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GINI Country Report: Growing Inequalities and their Impacts in Denmark

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  • C. Bjørnskov
  • I. Neamtu
  • N. Westergård-Nielsen

Abstract

This paper gives an account of economic inequality in Denmark from the 1980s until 2010. It is based on register data for the whole population and enables us to map the entire Danish income distribution year by year for all sorts of sub groups. The Danish income distribution has for very long been comparatively equally distributed with a relatively small difference between the lowest and the highest incomes and with a relatively high earnings mobility. However this changes slowly towards a more unequal income distribution over the investigated years. Thus, the Gini coefficient of disposable household income increased from 25% in the 1980s to around 30% in 2006. The Great Recession had a temporary negative impact on the Gini coefficient. It is found that the tax and transfer system has a huge impact on the distribution of incomes. While the Gini coefficient of the raw incomes is about 46% in 2010 it is only 30% after tax and transfers for the entire population.

Suggested Citation

  • C. Bjørnskov & I. Neamtu & N. Westergård-Nielsen, 2012. "GINI Country Report: Growing Inequalities and their Impacts in Denmark," GINI Country Reports denmark, AIAS, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies.
    • Handle: RePEc:aia:ginicr:denmark
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