Inequality in an Equal Society

Laura Harvey, Jochen Mierau and James Rockey

No 26, LWS Working papers from LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg

Abstract: A society in which everybody is the same at the same stage of the life-cycle will exhibit substantial income and wealth inequality. We use this idea to empirically quantify natural inequality – the share of observed inequality attributable to life-cycle profiles of income and wealth. We document that recent increases in inequality in the United States and other developed countries are both larger than observed rates would suggest, and represent a distinct change from the period 1960-1980. Extrapolating our measures forward suggests that natural inequalities will fluctuate over the next 20 years before settling to a new higher level.

Keywords: Income Inequality; Wealth Inequality; Demographic Structure (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D31 J10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 66 pages
Date: 2017-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his and nep-lab
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Inequality in an Equal Society (2024)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:lis:lwswps:26

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