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Poor Laborers and Rich Capitalists? On the Evolution of Income Composition Inequality in Italy 1989-2016

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  • , Stone Center

    (The Graduate Center/CUNY)

  • Iacono, Roberto

    (Norwegian University of Science and Technology)

  • Ranaldi, Marco

Abstract

We study the evolution of inequality in income composition in terms of capital and labor income in Italy between 1989 and 2016. We document a rise in the share of capital income accruing to the bottom of the distribution, whilst the top of the distribution increases its share of labor income. This implies a falling degree of income composition inequality in the period considered and, hence, the fact that Italy is moving away from being an economy composed of poor laborers and rich capitalists. This result is robust to the use of different definitions of capital and labor income. A falling degree of income composition inequality implies a weaker link between the functional and personal distributions of income. Therefore, fluctuations in the total factor shares of income are having an increasingly weaker impact on income inequality in Italy. Finally, we conceptualize a rule of thumb for policy makers seeking to reduce income inequality in the long run. This rule relates fluctuations in the total factor shares and the level of income composition inequality to the specific income source to be redistributed. (Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality Working Paper)

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  • , Stone Center & Iacono, Roberto & Ranaldi, Marco, 2020. "Poor Laborers and Rich Capitalists? On the Evolution of Income Composition Inequality in Italy 1989-2016," SocArXiv xs47p, Center for Open Science.
    • Handle: RePEc:osf:socarx:xs47p
    DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/xs47p
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    Cited by:

    1. Ranaldi, Marco & Milanović, Branko, 2022. "Capitalist systems and income inequality," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 20-32.
    2. Marco Ranaldi, 2022. "Income Composition Inequality," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 68(1), pages 139-160, March.
    3. Roberto Iacono & Elisa Palagi, 2020. "Still the lands of equality? On the heterogeneity of individual factor income shares in the Nordics," LEM Papers Series 2020/13, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    4. Ranaldi, Marco, 2021. "Global Distributions of Capital and Labor Incomes: Capitalization of the Global Middle Class," SocArXiv 3g59r, Center for Open Science.
    5. , Stone Center & Ranaldi, Marco, 2020. "Distributional Aspects of Economic Systems," SocArXiv n7wj4, Center for Open Science.
    6. Arsen Palestini & Giuseppe Pignataro, 2023. "Inequality assessment in a dynamic framework with heterogenous agents," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 40(2), pages 469-494, July.
    7. Petrova, Bilyana & Ranaldi, Marco, 2021. "Determinants of Income Composition Inequality," SocArXiv vyrz7, Center for Open Science.

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    JEL classification:

    • C43 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: Special Topics - - - Index Numbers and Aggregation
    • E25 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Aggregate Factor Income Distribution
    • H24 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies

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