A Nifty Fix for Published Distribution Statistics: Simplified Distribution-Free Statistical Inference

Charles Beach ()

No 1477, Working Paper from Economics Department, Queen's University

Abstract: This paper applies the tool box measures of disaggregative income inequality characterization and the statistical methodology of Beach (2021) to percentile-based distribution statistics such as quintile income shares and decile means typically published by official statistical agencies. It derives standard error formulas for those measures which are distribution-free and easy to implement. The approach is illustrated with Canadian Labour Force Survey data over 1997-2015. It is found that widely shared real earnings gains were experienced over this period, but that the gains were very unevenly shared with middle-class workers losing out relatively and top earners having highly statistically significant earnings gains.

Keywords: income inequality; inequality inference; statistical inference (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C12 C46 D31 D63 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 48 pages
Date: 2021-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ecm
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:qed:wpaper:1477

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