IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nea/journl/y2024i65p267-275.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Decreasing earnings inequality in Russia: Trends and drivers from 2005 to 2023

Author

Listed:
  • Lukyanova, A.

    (HSE University, Moscow, Russia)

Abstract

The paper examines the decline in earnings inequality in Russia since the early 2000s. The Gini index for earnings fell by nearly 40%, from 0.48 to 0.30. Using the data from two household surveys, we document the trends in inequality between 2005 and 2023 and identify potential drivers behind the trends. Econometric analysis employs RIF-based decompositions. My findings indicate that wage structure effects were the primary contributors to earnings compression, while composition effects - except in the 2020s - tended to exacerbate inequality. The paper highlights the most relevant explanations of changes in earnings inequality, including rising minimum wages, educational upgrading accompanied by declining returns to education, demographic shifts, regional convergence, narrowing rural - urban gaps, changes in industrial structure and industry premiums. Importantly, there was a notable distinction between the period following 2018-2019 and earlier years both in terms of the slowdown in inequality reduction and the mechanisms driving this reduction.

Suggested Citation

  • Lukyanova, A., 2024. "Decreasing earnings inequality in Russia: Trends and drivers from 2005 to 2023," Journal of the New Economic Association, New Economic Association, vol. 65(4), pages 267-275.
    • Handle: RePEc:nea:journl:y:2024:i:65:p:267-275
    DOI: 10.31737/22212264_2024_4_267-275
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.econorus.org/repec/journl/2024-65-267-275r.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.31737/22212264_2024_4_267-275?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Julian Messina & Joana Silva, 2021. "Twenty Years of Wage Inequality in Latin America," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 35(1), pages 117-147.
    2. Fortin, Nicole & Lemieux, Thomas & Firpo, Sergio, 2011. "Decomposition Methods in Economics," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 1, pages 1-102, Elsevier.
    3. Barsky R. & Bound J. & Charles K.K. & Lupton J.P., 2002. "Accounting for the Black-White Wealth Gap: A Nonparametric Approach," Journal of the American Statistical Association, American Statistical Association, vol. 97, pages 663-673, September.
    4. Anna Lukiyanova, 2015. "Earnings inequality and informal employment in Russia," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 23(2), pages 469-516, April.
    5. Chernina, Eugenia & Gimpelson, Vladimir, 2023. "Do wages grow with experience? Deciphering the Russian puzzle," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 545-563.
    6. R. I. Kapeliushnikov, 2021. "Returns to education in Russia: Nowhere below?," Voprosy Ekonomiki, NP Voprosy Ekonomiki, issue 8.
    7. Fernando Rios-Avila, 2020. "Recentered influence functions (RIFs) in Stata: RIF regression and RIF decomposition," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 20(1), pages 51-94, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Oscar Molina Tejerina & Luis Castro Peñarrieta, 2020. "Unexplained Wage Gaps in the Tradable and Nontradable Sectors: Cross-Sectional Evidence by Gender in Bolivia," Investigación & Desarrollo, Universidad Privada Boliviana, vol. 20(1), pages 5-23.
    2. Thomas Y. Mathä & Alessandro Porpiglia & Michael Ziegelmeyer, 2014. "Wealth differences across borders and the effect of real estate price dynamics: Evidence from two household surveys," BCL working papers 90, Central Bank of Luxembourg.
    3. Francisco H G Ferreira & Sergio P Firpo & Julián Messina, 2022. "Labor Market Experience and Falling Earnings Inequality in Brazil: 1995–2012," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 36(1), pages 37-67.
    4. Tymon Słoczyński, 2015. "The Oaxaca–Blinder Unexplained Component as a Treatment Effects Estimator," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 77(4), pages 588-604, August.
    5. Sloczynski, Tymon, 2013. "Population Average Gender Effects," IZA Discussion Papers 7315, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Anna Lukiyanova, 2013. "Earnings inequality and informal Employment in Russia," HSE Working papers WP BRP 37/EC/2013, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    7. Boris Hirsch & Philipp Lentge, 2021. "Non-Base Compensation and the Gender Pay Gap," Working Paper Series in Economics 404, University of Lüneburg, Institute of Economics.
    8. Sonja C. Kassenboehmer & Mathias G. Sinning, 2014. "Distributional Changes in the Gender Wage Gap," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 67(2), pages 335-361, April.
    9. Trinh Thi, Huong & Simioni, Michel & Thomas-Agnan, Christine, 2018. "Decomposition of changes in the consumption of macronutrients in Vietnam between 2004 and 2014," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 259-275.
    10. Mathä, Thomas Y. & Porpiglia, Alessandro & Ziegelmeyer, Michael, 2017. "Household wealth in the euro area: The importance of intergenerational transfers, homeownership and house price dynamics," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 1-12.
    11. Aurora Galego & João Pereira, 2014. "Decomposition of Regional Wage Differences Along the Wage Distribution in Portugal: The Importance of Covariates," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 46(10), pages 2514-2532, October.
    12. Rosalia Castellano & Gaetano Musella & Gennaro Punzo, 2019. "Exploring changes in the employment structure and wage inequality in Western Europe using the unconditional quantile regression," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 46(2), pages 249-304, May.
    13. Strittmatter, Anthony & Wunsch, Conny, 2021. "The Gender Pay Gap Revisited with Big Data: Do Methodological Choices Matter?," Working papers 2021/05, Faculty of Business and Economics - University of Basel.
    14. Ana Fernandes & Martin Huber & Giannina Vaccaro, 2021. "Gender differences in wage expectations," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(6), pages 1-24, June.
    15. Anglade, Boaz & Useche, Pilar & Deere, Carmen Diana, 2017. "Decomposing the Gender Wealth Gap in Ecuador," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 19-31.
    16. Becker, Gideon, 2015. "Econometric analysis of the wealth gap between East and West Germany," University of Tübingen Working Papers in Business and Economics 87, University of Tuebingen, Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, School of Business and Economics.
    17. Melanie Jones & Ezgi Kaya, 2024. "Performance‐related pay and the UK gender pay gap," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(4), pages 512-529, October.
    18. Frank Cowell & Eleni Karagiannaki & Abigail McKnight, 2012. "Accounting for Cross-Country Differences in Wealth Inequality," LWS Working papers 13, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    19. Ashwini Deshpande & Smriti Sharma, 2016. "Disadvantage and discrimination in self-employment: caste gaps in earnings in Indian small businesses," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 46(2), pages 325-346, February.
    20. Inés P. Murillo Huertas & Raúl Ramos & Hipólito Simón, 2020. "Revisiting interregional wage differentials: New evidence from Spain with matched employer‐employee data," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(2), pages 296-347, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    earnings inequality; RIF-regressions; decomposition; RLMS; Russia;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

    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:nea:journl:y:2024:i:65:p:267-275. 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: Alexey Tcharykov (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nearuea.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.