Manuel Schechtl

Federal place-based policy and the geography of inequality in the United States, 1990–2019 Abstract. This paper assesses the growth and spatial distribution of federal place-based policies in the United States. Using a novel dataset of federal pl

📣 Hot off the press 📣
We document tremendous growth in U.S. federal place-based funding, show it has disproportionately gone to areas with more nonprofits & stronger housing markets, and find a pattern of cumulative advantage in funding among high-poverty neighborhoods.

doi.org/10.1093/sf/s...

Unnatural Wills: Inheritance Disputes and Inequality Within the conceptual frame of relational economic sociology, inheritance disputes are a canonical form of relational mismatch. But the social patterning of relational mismatches, and their various t...

I am soo excited to share my newest article, “Unnatural Wills.” It’s about inheritance disputes!!! Murder, gold diggers, sex work, racial passing, secret lesbian lovers…WOW this was fun to write, and I hope it’s fun to read, too.

⚠️ New timely WP ⚠️ Rising wealth inequality and democratic backsliding at the US state-level #EconSky #Sociology #PolicySky
@stone-lis.bsky.social WP here: doi.org/10.31235/osf...

This is based on the geowealth-us data (www.nature.com/articles/s41...) and the state democracy index (democracypolicylab.berkeley.edu/state-democr...)

⚠️ New timely WP ⚠️ Rising wealth inequality and democratic backsliding at the US state-level #EconSky #Sociology #PolicySky
@stone-lis.bsky.social WP here: doi.org/10.31235/osf...

Most studies on the relationship b/w inequality & the erosion of democracy focus on cross-country comparisons, and on income rather than wealth. A new WP by @schechtlm.bsky.social looks at how rising state‐level wealth inequality in the US is associated with democratic backsliding.
bit.ly/3IuD1w5

Gender and wealth accumulation: an international perspective Abstract. Why do women accumulate less wealth than men globally? As wealth inequality rises both within countries and worldwide, studies on gender and weal

1/10 🚨Why do women accumulate less wealth than men across countries and time?

I had the privilege of co-directing the latest Special Issue of #SER @sasemeeting.bsky.social with @celinebessiere.bsky.social on gender and wealth accumulation. 🧵 ⤵️

academic.oup.com/ser/article/...

MapAgora, civic opportunity datasets for the study of American local politics and public policy - Scientific Data Scientific Data - MapAgora, civic opportunity datasets for the study of American local politics and public policy

🚨 New paper alert!
Thrilled to share my latest paper (a joint work with Milan de Vries and Hahrie Han)—now out in Nature Scientific Data!
We introduce 5 datasets on civic opportunity in America, built from IRS tax records + 1.7M nonprofit websites.
🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Just published in @jpube.bsky.social:

"The Influence of Inheritances on Wealth Inequality in Rich Countries"

By @morellisal.bsky.social, Brian Nolan, @juancpal.bsky.social, & Philippe Van Kerm

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

#econsky #publiceconomics #publicfinance

At the blog I wrote about five cool new articles on gender inequality:

inappropriate engineering job talk intros
physician culture
demographic inequalities in health degrees --> health jobs
care work trends
tax policies

Very neat articles this week.

asocial.substack.com/p/mondays-go...

Thanks, Amalie!

I have a new paper out! "Should Social Insurance Programs Count as Wealth? Augmented Wealth in Research and Policy." Published yesterday in Socio-Economic Review @sasemeeting.bsky.social doi.org/10.1093/ser/...

Thanks, Meredith!

Thanks, Karen!

Very happy to announce I received the University of Michigan Stone Center for Inequality Dynamics visiting fellowship 2025-2026! I am looking forward to be a part of the community @umichstonecid.bsky.social
inequality.umich.edu/25-26-visiti...

Local government expenditure centralization and spatial variation in working-age mortality Research finds disparities in local government spending to be one driver of place-based variation in population health outcomes in the U.S. This study…

The latest pub. from Rourke O'Brien, @schechtlm.bsky.social, our own @robertmanduca.bsky.social, & Atheendar Venkataramani suggests that local government spending may reduce mortality, esp. for people with lower incomes. Read more in SSM – Population Health:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

In the words of @pkrugman.bsky.social "There’s so much wrong with this approach that it’s hard to know where to start." No, there is no serious argument here.

🚨New paper in SER🚨
Cohabitation boosts wealth in 🇫🇷 & 🇩🇪—but legal recognition matters. Findings highlight the role of policy in shaping fin. outcomes for cohab. couples.
academic.oup.com/ser/advance-...
@pmlersch.bsky.social @marionleturcq.bsky.social & N. Fremeaux
#Sociology #Demography #Inequality

🚨I'm advertising for a PhD position (4 yrs) in quant. Sociology/Social Demography (life course, social ineq.) @tcdsociology.bsky.social!
📅 Deadline: April 21, 2025
📄 More info: www.tcd.ie/sociology/va...
🔄 Please share! #Sociology #Demography #AcademicChatter #PhDOpportunity #TrinityCollegeDublin

🚨Now published in issue 🚨
What happens to female labor market supply when their male partner starts to earn payroll tax exempt income? Joint work w/ @andreashaupt.bsky.social, now open access at JMF: doi.org/10.1111/jomf...
#sociology #gendersky #polisky #econsky

When no citizen has either great power or great wealth, tyranny in a way lacks an occasion and a stage. (Vol. 2, §4, Section 6)

Is wealth inequality corrosive to society?

Can't wait to get started on our new project "Wealth and Social Cohesion from a Relational Perspective" with a fantastic team: @natrinh.bsky.social, @dariatisch.bsky.social, @rcarranzan.bsky.social, & @schechtlm.bsky.social

www.lmu.de/en/newsroom/...

First post on Bsky! Hello world!
👇Since December 2024 the LIS & LWS databases contain more than 1000 datasets. This enables research on more than 30 Mio. households and 90 Mio individuals.
Explore our databases here: www.lisdatacenter.org/our-data/ #LISdata #inequality #poverty #research

@lisdata.bsky.social LIS Data Center has now joined Bsky!

We have long known that economic mobility varies across localities within the US. This innovative data-rich article presents remarkable evidence as to *why*. Spoiler: Fiscal structures matter. @rourkeobrien.bsky.social @schechtlm.bsky.social @zparolin.bsky.social @stone-lis.bsky.social 👇👇👇

The GC Wealth Project has launched an updated version of its data warehouse!
Key improvements: new data concepts, new sources, and expanded coverage of regions, countries, and time periods.
Discover all the updates:

wealthproject.gc.cuny.edu/news/article...

"Fiscal Centralization and Inequality in Children's Economic Mobility"

New research with @schechtlm.bsky.social @zparolin.bsky.social just out in ASR doi.org/10.1177/0003...

#sociology #demography #econsky

Announcing the ISA RC28 2025 Summer Meeting at UCLA!
Conference theme: “Social Inequality and Labor Market Restructuring;” Keynotes by Michael Hout and Xi Song

Conference dates: August 4-7, 2025
Abstracts due: February 17, 2025

See you in L.A.!

We use long-running panel data (PSID) and FEIS models and find a 4% reduction in women's work hours in our most conservative estimation. We show that payroll tax contribution limits (FICA cap) almost exclusively boost net incomes of men and might help explain gender disparities at the top.

🚨New publication alert🚨
What happens to female labor market supply when their male partner starts to earn payroll tax exempt income? Joint work w/ @andreashaupt.bsky.social, now open access at JMF: doi.org/10.1111/jomf...
#sociology #gendersky #polisky #econsky