On the meaning and measurement of redistribution in cross-country comparisons

Peter J. Lambert, Runa Nesbakken and Thor O. Thoresen ()
Additional contact information
Thor O. Thoresen: Statistics Norway, http://www.ssb.no/english/research/

Discussion Papers from Research Department of Statistics Norway

Abstract: Empirical findings on the relationship between income inequality and redistribution from a cross-country perspective are not conclusive. One reason may be that observers have in mind different concepts of redistribution. A major factor is that comparator countries’ pre-fisc distributions typically differ markedly, and account is taken of this differently (if at all) by different measures of redistribution. The ambiguities can be resolved by applying the “transplant-and-compare” approach, rendering fiscal regimes into a common base by adjusting for differences in pre-fisc income inequality, and then measuring the “pure” effect of tax-and-transfer policies using this benchmark. We illustrate both what is possible, and what remains problematic, using this technique, by conducting an exploratory international comparison, based on microdata from the Luxembourg Income Study database in combination with more aggregated information from the OECD, for 15 countries.

Keywords: Redistributive effect; Personal income tax; Cross-country comparison (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H11 H23 H53 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ltv
Date: 2011-02
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations Track citations by RSS feed

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.ssb.no/publikasjoner/DP/pdf/dp649.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ssb:dispap:649

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Discussion Papers from Research Department of Statistics Norway
Address: P.O.Box 8131 Dep, N-0033 Oslo, Norway
Contact information at EDIRC.
Series data maintained by J Bruusgaard ().