Dr. MARC MORGAN

I am a Research and Teaching Fellow in the Department of History, Economics and Society and the Paul Bairoch Institute of Economic History at the University of Geneva (UNIGE). I am also a research fellow of the World Inequality Lab.

My work sits at the intersection of political economy and economic history, drawing on macroeconomics, the history of economic thought, the history of economic policy, and development economics. My research and teaching centre around the two-way relationship between how we think and speak about the economy (concepts and narratives) and how we measure and improve it (statistics and policies).

You can view my CV (and how to contact me) here. You can also click on the icons below.

My early work mainly studied the measurement, history and institutional aspects of economic inequality. It focused on improving existing indicators of inequality so that they were commensurate with indicators of economic growth. This research was initially concentrated on Latin America, and specifically Brazil, but eventually found its way to Europe. Through these experiences I helped craft the guidelines for Distributional National Accounts with my colleagues at the World Inequality Lab. Subsequent work has applied these methods in institutional collaborations with the UN-ECLAC (CEPAL) and country governments in Latin America. An output of these collaborations has been the publication of a methodological manual tailored for less-developed country contexts, which contributes to the ongoing international statistical agenda.

While my work continues to explore different economic and political aspects of capitalist development, most of my current research focus is occupied by two large questions. One is on the macroeconomic implications of economic inequality: an illustration of which can be found in my article Keynes's Vision of Inequality (And Why it Matters). The other is on the real limits of government spending: an outline of which can be found in my article The General Relativity of Fiscal Space.

Research

Working Papers

« L'allègement budgétaire » pour qui ? Les contradictions du programme d’austérité suisse (avec Romain Desgraz, Adnan Chatila, Titouan Renard and Miléna Locher). University of Geneva Political Economy Working Papers No. 7/2025.
The Race between Technology and Sobriety: Distributional Pathways to Planetary Sustainability (with Marco Ranaldi). University of Geneva Political Economy Working Papers No. 6/2025.
Keynes's Vision of Inequality (And Why it Matters). University of Geneva Political Economy Working Papers No. 3/2025. Accepted at the Cambridge Journal of Economics.
Distribution in Late Development: The Political Economy of the Kuznets Curse in Brazil (with Pedro Souza). University of Geneva Political Economy Working Papers No. 4/2025. R&R at Structural Change and Economic Dynamics.
- WIDER Working Paper 2025/2 Helsinki: UNU-WIDER (February 2025).
- Data Appendix.
- Backround research on Brazilian inequality estimates: Top Incomes 1933-2013; Distributional National Accounts (DINA) 2001-2015; DINA 1926–2016.
Equality and Development: A Comparative & Historical Perspective 1800-2025 (with Marie Andreescu, Manuel Arias-Osorio, Luis Bauluz, Nitin Bharti, Philipp Bothe, Pierre Brassac, Lucas Chancel, Mauricio De Rosa, Jonas Dietrich, Dima El Hariri, Matthew Fisher-Post, Ignacio Flores, Valentina Gabrielli, Amory Gethin, Ricardo Gómez-Carrera, Sehyun Hong, Thanasak Jenmana, Romaine Loubes, Clara Martínez-Toledano, Zhexun Mo, Cornelia Mohren, Rowaida Moshrif, Stella Muti, Theresa Neef, Gastón Nievas, Moritz Odersky, Thomas Piketty, Anne-Sophie Robilliard, Emmanuel Saez, Alice Sodano, Anmol Somanchi, Li Yang, Gabriel Zucman, Álvaro Zuñiga-Cordero). World Inequality Lab Working Paper 2025/25.
- Personal contribution: Distributional National Accounts (income inequality) estimates for Latin America (2000-2020) and Western Europe (2019-2020).

Work in Progress

On the Design of Distributional Stock-Flow Consistent (D-SFC) Models (with Michalis Nikiforos).
The Great Capital Migration: The Transformation of Wealth in the Republic of Ireland (with Pierce Daly).
General Policy vs Special Policy: The Evolution of Keynes's International Monetary Order (with Gianandrea Nodari).

