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The Level and Distribution of Economic Well-Being

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  • Alan S. Blinder

Abstract

This paper summarizes and critically evaluates what is known about postwar trends in both the level and distribution of economic well-being. Although certain non-income aspects of well-being are considered, the primary focus is on the level and inequality of income. Considerable attention is paid to recent controversies over the effects of transfers in kind and changing life-cycle income patterns on the overall trend in income inequality.

Suggested Citation

  • Alan S. Blinder, 1980. "The Level and Distribution of Economic Well-Being," NBER Working Papers 0488, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:0488
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    Cited by:

    1. Lemieux, Thomas, 2008. "L’évolution des inégalités dans les pays industrialisés : le point sur la situation," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 84(3), pages 241-262, septembre.
    2. Joao Pereira & Aurora Galego, 2013. "Intra-Regional Regional Wage Inequality In Portugal: A Quantile Based Decomposition Analisys," ERSA conference papers ersa13p158, European Regional Science Association.
    3. R. D. Plotnick & E. Smolensky & E. Evenhouse & S. Reilly, "undated". "The Twentieth Century Record of Inequality and Poverty in the United States," Institute for Research on Poverty Discussion Papers 1166-98, University of Wisconsin Institute for Research on Poverty.
    4. Virginia Tsoukatou, 2020. "Examining the correlation of the level of wage inequality with labor market institutions," Papers 2001.06003, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2020.
    5. J. R. Kearl & Clayne L. Pope, 1986. "Choices, Rents, and Luck: Economic Mobility of Nineteenth-Century Utah Households," NBER Chapters, in: Long-Term Factors in American Economic Growth, pages 215-260, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Weizsäcker, Robert K. von, 1995. "Does an Aging Population Increase Inequality?," Discussion Papers 535, Institut fuer Volkswirtschaftslehre und Statistik, Abteilung fuer Volkswirtschaftslehre.
    7. Haider, Steven J, 2001. "Earnings Instability and Earnings Inequality of Males in the United States: 1967-1991," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 19(4), pages 799-836, October.
    8. Thomas Lemieux, 2008. "The changing nature of wage inequality," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 21(1), pages 21-48, January.
    9. Thomas L. Hungerford, 2020. "The Course of Income Inequality as a Cohort Ages into Old-Age," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 18(1), pages 71-90, March.
    10. Michel Sollogoub, 1988. "L'inégalité des revenus primaires en France de 1962 à 1979," Revue Économique, Programme National Persée, vol. 39(3), pages 545-572.
    11. Joel Slemrod, 1998. "The Economics of Taxing the Rich," NBER Working Papers 6584, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. von Weizsacker, Robert K., 1996. "Distributive implications of an aging society," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(3-5), pages 729-746, April.

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