SI 2026 Inequality and Macroeconomics
Organized by Roland Bénabou, Raquel Fernández, and Jonathan Heathcote
July 21-22, 2026
Royal Sonesta Hotel, 40 Edwin H. Land Blvd.,Cambridge, MA
Room: University BC
Format -- Presenter: 35 mins; Discussant: 15 mins; General discussion: 10 mins.
Tuesday, July 21
8:30 am
Coffee and Pastries
9:00 am

War and Inequality

Ralph Luetticke, University of Tübingen
Timothy Meyer, University of Bonn
Gernot Müller, University of Tübingen
Moritz Schularick, Kiel Institute for the World Economy

Discussant:
Jonathan Payne, Princeton University
10:00 am
Break
10:15 am

Wealth Sorting and Cyclical Employment Risk

Amalia R. Repele, Stockholm University

Discussant:
Peter Ganong, The University of Chicago and NBER
11:15 am

Regional Occupations, Local Rents and Worker Mobility

Johannes Weber, University of Bonn

Discussant:
Marta Prato, Bocconi University
12:15 pm
Lunch
1:15 pm

IneQuality

Gideon Bornstein, University of Pennsylvania and NBER
Alessandra Peter, New York University and NBER

Discussant:
Galina Vereshchagina, Arizona State University
2:15 pm
Break
2:30 pm

Misallocation due to Incomplete Markets

David Baqaee, University of California, Los Angeles and NBER
Ariel Burstein, University of California, Los Angeles and NBER

Discussant:
Andreas Schaab, University of California, Berkeley and NBER
3:30 pm

Rising Income Risk at the Top

J. Carter Braxton, University of Wisconsin - Madison
Kyle F. Herkenhoff, University of Minnesota and NBER
Chengdai Huang, New York University
Michael Nattinger, University of Wisconsin - Madison
Jonathan L. Rothbaum, U.S. Census Bureau
Lawrence D.W. Schmidt, University of California, San Diego and NBER

Discussant:
Vrinda Mittal, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
4:30 pm

Ecological Imperialism: Climate and the Demographic Success of European Settlement

Alessandra Nicolo', Bocconi University
Marco Tabellini, Harvard University and NBER
Charles A. Taylor, Harvard University and NBER

Discussant:
David N. Weil, Brown University and NBER
5:30 pm
Adjourn
Wednesday, July 22
8:30 am
Coffee and Pastries
9:00 am

The Child Cost Index

Christina Patterson, The University of Chicago and NBER
Heather Sarsons, The University of Chicago and NBER

Discussant:
Neha Bairoliya, University of Southern California
10:00 am
Break
10:15 am

Optimal Public Debt with Redistribution

Matias Bayas-Erazo, University of Zurich

Discussant:
Matteo Leombroni, Boston College
11:15 am

From Annual Income to Lifetime Emissions: A Lifecycle Theory of Carbon Inequality

Nicole Berr, University of Regensburg
Fabian Kindermann, University of Regensburg
Julia Le Blanc, European Commission

Discussant:
Conor Walsh, Columbia University and NBER
12:15 pm
Lunch
1:15 pm

Learning to Be Rich: How Expectations amplify Wealth Inequality (slides)

Pau Belda, Bank of England
Adrian Ifrim, European Commission
Janko Heineken, University of Bonn

Discussant:
Ines Xavier, Federal Reserve Board of Governors
2:15 pm
Break
2:30 pm

Luxury for All: A Macroeconomic Theory of Public Provision

Yann Perdereau, Paris School of Economics
Charles Labrousse, PSE/INSEE

Discussant:
Irina Popova, University of Bonn
3:30 pm

Cheapflation Cycles (slides)

Kunal Sangani, Northwestern University and NBER

Discussant:
Jonathan Becker, Stony Brook University
4:30 pm
Adjourn