Can we reduce income inequality in OECD countries?

The public debate about inequality has generated a sense of gloom and doom—that high levels of inequality are inevitable and that little can be done. The aim of this paper is to inject a more optimistic note. I argue that there have been periods in the past when income inequality was reduced and we...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Empirica 2015-05, Vol.42 (2), p.211-223
Main Author: Atkinson, Anthony B.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Determinants
Disposable income
Econometrics
Economic models
Economic statistics
Economic theory
Economics
Economics and Finance
European Integration
Global economy
Household income
Income inequality
Income redistribution
Industrial Organization
Inequality
International
International Economics
Macroeconomics/Monetary Economics//Financial Economics
Manycountries
OECD
Original Paper
Public Finance
Studies
Tax rates
Technological change
Wages
Wages & salaries
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Summary:The public debate about inequality has generated a sense of gloom and doom—that high levels of inequality are inevitable and that little can be done. The aim of this paper is to inject a more optimistic note. I argue that there have been periods in the past when income inequality was reduced and we can learn from these, that the textbook story of the causes of rising wage inequality—globalisation and technological change—has a more optimistic interpretation; and that, whereas wages are a major part of household incomes, but there are other important determinants where it is possible to take action to reduce inequality. The paper ends by outlining four “old” measures to reduce inequality, based on the lessons from the post-war decades in Europe, and four “new” measures suggested by the analysis of today’s economics of inequality.
ISSN:0340-8744
1573-6911
DOI:10.1007/s10663-015-9288-0