"The Nobel thing is like dying and going to heaven for a while. It's like being transported to a fair..." — Angus Deaton

The first thing we need to understand when we think about globalization is that it has benefited an enormous number of people who are not part of the global elite.

It is true that globalization has fueled greater income inequality. But much of this increase should be welcomed, not condemned. There is nothing inherently bad about inequality. Whether it is bad depends on how it comes about and what it does.

Inequality is not so much a cause of economic, political, and social processes as a consequence. Some of these processes are good, some are bad, and some are very bad indeed.

I feel passionately about measurement - about how difficult it is, about how much theory and conceptualization is involved in measurement, and indeed, how much politics is involved.