IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/udc/esteco/v38y2011i1p169-193.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Top Incomes in Chile using 50 years of household surveys : 1957-2007

Author

Listed:
  • Claudia Sanhueza
  • Ricardo Mayer

Abstract

Using household surveys that cover more than 50 years of the political and economic history of Chile, we investigate changes in the shape of the distribution of income in Chile, and in the composition of top 10% and top 1% incomes. In line with international evidence, top incomes concentration appears to be countercyclical in the short run. For the entire length of this survey, this concentration shows roughly an inverted U-shape, peaking at the end of the 80s. These changes correspond approximately with different economic policy regimes prevailing in Chile. We observe important changes in the composition of top income groups related to greater relative importance of women, employees and college schooling levels. These changes are stronger for the top 10% than the top 1% of incomes. Additionally, using a national level panel of households for the period 1996-2006 we explore correlations between probabilities of permanence and arrival to the top decile with variables such as composition of the house old, ownership of physical and human assets, job quality and changes in the numbers of household members working in the labor market.

Suggested Citation

  • Claudia Sanhueza & Ricardo Mayer, 2011. "Top Incomes in Chile using 50 years of household surveys : 1957-2007," Estudios de Economia, University of Chile, Department of Economics, vol. 38(1 Year 20), pages 169-193, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:udc:esteco:v:38:y:2011:i:1:p:169-193
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.econ.uchile.cl/uploads/publicacion/896cea6c24a11f579fc795736defc2c3e98984bb.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Facundo Alvaredo & Emmanuel Saez, 2009. "Income and Wealth Concentration in Spain from a Historical and Fiscal Perspective," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 7(5), pages 1140-1167, September.
    2. Chiaki Moriguchi & Emmanuel Saez, 2006. "The Evolution of Income Concentration in Japan, 1886-2002: Evidence from Income Tax Statistics," NBER Working Papers 12558, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Anthony B. Atkinson & Andrew Leigh, 2007. "The Distribution of Top Incomes in Australia," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 83(262), pages 247-261, September.
    4. Thomas Piketty & Emmanuel Saez, 2006. "The Evolution of Top Incomes: A Historical and International Perspective," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(2), pages 200-205, May.
    5. Carmen Pagés & Claudio E. Montenegro, 2007. "Job security and the age-composition of employment: evidence from Chile," Estudios de Economia, University of Chile, Department of Economics, vol. 34(2 Year 20), pages 109-139, December.
    6. Saez, Emmanuel & Alvaredo, Facundo, 2006. "Income and Wealth Concentration in Spain in a Historical and Fiscal Perspective," CEPR Discussion Papers 5836, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    7. repec:pse:psecon:2007-39 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Claudio Sapelli, 2011. "A cohort analysis of the income distribution in Chile," Estudios de Economia, University of Chile, Department of Economics, vol. 38(1 Year 20), pages 223-242, June.
    9. A. B. Atkinson & Andrew Leigh, 2005. "The Distribution of Top Incomes in New Zealand," CEPR Discussion Papers 503, Centre for Economic Policy Research, Research School of Economics, Australian National University.
    10. Pablo Celhay & Claudia Sanhueza & Jose R. Zubizarreta, 2010. "Intergenerational Mobility of Income and Schooling: Chile 1996-2006," Revista de Analisis Economico – Economic Analysis Review, Universidad Alberto Hurtado/School of Economics and Business, vol. 25(2), pages 43-63, Diciembre.
    11. Anthony Atkinson & Thomas Piketty, 2007. "Top incomes over the twentieth century: A contrast between continental european and english-speaking countries," Post-Print halshs-00754859, HAL.
    12. Emmanuel Saez & Michael R. Veall, 2005. "The Evolution of High Incomes in Northern America: Lessons from Canadian Evidence," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(3), pages 831-849, June.
    13. Anthony B. Atkinson & Wiemer Salverda, 2005. "Top Incomes In The Netherlands And The United Kingdom Over The 20th Century," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 3(4), pages 883-913, June.
    14. Tony Atkinson, 2002. "Top Incomes in the United Kingdom Over the Twentieth Century," Economics Series Working Papers 2002-W43, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    15. Atkinson, A. B. & Piketty, Thomas (ed.), 2007. "Top Incomes Over the Twentieth Century: A Contrast Between Continental European and English-Speaking Countries," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199286881.
    16. Wojciech Kopczuk & Emmanuel Saez & Jae Song, 2007. "Uncovering the American Dream: Inequality and Mobility in Social Security Earnings Data since 1937," NBER Working Papers 13345, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sofía Bauducco & Gonzalo Castex & Andrew Davis, 2019. "The wealth distribution in developed and developing economies: comparing the United States to Chile using survey data from 2007," Journal Economía Chilena (The Chilean Economy), Central Bank of Chile, vol. 22(3), pages 154-203, December.
    2. Giovanni Andrea Cornia, 2012. "Inequality Trends and their Determinants: Latin America over 1990-2010," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2012-009, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    3. Fairfield, Tasha & Jorratt, Michel, 2014. "Top income shares, business profits, and effective tax rates in contemporary Chile," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 56016, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    4. De Rosa, Mauricio & Flores, Ignacio & Morgan, Marc, 2022. "More Unequal or Not as Rich? Revisiting the Latin American Exception," SocArXiv akq89, Center for Open Science.
