Richer or More Numerous or Both? The Role of Population and Economic Growth for Top Income Shares

48 Pages Posted: 21 Feb 2019

See all articles by Carla Krolage

Carla Krolage

ifo Institute

Andreas Peichl

CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute)

Daniel Waldenström

Paris School of Economics (PSE); Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)

Date Written: 2018

Abstract

When measuring income inequality over long periods of time, accounting for population and productivity growth is important. This paper presents three alternative measures of top income shares that more explicitly account for population and income growth than the standard measure. We apply these measures to long-term income data from the United States and find that the U-shaped inequality trend over the past century holds up, but with important qualifications. Using measures that allow top groups to change not only in relative income but also in group size suggest more accentuated top income share growth since 1980 than when keeping top groups fixed. For earlier historical periods, our analysis shows that choice of income deflator (CPI or GDP) matters greatly. Using distributional national accounts data does not change these results. Altogether, our study's findings suggest that one may want to use several complementary top share measures when assessing long-term income inequality trends.

Keywords: income distribution, inequality, top incomes, growth, measurement

JEL Classification: D310, D630, H310, N320

Suggested Citation

Krolage, Carla and Peichl, Andreas and Waldenström, Daniel, Richer or More Numerous or Both? The Role of Population and Economic Growth for Top Income Shares (2018). CESifo Working Paper No. 7385, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3338714 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3338714

Carla Krolage (Contact Author)

ifo Institute ( email )

Poschinger Str. 5
Munich, 01069
Germany

Andreas Peichl

CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute) ( email )

Poschinger Str. 5
Munich, DE-81679
Germany

Daniel Waldenström

Paris School of Economics (PSE) ( email )

48 Boulevard Jourdan
Paris, 75014 75014
France

Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN) ( email )

Box 55665
Grevgatan 34, 2nd floor
Stockholm, SE-102 15
Sweden

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