Scholars

Edward N. Wolff is a professor of economics at New York University and a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. He works within the Levy Institute’s distribution of income and wealth program, and was involved in the development of the Levy Institute Measure of Economic Well-Being. His principal research areas are the distribution of income and wealth, and productivity growth. Wolff is the author of numerous books, including:

• Inheriting Wealth in America: Future Boom or Bust? (Oxford University Press, 2015);
• Productivity Convergence: Theory and Evidence, Cambridge Surveys of Economic Literature Series (Cambridge University Press, 2014);
• Productivity Growth: Industries, Spillovers and Economic Performance (with T. ten Raa; Edward Elgar Publishers, 2012);
• The Transformation of the American Pension System: Was It Beneficial for Workers? (W. E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, 2011);
• Does Education Really Help? Skill, Work, and Inequality (Oxford University Press, 2006);
• Retirement Income: The Crucial Role of Social Security (with C. Weller; Economic Policy Institute, 2005);
• Downsizing in America: Reality, Causes, and Consequences (with W. J. Baumol and A. S. Blinder; Russell Sage Foundation, 2003);
• Retirement Insecurity: The Income Shortfalls Awaiting the Soon-to-Retire (Economic Policy Institute, 2002);
• Top Heavy: A Study of the Increasing Inequality of Wealth in America (Twentieth Century Fund Press, 1995);
• Competitiveness, Convergence, and International Specialization (with D. Dollar; The MIT Press, 1993);
• Productivity and American Leadership: The Long View (with W. J. Baumol and S. B. Blackman; The MIT Press, 1989); and
• Growth, Accumulation, and Unproductive Activity: An Analysis of the Postwar US Economy (Cambridge University Press, 1987).

He is a past managing editor of the Review of Income and Wealth. Wolff received an AB from Harvard College and a Ph.D. from Yale University.