Frieden und Emanzipation?

This article tests the hypothesis that (especially female) educational expansion, homogamous partnerships and the absence of wars and dramatic economic crises explain increasing income inequality in Germany in the recent decades. Data of the OECD and own analyses using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel show that in Germany the contribution of educational expansion, of increasing numbers of one person households, and of changing partner preferences to rising rates of income inequality is rather modest and sometimes even negative. The rise in income inequality is much more a product of increasing income chances for the better off due to technological change, increasing employment possibilities in a globalized world, more investment options in deregulated financial market and lower tax rates for high incomes. Copyright Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014