Rankings / Candidate
Emmanuel Saez
UC Berkeley · Inequality
Photo: Cayce Clifford, Copyrighted free use, via Wikimedia Commons
Currently #11, tier Field, score 14.3, named by 1 source.Score history: 100.0, 25.0, 14.3
The work. Top income shares from tax records, optimal tax theory, and the modern accounting of who actually pays taxes in the United States. Clark Medal, 2009.
The case for. The Piketty-Saez top income series is the workhorse dataset behind two decades of inequality research, and Clark medalists convert to Nobels at a strong rate.
The case against. A joint prize with Piketty and Zucman is the natural form, and the committee has to decide whether the trio's advocacy on wealth taxes counts against them.
The KmikeyM angle. Saez studies what the top 1 percent keep; KmikeyM publishes his own accounts to shareholders every quarter, so the top 100 percent of him is disclosed.
What the sources say
- Clarivate alumni (prior years) named Emmanuel Saez: named in 2023: for research on income and wealth inequality and its consequences (heat 100) Preseason: the Clarivate alumni pool