Emmanuel Saez was born in Spain in 1972 and grew up in the basque country in France. He moved to the United States to study economics and received his PhD from MIT in 1999. He teaches at the University of California Berkeley since 2002. His research focuses on inequality and tax policy. Jointly with Thomas Piketty, he created the top 1% income share series that show a dramatic increase in US inequality since 1980. The data have been widely discussed in the public debate and have inspired political movements and slogans (Occupy Wall Street, We are the 99%). His most recent book "The Triumph of Injustice", joint with his colleague Gabriel Zucman, narrates the demise of US progressive taxation and how to reinvent it in the 21st century. He received numerous academic awards including a MacArthur "Genius" Fellowship in 2010 and a Honorary degree from Harvard in 2019.
