Isabella M. Weber
@isabellamweber.bsky.social
EconProf, UMass Amherst
Robinson, Keynes, Meiksins Wood, Rothschild & Matthöfer Prizes | Harvard Associate in Research | 2023 TIME100 Next
Robinson, Keynes, Meiksins Wood, Rothschild & Matthöfer Prizes | Harvard Associate in Research | 2023 TIME100 Next
Vielen Dank! Wäre interessant zu sehen wie es in europäischen Ländern aussieht.
December 8, 2025 at 9:07 PM
Vielen Dank! Wäre interessant zu sehen wie es in europäischen Ländern aussieht.
Reposted by Isabella M. Weber
This is also about who companies think buys their products and how we all end up paying for that decision
prospect.org/2025/12/01/p...
prospect.org/2025/12/01/p...
Selling the Poor on Spending Like They’re Rich - The American Prospect
How plutonomy, premiumization, and social media squeeze the middle class.
prospect.org
December 8, 2025 at 9:06 PM
This is also about who companies think buys their products and how we all end up paying for that decision
prospect.org/2025/12/01/p...
prospect.org/2025/12/01/p...
Macroeconomic stability and the stability of the real income distribution are intertwined. A toolkit based on strategic reserves, supply resilience, and sector-specific price instruments can contain inflation without worsening inequality. 16/16
December 8, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Macroeconomic stability and the stability of the real income distribution are intertwined. A toolkit based on strategic reserves, supply resilience, and sector-specific price instruments can contain inflation without worsening inequality. 16/16
Interest-rate hikes do little to lower the price of oil or food, yet they raise debt costs and weaken labor markets, amplifying inequality. Using blunt monetary tightening against supply shocks is both inefficient and regressive. 15/16
December 8, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Interest-rate hikes do little to lower the price of oil or food, yet they raise debt costs and weaken labor markets, amplifying inequality. Using blunt monetary tightening against supply shocks is both inefficient and regressive. 15/16
These shocks do not simply move the aggregate price level—they reshape the distribution of real income, compressing structural inequality dynamics in a single inflationary episode. 14/16
December 8, 2025 at 8:56 PM
These shocks do not simply move the aggregate price level—they reshape the distribution of real income, compressing structural inequality dynamics in a single inflationary episode. 14/16
Shocks to petroleum and coal products alone ≈ 1/3 of a yearly inequality increase, while food and agriculture shocks each ≈ 2/3 of that last magnitude, underscoring their disproportionate redistributive capacity. 13/16
December 8, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Shocks to petroleum and coal products alone ≈ 1/3 of a yearly inequality increase, while food and agriculture shocks each ≈ 2/3 of that last magnitude, underscoring their disproportionate redistributive capacity. 13/16
The 2021-2022 joint shock to the eight systemically significant sectors raises the Gini coefficient by 0.0023—approximately one full year of the average annual increase in inequality observed during 1980–2021. 12/16
December 8, 2025 at 8:55 PM
The 2021-2022 joint shock to the eight systemically significant sectors raises the Gini coefficient by 0.0023—approximately one full year of the average annual increase in inequality observed during 1980–2021. 12/16
This overlap implies that targeted price stabilization must be studied jointly with inflation and inequality, because shocks to these prices simultaneously raise the price level and regressively redistribute real income. 11/16
December 8, 2025 at 8:53 PM
This overlap implies that targeted price stabilization must be studied jointly with inflation and inequality, because shocks to these prices simultaneously raise the price level and regressively redistribute real income. 11/16
These sectors span energy (oil, gas, petroleum & coal), food and agriculture, chemicals, housing, wholesale trade, and healthcare. With the important exception of healthcare, they mirror the sectors that propagate inflation systemically. 10/16
December 8, 2025 at 8:52 PM
These sectors span energy (oil, gas, petroleum & coal), food and agriculture, chemicals, housing, wholesale trade, and healthcare. With the important exception of healthcare, they mirror the sectors that propagate inflation systemically. 10/16
Using pre-pandemic sectoral price volatility and real 2022 Q2–2023 Q2 price changes as shocks, we find that the capacity to increase inequality is highly concentrated within a small set of systemically significant sectors for inequality (SSS-I). 9/16
December 8, 2025 at 8:50 PM
Using pre-pandemic sectoral price volatility and real 2022 Q2–2023 Q2 price changes as shocks, we find that the capacity to increase inequality is highly concentrated within a small set of systemically significant sectors for inequality (SSS-I). 9/16
For example, a shock to food generates inflation 126% higher for the poorest than the richest decile; for petroleum and coal products, inflation is 54% higher for the poorest, revealing sectors where price increases have systemic distributional effects. 8/16
December 8, 2025 at 8:50 PM
For example, a shock to food generates inflation 126% higher for the poorest than the richest decile; for petroleum and coal products, inflation is 54% higher for the poorest, revealing sectors where price increases have systemic distributional effects. 8/16
Consumption heterogeneity is central: even a uniform initial price increase produces sharply different inflation outcomes for poor and rich households, depending on the structure of spending across income groups. 7/16
December 8, 2025 at 8:46 PM
Consumption heterogeneity is central: even a uniform initial price increase produces sharply different inflation outcomes for poor and rich households, depending on the structure of spending across income groups. 7/16
Using decile-specific consumption baskets, we simulate how each sectoral price shock affects each income group’s cost of living, mapping these heterogeneous effects into changes in the Gini coefficient, ranking sectors by inequality impact. 6/16
December 8, 2025 at 8:45 PM
Using decile-specific consumption baskets, we simulate how each sectoral price shock affects each income group’s cost of living, mapping these heterogeneous effects into changes in the Gini coefficient, ranking sectors by inequality impact. 6/16
We extend the input–output price model developed by Weber et al. (2024), which traces how a price shock in one sector propagates through production linkages, increasing the overall price level. 5/16
academic.oup.com/icc/search-r...
academic.oup.com/icc/search-r...
December 8, 2025 at 8:45 PM
We extend the input–output price model developed by Weber et al. (2024), which traces how a price shock in one sector propagates through production linkages, increasing the overall price level. 5/16
academic.oup.com/icc/search-r...
academic.oup.com/icc/search-r...
We ask: which sectors' price shocks have the largest potential to raise income inequality in the US, and how do these sectors overlap with the systemically significant sectors for inflation identified in earlier work? 4/16
December 8, 2025 at 8:43 PM
We ask: which sectors' price shocks have the largest potential to raise income inequality in the US, and how do these sectors overlap with the systemically significant sectors for inflation identified in earlier work? 4/16
Sectoral cost shocks are therefore non-neutral: when relative prices shift unevenly across essential goods, inflation redistributes income, increasing income inequality. 3/16
December 8, 2025 at 8:43 PM
Sectoral cost shocks are therefore non-neutral: when relative prices shift unevenly across essential goods, inflation redistributes income, increasing income inequality. 3/16
Standard inflation analysis reduces inflation to a single aggregate index. This conceals that inflation is often triggered by price shocks and that consumption baskets differ systematically across income groups, producing unequal inflation burdens. 2/16
December 8, 2025 at 8:42 PM
Standard inflation analysis reduces inflation to a single aggregate index. This conceals that inflation is often triggered by price shocks and that consumption baskets differ systematically across income groups, producing unequal inflation burdens. 2/16