Finance and the rise in inequalities in France

Olivier Godechot

Working Papers from HAL

Abstract: Based on the DADS, a very detailed French database on wages, we show that wage inequalities started to increase in France in the mid-1990s. This phenomenon is limited to the top end of income distribution and concerns mainly the top 0.1%, whose share of total salaries increased from 1.2% to 2% between 1996 and 2007. This increase in inequality was accompanied by some changes in the social composition of this wage elite. These include a decline in employees in the provinces, in CEOs; and an increase in lower rank management like chief officers and other administrative managers, in sportspersons, and in Paris Region employees. A sector approach shows that finance (3% of private sector employees) is responsible for half of the rise in inequalities at the top end of wage distribution. We discuss the role of the size of financial activity in the tremendous increase in top financial wages.

Keywords: Inequalities; Wages; Finance; Superstars; France; Inégalités; Salaires (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011-04
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00584881v1
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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