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Income inequality comparisons with dirty data: the UK and Spain during the 1980s

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  • Cowell, Frank
  • Litchfield, Julie
  • Mercader-Prats, Magda

Abstract

Inequality comparisons between countries and over time should take into account problems of data imperfection. We examine the contrasting experience of the UK and Spain during the 1980s in terms of the distribution of disposable income. We consider whether the apparent divergence in inequality could be attributable to deficiencies in income data including under-reporting.

Suggested Citation

  • Cowell, Frank & Litchfield, Julie & Mercader-Prats, Magda, 1999. "Income inequality comparisons with dirty data: the UK and Spain during the 1980s," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 2240, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
  • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:2240
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Cowell, Frank & Mercader-Prats, Magda, 1999. "Equivalence scales and inequality," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 2190, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. Frank A Cowell & Maria-Pia Victoria-Feser, 2001. "Distributional Dominance with Dirty Data," STICERD - Distributional Analysis Research Programme Papers 51, Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines, LSE.
    3. Garner, Thesia I. & Sastre, Mercedes, 1999. "The influence of demographic and household specific price indices on expenditure based inequality and welfare: a comparison of Spain and the United States," UC3M Working papers. Economics 6165, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Departamento de Economía.
    4. Timothy Smeeding & Gunther Schmaus & Brigitte Buhmann & Lee Rainwater, 1988. "Equivalence Scales, Well-Being, Inequality and Poverty: Sensitivity Estimates Across Ten Countries Using the LIS Database," LIS Working papers 17, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    5. Cowell, Frank A & Victoria-Feser, Maria-Pia, 1996. "Robustness Properties of Inequality Measures," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 64(1), pages 77-101, January.
    6. Richard V. Burkhauser & Timothy M. Smeeding & Joachim Merz, 1996. "Relative Inequality And Poverty In Germany And The United States Using Alternative Equivalence Scales," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 42(4), pages 381-400, December.
    7. Alissa Goodman & Steven Webb, 1994. "For richer, for poorer: the changing distribution of income in the United Kingdom, 1961-91," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 15(4), pages 29-62, November.
    8. Cowell, F.A., 2000. "Measurement of inequality," Handbook of Income Distribution, in: A.B. Atkinson & F. Bourguignon (ed.), Handbook of Income Distribution, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 2, pages 87-166, Elsevier.
    9. Gottschalk, Peter & Smeeding, Timothy M., 2000. "Empirical evidence on income inequality in industrialized countries," Handbook of Income Distribution, in: A.B. Atkinson & F. Bourguignon (ed.), Handbook of Income Distribution, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 5, pages 261-307, Elsevier.
    10. Sen, Amartya, 1997. "On Economic Inequality," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198292975.
    11. Timothy M. Smeeding & Peter Gottschalk, 1998. "The International Evidence on Income Distribution in Modern Economies: Where Do We Stand?," International Economic Association Series, in: Yair Mundlak (ed.), Contemporary Economic Issues, chapter 3, pages 39-61, Palgrave Macmillan.
    12. Frank A Cowell, 1998. "Measurement of Inequality (published in Handbook of Income Distribution, A B Atkinson and F Bourguignon (eds), 1998)," STICERD - Distributional Analysis Research Programme Papers 36, Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines, LSE.
    13. Frank A Cowell & Maria-Pia Victoria-Feser, 1996. "Welfare Judgements in the Presence Contaminated Data," STICERD - Distributional Analysis Research Programme Papers 13, Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines, LSE.
    14. Brigitte Buhmann & Lee Rainwater & Guenther Schmaus & Timothy M. Smeeding, 1988. "Equivalence Scales, Well‐Being, Inequality, And Poverty: Sensitivity Estimates Across Ten Countries Using The Luxembourg Income Study (Lis) Database," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 34(2), pages 115-142, June.
    15. Coulter, Fiona A E & Cowell, Frank A & Jenkins, Stephen P, 1992. "Equivalence Scale Relativities and the Extent of Inequality and Poverty," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 102(414), pages 1067-1082, September.
    16. repec:bla:revinw:v:34:y:1988:i:2:p:115-42 is not listed on IDEAS
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    Cited by:

    1. Dwayne Benjamin & Loren Brandt & Brian McCaig, 2017. "Growth with equity: income inequality in Vietnam, 2002–14," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 15(1), pages 25-46, March.
    2. Khor, Niny & Pencavel, John, 2008. "Measuring Income Mobility, Income Inequality, and Social Welfare for Households of the People’s Republic of China," ADB Economics Working Paper Series 145, Asian Development Bank.
    3. Elena Bárcena-Martin & Elena Jacques Silber & Yuan Zhang, 2019. "On the measurement of population weighted relative indices of mobility and convergence, with an illustration based on Chinese data," Working Papers 505, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    4. Nelson R. Ramírez- Rondán & Marco E. Terrones & Diego Winkelried, 2020. "Equalizing growth: The case of Peru," Working Papers 176, Peruvian Economic Association.
    5. Torregrosa-Hetland, Sara, 2016. "Sticky Income Inequality In The Spanish Transition (1973-1990)," Revista de Historia Económica / Journal of Iberian and Latin American Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 34(1), pages 39-80, March.
    6. Timothy Smeeding & Teresa Munzi, 2017. "Conditions of Social Vulnerability, Work and Low Income, Evidence for Spain in Comparative Perspective," LIS Working papers 448, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    7. Jes s Ruiz-Huerta & Luis Ayala & Rosa Martinez, 1999. "Inequality, Growth and Welfare: An International Comparison," LIS Working papers 215, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    8. Thesia I. Garner & Javier Ruiz‐Castillo & Mercedes Sastre, 2003. "The Influence of Demographics and Household‐Specific Price Indices on Consumption‐Based Inequality and Welfare: A Comparison of Spain and the United States," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 70(1), pages 22-48, July.
    9. E. Bárcena-Martín & A. I. Moro-Egido & S. Pérez-Moreno, 2016. "How Income Growth Differs with Children in Spain: a Comparative European Perspective," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 9(2), pages 357-370, June.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Lorenz dominance; data contamination; cross-country comparisons;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C13 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Estimation: General
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement

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