Journal Articles

Keynes's Vision of Inequality (And Why it Matters). Cambridge Journal of Economics (forthcoming).
The Inequality (or the Growth) we Measure: Data Gaps and the Distribution of Incomes (with Facundo Alvaredo, Mauricio De Rosa and Ignacio Flores). Economía LACEA Journal 24, no. 1 (2025): 1–21.
- Working paper: University of Geneva Political Economy Working Papers No. 2/2022.
The General Relativity of Fiscal Space: Theory and Applications (with Jacob Assa). Review of Political Economy, 2025, 1-35.
- Appendix.
- Data.
- Working paper: University of Geneva Political Economy Working Papers No. 3/2024.
- Blog post: The Fiscal Black Hole of Mainstream Economics.
More Unequal or Not as Rich? Revisiting the Latin American Exception (with Mauricio De Rosa and Ignacio Flores). World Development, 2024, 184 (December): 106737.
- Appendix.
- Working paper: University of Geneva Political Economy Working Papers No. 6/2022.
Top Income Adjustments and Inequality: An Investigation of the EU-SILC (with Rafael Carranza and Brian Nolan). The Review of Income and Wealth, 2023, 69 (3): 725-754.
Growth, income and wealth accumulation in rich countries. Economiaz, 2022, 101 (1): 200-221.
The Weight of the Rich: Improving Surveys Using Tax Data (with Thomas Blanchet and Ignacio Flores). The Journal of Economic Inequality, 2022, 20 (1): 119-150.
- Awarded the Atkinson Prize in 2023.
- Stata command.
Taxing Wealth: General Principles, International Perspectives and Lessons for Brazil (with Pedro Carvalho Junior). Brazilian Journal of Political Economy, 2021, 41 (1): 44-64.
Extreme Inequality: Evidence from Brazil, India, the Middle East, and South Africa (with Lydia Assouad and Lucas Chancel). American Economic Association Papers and Proceedings, 2018, 108: 119-23.

Book Chapters

Does Democratization Cause Redistribution? Evidence from Sweden and Brazil (with Erik Bengtsson). In Scandinavia and South America—A Tale of Two Capitalisms. Essays on Comparative Developments in Trade, Industrialisation and Inequality since 1850, edited by J. Álvarez and S. Prado. Palgrave Studies in Economic History. Palgrave MacMillan, 2022.
- Working paper.
Democracy and the Politicization of Inequality in Brazil, 1989-2018 (with Amory Gethin). In Political Cleavages, Party Systems and Social Inequalities: A Study of Fifty Democracies, 1948–2020, edited by A. Gethin, C. Martínez-Toledano and T. Piketty. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2021.
- Working paper.
- Data appendix.
Historical Political Cleavages and Post-Crisis Transformations in Italy, Spain, Portugal and Ireland, 1953-2020 (with Luis Bauluz, Amory Gethin, and Clara Martínez-Toledano). In Political Cleavages, Party Systems and Social Inequalities: A Study of Fifty Democracies, 1948–2020, edited by A. Gethin, C. Martínez-Toledano and T. Piketty. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2021.
- Working paper.
- Data appendix.
Perspectivas sobre a reforma fiscal no Brasil. In A Reforma Tributária Necessária – Menos Desigualdade: Proposta de Novo Desenho da Tributação Brasileira, edited by E. Fagnani. São Paulo: ANFIP, FENAFISCO, 2018 .
- Working paper.
Desigualdade de Renda, Crescimento e Tributação da Elite no Brasil: Novas Evidências Reunindo Dados de Pesquisas Domiciliares e Dados Fiscais. In Tributação e Desigualdade, edited by J. R. Afonso, M. R. Lukic, R. O. Orair and F. G. Silveira. Rio de Janeiro: Letramento & FGV Direito Rio, 2017.
- Working paper.
Capital, Nationality, and State Sovereignty: New Links for the 21st Century. In Capital and Justice, edited by G. P. Lima and M. A. Madi. World Economics Association (WEA) Books, College Publications, 2017.

