Wage redistribution from the top 1 to the bottom 40 percent would benefit 80 percent of US cities.

Recent work from Thomas Piketty and others has shed new light on the causes and effects of inequality on society. But how can taking a spatial perspective help us to better understand inequality and its effects? In new research, Jurgen Essletzbichler finds that in cities with the highest shares of the 1 percent of income earners, the bottom 90 percent are not necessarily better off because the potential ‘trickle down’ benefits are eroded by higher living costs. He argues that policymakers should keep in mind that any attempt to redistribute incomes to those on low incomes will have significant geographic effects.