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Income Distribution in Europe and the United States

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  • Atkinson, A B

Abstract

This paper assembles empirical evidence about the personal distribution of income in Europe and the United States. It presents data for the distribution in the 1980s, and shows that the US had distinctly higher inequality, largely arising at the bottom of the scale. Within Western Europe, the Scandinavian countries, Benelux and West Germany have less inequality; southern Europe and Ireland have higher inequality. The differences in the distribution between the US and Europe on be sufficient to outweigh differences in average incomes. Treating the European Union as an entity does not indicate that the difference can be explained simply by scale: prototype estimates indicate that the EU is less unequal than the US. The origin of the difference between the US and Europe appears to have been a period of fall ins inequality in the 1970s. The picture changed in the 1980s, and in the UK and Sweden income inequality rose at a more rapid rate than in the US. Copyright 1996 by Oxford University Press.

Suggested Citation

  • Atkinson, A B, 1996. "Income Distribution in Europe and the United States," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 12(1), pages 15-28, Spring.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:oxford:v:12:y:1996:i:1:p:15-28
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    Cited by:

    1. Jędrzejczak Alina, 2015. "Regional Income Inequalities In Poland And Italy / Rozkład Nierówności Według Regionów w Polsce i We Włoszech," Comparative Economic Research, Sciendo, vol. 18(4), pages 27-45, December.
    2. Enrico Bolzani & Ramses H. Abul Naga, 2002. "La Distribution des Salaires en Suisse: Quelques Observations sur la Récession des Années 90," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 138(II), pages 115-136, June.
    3. Cai, Julie Y. & Wimer, Christopher & Berger, Lonnie, 2021. "Intra-Year Employment Instability and Economic Wellbeing Among Urban Households: Mitigating Effects of the Social Safety Net," SocArXiv vxtdq, Center for Open Science.
    4. David Jesuit & Douglas Roscoe & Vincent Mahler, 1997. "Exploring the Impact of Trade and Investment on Income Inequality: A Cross-National Sectoral Analysis of the Developed Market Economy Countries," LIS Working papers 159, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    5. Andrea Brandolini & Alfonso Rosolia, 2019. "The Distribution of Well-Being among Europeans," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 1052, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    6. Annamaria Simonazzi & Paola Villa, 1999. "Flexibility and Growth," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(3), pages 281-311.
    7. Christine Mayrhuber & Silvia Rocha-Akis, 2014. "Niedriglohnbeschäftigung und Sozialversicherungsabgaben," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 60727, April.
    8. Dumont, Michel, 2004. "The Impact of International Trade with Newly Industrialised Countries on the Wages and Employment of Low-Skilled and High-Skilled Workers in the European Union," Thesis Commons bmxag, Center for Open Science.
    9. Moshe Justman & Hadas Stiassnie, 2021. "Intergenerational Mobility in Lifetime Income," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 67(4), pages 928-949, December.
    10. Tokman, Víctor E. & Klein, Emilio, 2000. "Social stratification under tension in a globalized era," Revista CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), December.
    11. Reto Foellmi und Josef Zweim�ller, "undated". "Inequality and Economic Growth - European Versus U.S. Experiences," IEW - Working Papers 158, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - University of Zurich.
    12. BEBLO Miriam & KNAUS Thomas, 2000. "Measuring Income Inequality in Euroland," IRISS Working Paper Series 2000-10, IRISS at CEPS/INSTEAD.
    13. Tim Goedemé & Lorena Zardo Trindade & Frank Vandenbroucke, 2017. "A Pan-European Perspective on Low-Income Dynamics in the EU," Working Papers 1703, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.
    14. CROCI ANGELINI Elisabetta & D'AMBROSIO Conchita & FARINA Francesco, 2001. "Do Preferences in EU Member-States Support Fiscal Federalism?," IRISS Working Paper Series 2002-01, IRISS at CEPS/INSTEAD.
    15. John Weeks, 2005. "Inequality Trends in Some Developed OECD Countries," Working Papers 6, United Nations, Department of Economics and Social Affairs.
    16. Andrea Brandolini, 2006. "Measurement of Income Distribution in Supranational Entities: The Case of the European Union," LIS Working papers 452, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    17. Magne Mogstad, 2007. "Measuring Income Inequality under Restricted Interpersonal Comparability," Discussion Papers 498, Statistics Norway, Research Department.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D30 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - General
    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • D33 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Factor Income Distribution

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