Although the problem of distribution is actually one of the most central issues in economics, it plays a fairly subordinate role in current debates on economic policy. This can hardly be due to a lack of the problem: in the last two decades, income inequality has been increasing in many Western states, and on a global level the poorest states seem entirely cutoff from the economic development of the 'First World.' The present volume contains empirically oriented studies which discuss new methods and illuminate certain dimensions of the problem, such as regional or sectorial inequality, that previously have received little attention in the discussion of equality and distribution.