The Drivers of Inequality in Rich Countries

Brian Nolan, Matteo Richiardi and Luis Valenzuela

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: Rising income inequality has recently come centre-stage as a core societal concern for rich countries. The diagnosis of the forces driving inequality upwards and their relative importance remains hotly contested, notably with respect to the roles of globalization versus technology and of market forces versus institutions and policy choices. This survey provides a critical review and synthesis of recent research. The focus is on income inequality across the entire distribution, rather than only on what has been happening at the very top. We pay particular attention to including what has been learned from the analysis of micro-data, to ensuring that the coverage is not unduly US-centric, and to analyses of the interrelations between the different drivers of inequality. We conclude by highlighting key gaps in knowledge and clarifying what stands in the way of a consensus emerging about the contribution of the various forces affecting how income inequality has evolved in recent decades.

Keywords: inequality; wage dispersion; technology; globalization; market power (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D30 D40 F16 F66 H20 J0 J00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/89806/1/MPRA_paper_89806.pdf original version (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: The Drivers of Inequality in Rich Countries (2018)
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:pra:mprapa:89806

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany Ludwigstraße 33, D-80539 Munich, Germany. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Joachim Winter ().