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Income Composition Inequality

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  • Marco Ranaldi

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, it introduces a novel inequality concept called income composition inequality, which describes how the composition of income in two sources, such as capital and labor income, varies across the income distribution. Second, it constructs an indicator for its measurement. This paper argues that the study of income composition inequality allows for: (i) a novel political economy analysis of the evolution of economic systems; and (ii) the technical assessment of the relationship between the functional and personal distributions of income. Following an empirical application, this paper discusses possible avenues for future research on the matter, ranging from development issues to public finance.

Suggested Citation

  • Marco Ranaldi, 2022. "Income Composition Inequality," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 68(1), pages 139-160, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:revinw:v:68:y:2022:i:1:p:139-160
    DOI: 10.1111/roiw.12503
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    Cited by:

    1. Lackner, Teresa & Fierro, Luca Eduardo & Mellacher, Patrick, 2024. "Opinion Dynamics meet Agent-based Climate Economics: An Integrated Analysis of Carbon Taxation," OSF Preprints rdfze, Center for Open Science.
    2. Ranaldi, Marco, 2021. "Global Distributions of Capital and Labor Incomes: Capitalization of the Global Middle Class," SocArXiv 3g59r, Center for Open Science.
    3. Roberto Iacono & Elisa Palagi, 2020. "Still the lands of equality? On the heterogeneity of individual factor income shares in the Nordics," LEM Papers Series 2020/13, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    4. Ranaldi, Marco & Milanović, Branko, 2022. "Capitalist systems and income inequality," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 20-32.
    5. Marco Ranaldi, 2022. "Income Composition Inequality," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 68(1), pages 139-160, March.
    6. Ingrid Bleynat & Amílcar E. Challú & Paul Segal, 2021. "Inequality, living standards, and growth: two centuries of economic development in Mexico," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 74(3), pages 584-610, August.
    7. Marco Ranaldi & Elisa Palagi, 2022. "Heterogeneity in Macroeconomics: The Compositional Inequality Perspective," LEM Papers Series 2022/30, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    8. Luca Giangregorio & Davide Villani, 2023. "Income inequality, top shares of income and social classes in the 21st century," JRC Working Papers on Social Classes in the Digital Age 2023-05, Joint Research Centre.
    9. Carlo D’Ippoliti & Francesco Linguanti, 2023. "Inequality, Consumption Emulation, and Growth," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 55(4), pages 577-590, December.
    10. Petrova, Bilyana & Ranaldi, Marco, 2021. "Determinants of Income Composition Inequality," SocArXiv vyrz7, Center for Open Science.
    11. , Stone Center & Bleynat, Ingrid & Challú, Amílcar & Segal, Paul, 2020. "Inequality, Living Standards and Growth: Two Centuries of Economic Development in Mexico," SocArXiv 9ztb7, Center for Open Science.
    12. Iacono Roberto & Palagi Elisa, 2022. "Still the Lands of Equality? Heterogeneity of Income Composition in the Nordics, 1975–2016," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 22(2), pages 221-268, April.
    13. Anita Szymańska & Małgorzata Zielenkiewicz, 2022. "Declining Labour Income Share and Personal Income Inequality in Advanced Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-14, August.
    14. Bleynat, Ingrid & Challú, Amílcar & Segal, Paul, 2020. "Inequality, living standards and growth: two centuries of economic development in Mexico," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 105215, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.

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