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This work presents a framework to jointly study individuals’ heterogeneity in terms of their capital and labor endowments (endowment heterogeneity) and of their saving and consumption behaviors (behavioral heterogeneity), from an empirical perspective. By adopting a newly developed synthetic measure of compositional inequality, this work classifies more than 20 economies across over two decades on the basis of their heterogeneity characteristics. Modern economies are far from being characterized by agents with same propensities to save and consume and same endowments (Representative Agent systems), or by the existence of rich capital-abundant savers and poor hand-to-mouth consumers (Kaldorian systems). Our framework and results are discussed in light of the heterogeneity assumptions underlying several types of macroeconomic models with heterogeneous agents (Kaldorian, TANK & HANK, OLG, and ABM models). A negative relationship between behavioral heterogeneity and the economy’s saving rate is also documented.

This article studies the global distributions of capital and labor incomes among individuals in 2000 and 2016. By constructing a novel database covering approximately the 80% of the global output and the 60% of the world population, two major findings stand out. First, the world underwent an important process of capitalization. The share of world individuals with positive capital income rose from 20% to 32%. Second, the global middle class benefited the most, in relative terms, from such capitalization process, and China is the main responsible of this global trend. The findings of this paper are robust to changes in the income definition, and top-income adjustments. The global composition of capital and labor incomes is, therefore, more equal today than it was twenty years ago.

This article studies global distributions of capital and labor income among individuals in 2000 and 2016. By constructing a novel database covering approximately the 80% of the global output and the 60% of the world population, two major findings stand out. First, the world underwent a spectacular process of capitalization. The share of world individuals with positive capital income rose from 20% to 32%. Second, the global middle class benefited the most, in relative terms, from such capitalization process. In China, the average growth rate of capital income was 20 times higher than in western economies. The global composition of capital and labor income is, therefore, more equal today than it was twenty years ago, and the world is moving towards a global multiple-sources-of-income society. (Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality Working Paper Series)

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, while 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 a weaker relationship between the functional and personal distribution of income in Italy. This result is robust to various specifications of self-employment income; nonetheless, it hinges crucially on the treatment of rental incomes. While the dynamics of imputed rents has brought about a more equitable distribution of capital incomes across the income distribution, that of actual rents has led to higher concentration of capital incomes at the top in the decade preceding the outbreak of the financial crisis. Finally, we conceptualize a rule of thumb for policy makers seeking to reduce income inequality in the long run.

This paper proposes a methodology to jointly analyze the distributions of capital and labor and of saving and consumption across the population. Hinging on the novel concept of income composition inequality and on its technical assessment through a specific indicator, this paper classifies economic systems by bringing together these two distributions in a two-dimensional box. Economic systems can be classified as Kaldorian Systems or as Representative Agent Systems depending on their position in the box. In Kaldorian Systems, the rich individuals save capital income and the poor individuals consume labor income. In Representative Agent Systems, all individuals are identical in terms of ownership and behaviors. The paper illustrates this methodology via an empirical application to the European context, in which two major clusters of economic systems – Mediterranean and Northern European – emerge. Furthermore, this paper illustrates how the classification proposed can be useful in understanding a country’s long-run performance in terms of capital accumulation, inequality and growth. (Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality Working Paper)

The paper investigates the relationship between capitalism systems and their levels of income and compositional inequality (how the composition of income between capital and labor varies along income distribution). Capitalism may be seen to range between Classical Capitalism, where the rich have only capital income, and the rest have only labor income, and Liberal Capitalism, where many people receive both capital and labor incomes. Using a new methodology and data from 47 countries over the past 25 years, we show that higher compositional inequality is associated with higher inter-personal inequality. Nordic countries are exceptional because they combine high compositional inequality with low inter-personal inequality. We speculate on the emergence of homoploutic societies where income composition may be the same for all, but Gini inequality nonetheless high, and introduce a new taxonomy of capitalist societies.

This thesis consists of four chapters on income distribution. All chapters are interrelated, and cohesively they serve the sole purpose of discussing the concept of income composition inequality. This concept is thoroughly explored from a conceptual, mathematical, as well as political economy perspective. Chapter 1 introduces this dissertation and its main findings. Chapter 2 presents the concept of income composition inequality, together with a summary statistics for its technical assessment. Chapter 3 analyzes the determinants of income inequality variation in light of the novel inequality dimension previously introduced. Chapter 4 studies the evolution of income composition inequality in Italy between 1989 and 2016. Chapter 5 proposes a method to jointly analyze the distributions of capital and labor and of saving and consumption across the population. This method hinges on the concept of income composition inequality. Finally, Chapter 6 concludes this dissertation and lays the ground for future research on the matter.; Cette thèse comprend quatre chapitres sur la répartition des revenus. Tous les chapitres sont interdépendants et leur objectif commun est de discuter le concept d’inégalité dans la composition du revenu. Ce concept est étudié de manière approfondie du point de vue conceptuel, mathématique et économique. Le chapitre 1 présente cette thèse et ses principales conclusions. Le chapitre 2 présente le concept d’inégalité dans la composition du revenu, ainsi qu’un résumé statistique pour son évaluation technique. Le chapitre 3 analyse les déterminants de la variation de l’inégalité des revenus à la lumière de la nouvelle dimension de l’inégalité précédemment introduite. Le chapitre 4 étudie l’évolution de l’inégalité dans la composition du revenu en Italie entre 1989 et 2016. Le chapitre 5 propose une méthode pour analyser conjointement les répartitions du capital et du travail et de l’épargne et de la consommation. Cette méthode repose sur le concept d’inégalité dans composition du revenu. Enfin, le chapitre 6 conclut cette thèse et jette les bases de futures recherches en la matière.