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For richer, for poorer: the changing distribution of income in the United Kingdom, 1961-91

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  • Alissa Goodman

    (Institute for Fiscal Studies)

  • Steven Webb

Abstract

This article describes the changing patterns in income inequality and real living standards over the last 30 years. Whilst it is well documented that inequality has been rising since 1979,2 there is rather less information on how the pattern of inequality changed in the period up to 1979. This study is based on an analysis of detailed information on the incomes and characteristics of around 200,000 households between 1961 and 1991, and provides for the first time ever a consistent description of trends in household incomes over such a long period.

Suggested Citation

  • Alissa Goodman & Steven Webb, 1994. "For richer, for poorer: the changing distribution of income in the United Kingdom, 1961-91," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 15(4), pages 29-62, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:ifs:fistud:v:15:y:1994:i:4:p:29-62
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    File URL: http://www.ifs.org.uk/fs/articles/goodman_nov94.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Paul Johnson & Steven Webb, 1992. "The Treatment of Housing in Official Low Income Statistics," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 155(2), pages 273-290, March.
    2. Morris, Nick & Preston, Ian, 1986. "Inequality, Poverty and the Redistribution of Income," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(4), pages 275-344, November.
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    Cited by:

    1. Allan Little, 2009. "Spatial Pattern of Economic Activity and Inactivity in Britain: People or Place Effects?," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(7), pages 877-897.
    2. C. A. de Kam & J. de Haan & C. Giles & A. Manresa & E. Berenguer & S. Calonge & J. Merz, 1996. "Who pays the taxes?," FFB-Discussionpaper 18, Research Institute on Professions (Forschungsinstitut Freie Berufe (FFB)), LEUPHANA University Lüneburg.
      • de Kam, C. A. & de Haan, J. & Giles, C. & Manresa, A. & Berenguer, E. & Calonge, S., 1996. "Who pays the taxes?," MPRA Paper 7146, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Andrew Leigh, 2005. "Deriving Long‐Run Inequality Series from Tax Data," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 81(s1), pages 58-70, August.
    4. A. B. Atkinson & Stephen P. Jenkins, 2020. "A Different Perspective on the Evolution of UK Income Inequality," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 66(2), pages 253-266, June.
    5. Richard V. Burkhauser & Amy Crews Cutts & Mary C. Daly & Stephen P. Jenkins, 1999. "Testing the significance of income distribution changes over the 1980s business cycle: a cross‐national comparison," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 14(3), pages 253-272, May.
    6. James Banks & Richard Blundell & James P. Smith, 2003. "Understanding Differences in Household Financial Wealth between the United States and Great Britain," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 38(2).
    7. Andrea Brandolini & Timothy M. Smeeding, 2007. "Inequality Patterns in Western-Type Democracies: Cross-Country Differences and Time Changes," CHILD Working Papers wp08_07, CHILD - Centre for Household, Income, Labour and Demographic economics - ITALY.
    8. Mike Brewer & Liam Wren-Lewis, 2016. "Accounting for Changes in Income Inequality: Decomposition Analyses for the UK, 1978–2008," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 78(3), pages 289-322, June.
    9. Denny, K-J & Harmon, C-P & Roche, M-J, 1997. "The Distribution of Discrimination in Immigrant Earnings : Evidence from Britain 1974-1993," Papers 97/21, College Dublin, Department of Political Economy-.
    10. Yves G. Berger & Chris J. Skinner, 2003. "Variance estimation for a low income proportion," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series C, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 52(4), pages 457-468, October.
    11. John Hills, 1998. "Thatcherism, New Labour and the Welfare State (chapter in "New Labour: A turning point in British Politics", H Kastgendiek and R Stimshoff (eds), Philo, 1999)," CASE Papers case13, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE.
    12. Cowell, Frank & Litchfield, Julie & Mercader-Prats, Magda, 1999. "Income inequality comparisons with dirty data: the UK and Spain during the 1980s," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 2240, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    13. Andrea Brandolini & Anthony B. Atkinson, 2001. "Promise and Pitfalls in the Use of "Secondary" Data-Sets: Income Inequality in OECD Countries As a Case Study," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 39(3), pages 771-799, September.
    14. John Hills, 1998. "Thatcherism, New Labour and the Welfare State (chapter in 'New Labour: A turning point in British Politics', H Kastgendiek and R Stimshoff (eds), Philo, 1999)," CASE Papers 013, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE.
    15. Derek Leslie & Yonghao Pu, 1996. "What Caused Rising Earnings Inequality in Britain? Evidence from Time Series, 1970–1993," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 34(1), pages 111-130, March.
    16. Sheldon Danziger & Markus J ntti, 1999. "Income Poverty in Advanced Countries," LIS Working papers 193, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.

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