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Top incomes and inequality in the UK: reconciling estimates from household survey and tax return data

Author

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  • Richard V Burkhauser
  • Nicolas Hérault
  • Stephen P Jenkins
  • Roger Wilkins

Abstract

We provide the first systematic comparison of UK inequality estimates derived from tax data (World Wealth and Income Database) and household survey data (the Households Below Average Income [HBAI] subfile of the Family Resources Survey). We document by how much existing survey data underestimate top income shares relative to tax data. Exploiting the flexibility that access to unit-record survey data provides, we then derive new top-income-adjusted data. These data enable us to: better track tax-data-estimated top income shares; change the definitions of income, income-sharing unit, and unit of analysis used and thereby undertake more comparable cross-national comparisons (we provide a UK-US illustration); and examine UK inequality levels and trends using four summary indices. Our estimates reveal a greater rise in the inequality of equivalized gross household income among all persons between the mid-1990s and late 2000s than shown by the corresponding HBAI series, especially between 2004/05 and 2007/08.

Suggested Citation

  • Richard V Burkhauser & Nicolas Hérault & Stephen P Jenkins & Roger Wilkins, 2018. "Top incomes and inequality in the UK: reconciling estimates from household survey and tax return data," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 70(2), pages 301-326.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:oxecpp:v:70:y:2018:i:2:p:301-326.
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    Cited by:

    1. Burkhauser, Richard V. & Hérault, Nicolas & Jenkins, Stephen P. & Wilkins, Roger, 2020. "What accounts for the rising share of women in the top 1%?," GLO Discussion Paper Series 575, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    2. Roantree, Barra & Maître, Bertrand & McTague, Alyvia & Privalko, Ivan, 2021. "Poverty, income inequality and living standards in Ireland," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number BKMNEXT412.
    3. Arun Advani & George Bangham & Jack Leslie, 2021. "The UK's wealth distribution and characteristics of high‐wealth households," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 42(3-4), pages 397-430, September.
    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. Dominic Webber & Richard Tonkin & Martin Shine, 2020. "Using Tax Data to Better Capture Top Incomes in Official UK Income Inequality Statistics," NBER Chapters, in: Measuring Distribution and Mobility of Income and Wealth, pages 679-700, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Jonathan Cribb, 2024. "Labour market and income inequalities in the United Kingdom, 1968–2021," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 45(2), pages 131-142, June.
    7. Pascale Bourquin & Jonathan Cribb & Tom Waters & Xiaowei Xu, 2019. "Why has in-work poverty risen in Britain?," IFS Working Papers W19/12, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    8. Roman Bobilev & Anne Boschini & Jesper Roine, 2020. "Women in the Top of the Income Distribution: What Can We Learn From LIS-Data?," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 6(1), pages 63-107, March.
    9. Richard V. Burkhauser & Nicolas Herault & Stephen P. Jenkins & Roger Wilkins, 2023. "What Accounts for the Rising Share of Women in the Top 1 percent?," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 69(1), pages 1-33, March.
    10. Carlos A. Piccioni & Saulo B. Bastos & Daniel O. Cajueiro, 2024. "Measuring Inequality Using Electronic Payment Data," Working Papers Series 608, Central Bank of Brazil, Research Department.
    11. repec:cep:spccrp:04 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Samano Robles, Claudia & Brewer, Mike, 2019. "Top incomes in the UK: analysis of the 2015-16 Survey of Personal Incomes," ISER Working Paper Series 2019-06, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    13. Martin Ravallion, 2022. "Missing Top Income Recipients," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 20(1), pages 205-222, March.
    14. Richard V. Burkhauser & Markus H. Hahn & Roger Wilkins, 2018. "Transitioning from an Historical to a Contemporary Use of Tax Record Data for Measuring Top Incomes in Australia," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 37(2), pages 113-145, June.
    15. Obolenskaya, Polina & Hills, John, 2019. "Flat-lining or seething beneath the surface?: two decades of changing economic inequality in the UK," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 101128, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    16. Stephen P. Jenkins, 2022. "Top-income adjustments and official statistics on income distribution: the case of the UK," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 20(1), pages 151-168, March.
    17. Advani, Arun, 2021. "Missing Incomes in the UK : Evidence and Policy Implications," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 1364, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    18. Bartels, Charlotte & Waldenström, Daniel, 2021. "Inequality and top incomes," GLO Discussion Paper Series 959, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    19. Obolenskaya, Polina & Hills, John, 2019. "Flat-lining or seething beneath the surface: two decades of changing economic inequality in the UK," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 100287, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    20. Matthew Fisher-Post & Nicolas Hérault & Roger Wilkins, 2022. "Distributional National Accounts for Australia, 1991-2018," Working Papers halshs-03828059, HAL.
    21. Polina Obolenskaya & John Hills, 2019. "Flat-lining or seething beneath the surface? Two decades of changing economic inequality in the UK," CASE - Social Policies and Distributional Outcomes Research Papers 04, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE.
    22. Andrew Aitken & Martin Weale, 2022. "Measuring National Income Growth Democratically: Methods and Estimates for the United Kingdom," Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence (ESCoE) Discussion Papers ESCoE DP-2022-17, Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence (ESCoE).
    23. Jenkins, Stephen P., 2022. "Getting the Measure of Inequality," IZA Discussion Papers 14996, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    24. Emmenegger Jana & Münnich Ralf, 2023. "Localising the Upper Tail: How Top Income Corrections Affect Measures of Regional Inequality," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 243(3-4), pages 285-317, June.
    25. Pablo Gutiérrez Cubillos, 2022. "Gini and undercoverage at the upper tail: a simple approximation," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 29(2), pages 443-471, April.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C81 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology; Computer Programs - - - Methodology for Collecting, Estimating, and Organizing Microeconomic Data; Data Access
    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution

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