a peculiar vision of the mainstream economics professor, which recommends the income tax as the preferred, even exclusive, tool for redistributing income. This book critically examines that vision. In Ending Income Inequality, I explore why redistributive legal rules—in areas like minimum wage, collective bargaining, antitrust law, housing, and intellectual property—can redistribute income just as efficiently as the tax system. A stronger case for redistributive legal rules will complement and strengthen income tax systems to help confront the new Gilded Age’s extreme maldistribution of income and wealth.

Ending Income Inequality is intended for economic and legal policymakers, and those engaged in shaping discourse around income distribution, law and public policy, and law and political economy. I very much hope that you’ll find this approach both stimulating and valuable in your work.