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Income Distribution And Redistribution: A Microdata Analysis For Seven Countries

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  • Mchel O'Higgins
  • Guenther Schmaus
  • Geofrey Stephenson

Abstract

This paper reports the detailed results of a comparison of the distribution and redistribution of income in seven countries using the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) database. Use of LIS facilitates comparisons of inequality in respect to similarly‐defined variables, permits methodological alternatives to be used, and allows the countries to be compared on aspects of income ranking and policy equity in ways not otherwise possible. The results indicate a pattern of inequality in which Sweden is the most equal, followed by Norway, the U.K. and Canada, while among the less equal countries Israel is generally more equal than Germany‐or the USA., whose relative inequality depends on the measure chosen. Use of the LIS database also allows a more detailed explanation of these results, noting, for example, the role of cash benefits in increasing equality in Sweden and the U.K., and in aiding the bottom quintile in Germany; and the important part played by self‐employment income in contributing to the high top quintile shares in Germany and Israel, and in rendering the Norwegian distribution less equal than that of its Scandinavian neighbour. The wealth of the database, however, means that methodological issues need to be treated both more explicitly and more carefully than is possible with more restrictive data. To interpret the data also requires a considerable degree of knowledge about the institutional features of tax and social provisions in each country, so that an income microdatabase could usefully be completed by one focused on the details of such provisions.

Suggested Citation

  • Mchel O'Higgins & Guenther Schmaus & Geofrey Stephenson, 1989. "Income Distribution And Redistribution: A Microdata Analysis For Seven Countries," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 35(2), pages 107-131, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:revinw:v:35:y:1989:i:2:p:107-131
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1475-4991.1989.tb00585.x
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    Cited by:

    1. Koyuncu, Murat, 2011. "Can progressive taxation account for cross-country variation in labor supply?," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 35(9), pages 1474-1488, September.
    2. Frank T. Denton & Dean C. Mountain, 2011. "Aggregation and Other Biases in the Calculation of Consumer Elasticities for Models of Arbitrary Rank," Quantitative Studies in Economics and Population Research Reports 447, McMaster University.
    3. Günther Rehme, 2007. "Education, Economic Growth and Measured Income Inequality," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 74(295), pages 493-514, August.
    4. Frank T. Denton & Dean C. Mountain, 2004. "Aggregation effects on price and expenditure elasticities in a quadratic almost ideal demand system," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 37(3), pages 613-628, August.
    5. Frank Denton & Dean Mountain, 2004. "Aggregation effects on price and expenditure elasticities in a quadratic almost ideal demand system," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 37(3), pages 613-628, August.
    6. Frank T. Denton & Dean C. Mountain, 2016. "Biases in consumer elasticities based on micro and aggregate data: an integrated framework and empirical evaluation," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 50(2), pages 531-560, March.
    7. Milanovic Branko, 1994. "Cash Social Transfers, Direct Taxes, and Income Distribution in Late Socialism," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 175-197, April.
    8. Denton, Frank T. & Mountain, Dean C., 2001. "Income distribution and aggregation/disaggregation biases in the measurement of consumer demand elasticities," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 73(1), pages 21-28, October.
    9. Tim Callan & Brian Nolan, 1990. "Income Distribution and Redistribution: Ireland in Comparative Perspective," Papers WP017, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    10. Jan Klavus, 1998. "Progressivity of health care financing : estimation and statistical inference," Finnish Economic Papers, Finnish Economic Association, vol. 11(2), pages 86-95, Autumn.
    11. Ron Crawford & Grant Johnston, 2004. "Household incomes in New Zealand: The impact of the market, taxes and government spending, 1987/88–1997/98," Treasury Working Paper Series 04/20, New Zealand Treasury.
    12. Milanovic, Branko, 1992. "Eastern Europe and Russian Federation - Distributional impact of cash and in-kind social transfers in Eastern Europe and Russia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1054, The World Bank.
    13. Thomas S. Nesslein, 2003. "Markets versus Planning: An Assessment of the Swedish Housing Model in the Post-war Period," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 40(7), pages 1259-1282, June.
    14. Frank Denton & Dean Mountain, 2014. "The implications of mean scaling for the calculation of aggregate consumer elasticities," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 12(3), pages 297-314, September.
    15. Tim Callan & Brian Nolan, 1993. "Income Inequality and Poverty in Ireland in the 1970s and 1980s," Papers WP043, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).

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