Measuring lnequality in the Middle East 1990-2016: The World’s Most Unequal Region?

Facundo Alvaredo (), Lydia Assouad () and Thomas Piketty
Additional contact information
Lydia Assouad: PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, WIL - World Inequality Lab

PSE Working Papers from HAL

Abstract: In this paper we combine household surveys, national accounts, income tax data and wealth data in order to estimate income concentration in the Middle East for the period 1990-2016. According to our benchmark series, the Middle East appears to be the most unequal region in the world, with a top decile income share as large as 64%, as compared to 37% in Western Europe, 47% in the USA and 55% in Brazil. This is due both to enormous inequality between countries (particularly between oil-rich and population-rich countries) and to large inequality within countries (which we probably under-estimate, given the limited access to proper fiscal data). We stress the importance of increasing transparency on income and wealth in the Middle East, as well as the need to develop mechanisms of regional redistribution and investment.

Keywords: Inequality; measurement; Middle-East; distribution; concentration; fiscal data; top incomes (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-02796992v1
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
https://shs.hal.science/halshs-02796992v1/document (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Measuring lnequality in the Middle East 1990–2016: The World’s Most Unequal Region? (2019)
Working Paper: Measuring lnequality in the Middle East 1990-2016: The World's Most Unequal Region? (2019)
Working Paper: Measuring lnequality in the Middle East 1990–2016: The World’s Most Unequal Region? (2019)
Working Paper: Measuring lnequality in the Middle East 1990-2016: The World's Most Unequal Region? (2019)
Working Paper: Measuring lnequality in the Middle East 1990–2016: The World’s Most Unequal Region? (2019)
Working Paper: Measuring lnequality in the Middle East 1990-2016: The World’s Most Unequal Region? (2017)
Working Paper: Measuring lnequality in the Middle East 1990-2016: The World’s Most Unequal Region? (2017)
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:hal:psewpa:halshs-02796992

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in PSE Working Papers from HAL
Bibliographic data for series maintained by CCSD ().