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European-Wide Inequality in Times of the Financial Crisis

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  • Timm Bönke
  • Carsten Schröder

Abstract

In view of rising concerns over increasing inequality in the European Union since the financial crisis, this study provides an inequality decomposition of the overall European income distribution by country. The EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions are our empirical basis. Inequality has risen moderately within the core Euro area, particularly in the last two years of the observation period (2010/11). Widening disparities between EU Member States are the driving force behind this trend, while inequalities within countries do not exhibit systematic changes. An analysis of binational distributions reveals that it is the countries hit worst by the crisis—Greece and Spain—for which the between-country disparities have changed most markedly.

Suggested Citation

  • Timm Bönke & Carsten Schröder, 2015. "European-Wide Inequality in Times of the Financial Crisis," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1482, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp1482
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    Cited by:

    1. Philipp Poppitz, 2019. "Multidimensional Inequality and Divergence: The Eurozone Crisis in Retrospect," Working Papers V-420-19, University of Oldenburg, Department of Economics, revised Feb 2019.
    2. 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.
    3. Charlotte Bartels & Carsten Schroeder, 2020. "Income, consumption and wealth inequality in Germany: Three concepts, three stories?," Basic Papers 2, Forum New Economy.
    4. Michael Dauderstädt, 2020. "Einkommensungleichheit in der EU [Income Disparities in the European Union]," Wirtschaftsdienst, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 100(8), pages 628-632, August.
    5. Paolo Di Caro, 2018. "Redistribution in real-world PIT: Evidence from Italian tax records," Working Papers wp2018-2, Ministry of Economy and Finance, Department of Finance.
    6. Paolo Di Caro, 2017. "The contribution of tax statistics for analysing regional income disparities in Italy," Journal of Income Distribution, Ad libros publications inc., vol. 25(1), pages 1-27, March.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Inequality; decomposition; crisis;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D30 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - General
    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • D39 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Other

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