Methodological Publications

Medición de la desigualdad mediante la integración de fuentes de datos (with Facundo Alvaredo, Mauricio de Rosa, and Ignacio Flores). Documentos de Proyectos (LC/TS.2024/122), Santiago, Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), 2024.
Desigualdad del ingreso en la República Dominicana 2012-2019: una revisión a partir de la combinación de fuentes de datos (with Facundo Alvaredo, Mauricio De Rosa and Ignacio Flores). Documentos de Proyectos (LC/TS.2022/75), Santiago, Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), 2022.
- Part of the UN Development Account project “Innovative approaches for examining inequality through integration of different data sources in Latin America and the Caribbean” (2124Q).
2021 DINA Regional Update for Europe (with Theresa Neef). World Inequality Lab Technical Note 2021/08.
2020 Distributional National Accounts Update for Europe (with Theresa Neef). World Inequality Lab Technical Note 2020/04.
Inequality in Latin America Revisited: Insights from Distributional National Accounts (with Mauricio De Rosa and Ignacio Flores). World Inequality Lab Technical Note 2020/02.
Distributional National Accounts Guidelines: Methods and Concepts used in WID.world (with fellow wid.world coordinators and co-directors), September 2020.

Research Briefs

Inequality in Latin America Revisited: Insights from Distributional National Accounts (with Mauricio De Rosa and Ignacio Flores). World Inequality Lab Issue Brief 2020/09.
What’s New About Income Inequality in Europe (1980-2019)? (with Theresa Neef). World Inequality Lab Issue Brief 2020/04.
Rising Inequalities and Political Cleavages in Spain (with Amory Gethin and Clara Martínez-Toledano). WID.world Issue Brief 2019/4.
- Spanish version.
- Media coverage: eldiario.es and Expansión.
Brazil Divided: Hindsights on the Growing Politicisation of Inequality (with Amory Gethin). WID.world Issue Brief 2018/3.
- Media coverage: Valor Econômico; The Brazilian Report; The Washington Post.

Book Reviews

Shadow of a Taxman: Who Funded the Irish Revolution? By R. J. C. Adams. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022. Pp. xvi, 320. £65.00, hardcover.,” The Journal of Economic History. Cambridge University Press, 83(4), pp. 1258–1261.
Inequality and Legitimacy: Past, Present and Future. Review of Capital and Ideology by Thomas Piketty, Harvard University Press, 2020. Œconomia – History / Methodology / Philosophy, 2021, 11 (1).
The Reformation in Economics: Back to the Future. Review of The Reformation in Economics: A Deconstruction and Reconstruction of Economic Theory by Philip Pilkington, Palgrave Macmillan, 2016. American Affairs, February 18, 2020.

Teaching

Courses

Les mesures de l'économie (BA in Political Economy and Economic History, University of Geneva)
History of International Economic Regulation (MA in International Economic History, University of Geneva)
Growth, Distribution and Politics: Empirical Perspectives (MA in Political Economy of Capitalism, University of Geneva)

Student Supervision

I supervise both bachelor and masters-level dissertations. The master's dissertations I have supervised can be found here.

Policy Debates

Blog Posts

The Fiscal Black Hole of Mainstream Economics (with Jacob Assa). Developing Economics, 29 September 2025.
'Clivajes' políticos en España: la edad divide más que la renta o la educación (with Luis Bauluz, Amory Gethin and Clara Martínez-Toledano). Agenda Pública, 19 April 2021.
On 'Fiscal Space' in Developing Countries. Vox.LACEA, 8 May 2020.

Press Articles

Dados de heranças podem auxiliar em discussão sobre tributo (with Gedeão Locks, Rodrigo Orair). Folha de S.Paulo, 25 January 2021.
Apesar da crise da Covid-19, América Latina pode conter aumento da desigualdade (with Mauricio de Rosa and Ignacio Flores). Folha de S.Paulo, 8 May 2020.
La crisis es inevitable en América Latina, la desigualdad no (with Mauricio de Rosa and Ignacio Flores). El País, 31 May 2020.

Interviews

Como reduzir as desigualdades? Revista Darcy, 25, June-September 2021.
Inégalités en Europe : après l’explosion, la stabilisation. La Croix, 20 November 2020.
How would you cut social inequality in Europe? Debating Europe, 9 September 2020.
Dinâmica da desigualdade ajuda a explicar vitória de Bolsonaro, Folha de S.Paulo, 22 August 2019.
“Classe média espremida pesou na eleição”, Valor Econômico, 6 November 2018.
“Reforma tributária é escolha óbvia para reduzir a desigualdade no Brasil”, diz Marc Morgan, Epoca, 13 October 2017.
Desigualdade no Brasil é escolha política, Folha de S.Paulo, 24 September 2017.

Databases

Databases I have contributed to:

Google Sites

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