Top Incomes and the Great Recession: Recent Evolutions and Policy Implications

Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez

IMF Economic Review, 2013, vol. 61, issue 3, 456-478

Abstract: This paper presents new findings from the World Top Incomes Database and discusses some of their policy implications. In particular, the paper provides updated top income series for the United States—including new estimates through 2010, showing a strong rebound of the top 1 percent income share, following the 2008–09 sharp fall. It also presents updated income series for other developed countries (including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Japan) and new series on wealth-income ratios. In light of this extended set of country series, the paper analyzes the relative importance of market and institutional forces in explaining observed cross-country trends, and the likely impact of the Great recession on these long-term evolutions. It discusses the policy implications of the findings, both in terms of optimal tax policy and regarding the interplay between inequality and macroeconomic fragility.

Date: 2013
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (112)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.palgrave-journals.com/imfer/journal/v61/n3/pdf/imfer201314a.pdf Link to full text PDF (application/pdf)
http://www.palgrave-journals.com/imfer/journal/v61/n3/full/imfer201314a.html Link to full text HTML (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
Working Paper: Top Incomes and the Great Recession: Recent Evolutions and Policy Implications (2013)
Working Paper: Top Incomes and the Great Recession: Recent Evolutions and Policy Implications (2013)
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: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:imfecr:v:61:y:2013:i:3:p:456-478

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... cs/journal/41308/PS2

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in IMF Economic Review from Palgrave Macmillan, International Monetary Fund
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().