*INCOME, *ECONOMIC development, *INCOME inequality, *REAL income, *INCOME redistribution, *PAY equity, *WORLD War II, UNITED States economy, 1945-
Abstract
This paper introduces a new comprehensive panel of annual state-level income inequality measures spanning the postwar period 1945–2004. For many states, the share of income held by the top decile experienced a prolonged period of stability after World War II, followed by a substantial increase in inequality during the 1980s and 1990s. This paper also presents an examination of the long-run relationship between income inequality and economic growth. Our findings indicate that the long-run relationship between inequality and growth is positive in nature and driven principally by the concentration of income in the upper end of the income distribution. ( JEL D31, O40) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Bargain, Olivier, Dolls, Mathias, Immervoll, Herwig, Neumann, Dirk, Peichl, Andreas, Pestel, Nico, and Siegloch, Sebastian
Subjects
*FISCAL policy, *INCOME inequality, *TAXATION, *HISTORY, *ECONOMIC history
Abstract
This paper assesses the effects of U.S. tax policy reforms on inequality over around three decades, from 1979 to 2007. It applies a new method for decomposing changes in government redistribution into (1) a direct policy effect resulting from policy changes and (2) the effects of changing market incomes. Over the period as a whole, the tax policy changes increased income inequality by pushing up the income share of high-income earners (the top 20%). ( JEL H23, H31, H53, P16) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]