Power-law behavior and inequality in the upper tail of wealth, income and consumption: evidence from India

Rishabh Kumar
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Rishabh Kumar: University of Massachusetts Boston

No 298js, OSF Preprints from Center for Open Science

Abstract: This paper analyzes the upper tails of wealth, income, and consumption in India over the period 2012-18 using rich- lists, wealth surveys, income tax returns and consumer expenditure surveys. We find the upper tail to obey a power- law in all three economic resources. Comparing our estimates in 2012 – where we possess data on wealth, income, and consumption simultaneously – we find that the upper tail of wealth is most concentrated, income slightly less, and consumption is much less concentrated. Unlike wealth and income, the Pareto coefficients for consumption are estimated to have a well-defined mean and variance. Our findings are suggestive of convex saving functions in the income distribution.

Date: 2024-03-22
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-fdg and nep-hme
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:osf:osfxxx:298js

DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/298js

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