    5. Ramón E. López & Eugenio Figueroa B. & Pablo Gutiérrez C., 2016. "Fundamental accrued capital gains and the measurement of top incomes: an application to Chile," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 14(4), pages 379-394, December.
    6. Jorge Atria & Ignacio Flores & Claudia Sanhueza & Ricardo Mayer, 2018. "Top Income in Chile: A Historical Perspective of Income Inequality (1964- 2015)," World Inequality Lab Working Papers hal-02878312, HAL.
    7. Clementi,Fabio & Fabiani,Michele & Molini,Vasco & Schettino,Francesco, 2022. "Is Inequality Systematically Underestimated in Sub-Saharan Africa ? A Proposal toOvercome the Problem," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10058, The World Bank.
    8. F. Clementi & A. L. Dabalen & V. Molini & F. Schettino, 2020. "We forgot the middle class! Inequality underestimation in a changing Sub-Saharan Africa," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 18(1), pages 45-70, March.
    9. Ignacio Flores & Claudia Sanhueza & Jorge Atria & Ricardo Mayer, 2020. "Top Incomes in Chile: A Historical Perspective on Income Inequality, 1964–2017," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 66(4), pages 850-874, December.
    10. Branko Milanovic & Tasha Fairfield & Michel Jorratt De Luis, 2016. "Top Income Shares, Business Profits, and Effective Tax Rates in Contemporary Chile," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 62, pages 120-144, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Anthony B. Atkinson & Thomas Piketty & Emmanuel Saez, 2011. "Top Incomes in the Long Run of History," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 49(1), pages 3-71, March.
    2. Andrew Leigh, 2007. "How Closely Do Top Income Shares Track Other Measures of Inequality?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 117(524), pages 619-633, November.
    3. Facundo Alvaredo, 2007. "The Rich in Argentina over the twentieth century: From the Conservative Republic to the Peronist experience and beyond 1932-2004," Working Papers halshs-00588318, HAL.
    4. Christoph A. Schaltegger & Christoph Gorgas, 2011. "The Evolution of Top Incomes in Switzerland over the 20th Century," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 147(IV), pages 479-519, December.
    5. Roine, Jesper & Waldenstrom, Daniel, 2008. "The evolution of top incomes in an egalitarian society: Sweden, 1903-2004," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(1-2), pages 366-387, February.
    6. Salvatore Morelli & Timothy Smeeding & Jeffrey Thompson, 2014. "Post-1970 Trends in Within-Country Inequality and Poverty: Rich and Middle Income Countries," CSEF Working Papers 356, Centre for Studies in Economics and Finance (CSEF), University of Naples, Italy.
    7. Jordi Guilera Rafecas, 2008. "Top income shares in Portugal over the twentieth century," Working Papers in Economics 195, Universitat de Barcelona. Espai de Recerca en Economia.
    8. Roine, Jesper & Vlachos, Jonas & Waldenström, Daniel, 2009. "The long-run determinants of inequality: What can we learn from top income data?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(7-8), pages 974-988, August.
    9. Atkinson, Tony & Leigh, Andrew, 2010. "The Distribution of Top Incomes in Five Anglo-Saxon Countries over the Twentieth Century," IZA Discussion Papers 4937, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Andrews Dan & Jencks Christopher & Leigh Andrew, 2011. "Do Rising Top Incomes Lift All Boats?," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 11(1), pages 1-45, January.
    11. Facundo Alvaredo, 2008. "Top incomes and earnings in Portugal 1936-2004," PSE Working Papers halshs-00586795, HAL.
    12. Alvaredo, Facundo, 2009. "Top incomes and earnings in Portugal 1936-2005," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 46(4), pages 404-417, October.
    13. Raymundo M. Campos-Vazquez & Emmanuel Chavez & Gerardo Esquivel, 2017. "Growth is (really) good for the (really) rich," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(12), pages 2639-2675, December.
    14. Andrew Leigh & Alberto Posso, 2009. "Top Incomes And National Savings," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 55(1), pages 57-74, March.
    15. Facundo Alvaredo & Guillermo Cruces & Leonardo Gasparini, 2018. "A short episodic history of income distribution in Argentina," Latin American Economic Review, Springer;Centro de Investigaciòn y Docencia Económica (CIDE), vol. 27(1), pages 1-45, December.
    16. Richard Burkhauser & Shuaizhang Feng & Stephen Jenkins & Jeff Larrimore, 2009. "Recent Trends in Top Income Shares in the USA: Reconciling Estimates from March CPS and IRS Tax Return Data," Working Papers 09-26, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    17. Jesper Roine & Daniel Waldenström, 2011. "Common Trends and Shocks to Top Incomes: A Structural Breaks Approach," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 93(3), pages 832-846, August.
    18. Foellmi, Reto & Martínez, Isabel Z., 2014. "Volatile Top Income Shares in Switzerland? Reassessing the Evolution Between 1981 and 2009," CEPR Discussion Papers 10006, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    19. Paul Makdissi & Myra Yazbeck, 2012. "On the Measurement of Indignation," Working Papers 1213E, University of Ottawa, Department of Economics.
    20. Richard Burkhauser & Shuaizhang Feng & Stephen Jenkins & Jeff Larrimore, 2011. "Estimating trends in US income inequality using the Current Population Survey: the importance of controlling for censoring," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 9(3), pages 393-415, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Income distribution; Income mobility;

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • J6 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:udc:esteco:v:38:y:2011:i:1:p:169-193. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Verónica Kunze (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/deuclcl.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.