Top Income Shares in Greece From Dictatorship to Crisis: 1967–2017.

The paper calculates the top income shares in Greece from 1967 (the seizure of power by the military dictatorship) until 2017 (the aftermath of the debt crisis). This long‐run perspective allows for the examination of the relationship between inequality and institutional transformations, namely democracy, finance, and crisis. We find in particular that (a) transition to democracy did not affect the income share of the top decile, whereas social democracy had a significant negative impact; (b) financial development and liberalization substantially increased all top decile shares; and (c) debt crisis, consolidation, and recession increased the share of the upper ranks of the top decile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]