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The Distribution of Top Incomes in Australia

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Author Info
A.B. Atkinson
Andrew Leigh () (SPEAR Centre, RSSS, ANU)

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Abstract

Using taxation statistics, we estimate the income share held by top income groups in Australia over the period 1921-2002. We find that the income share of the richest fell from the 1920s until the mid-1940s, rose briefly in the post-war decade, and then declined until the early-1980s. During the 1980s and 1990s, top income shares rose rapidly. At the start of the twenty-first century, the income share of the richest was higher than it had been at any point in the previous fifty years. Among top income groups, recent decades have also seen a rise in the share of top income accruing to the super-rich. Trends in top income shares are similar to those observed among other elite groups, such as judges, politicians, top bureaucrats and CEOs. We speculate that changes in top income shares may have been affected by top marginal tax rates, skill-biased technological change, social norms about inequality, and the internationalisation of the market for English-speaking CEOs.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Centre for Economic Policy Research, Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University in its series CEPR Discussion Papers with number 514.

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Length: 39 pages
Date of creation: Mar 2006
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:auu:dpaper:514

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Web page: http://econrsss.anu.edu.au/
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Related research
Keywords: inequality; Australia;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
N37 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Income, and Wealth - - - Africa; Oceania

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Peter Saunders, 1998. "Household Budgets and Income Distribution over the Longer Term: Evidence for Australia," Discussion Papers 0089, University of New South Wales, Social Policy Research Centre. [Downloadable!]
  2. Peter Saunders & Garry Hobbes, 1988. "Income Inequality in Australia in an International Comparative Perspective," Discussion Papers 004, University of New South Wales, Social Policy Research Centre.
  3. Meagher, G A & Dixon, Peter B, 1986. "Analyzing Income Distribution in Australia," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 62(179), pages 427-41, December.
  4. Norris, Keith, 1977. "The Dispersion of Earnings in Australia," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 53(144), pages 475-89, December.
  5. Cox, J P, 1976. "The National Survey of Income, Income Distribution and Temporary Poverty," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 52(140), pages 423-42, December.
  6. Saunders, Peter & Stott, Helen & Hobbes, Garry, 1991. "Income Inequality in Australia and New Zealand: International Comparisons and Recent Trends," Review of Income and Wealth, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 37(1), pages 63-79, March.
  7. Peter Saunders & Garry Hobbes, 1988. "Income Inequality in Australia in an International Comparative Perspective," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 21(3), pages 25-34. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Dan Andrews & Christopher Jencks & Andrew Leigh, 2009. "Do Rising Top Incomes Lift All Boats?," CAMA Working Papers 2009-17, Australian National University, Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis. [Downloadable!]
  2. Jordi Guilera Rafecas, 2008. "Top income shares in Portugal over the twentieth century," Working Papers in Economics 195, Universitat de Barcelona. Espai de Recerca en Economia. [Downloadable!]
  3. Richard V. Burkhauser & Shuaizhang Feng & Stephen P. Jenkins & Jeff Larrimore, 2009. "Recent Trends in Top Income Shares in the USA: Reconciling Estimates from March CPS and IRS Tax Return Data," NBER Working Papers 15320, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  4. A. B. Atkinson & Andrew Leigh, 2005. "The Distribution of Top Incomes in New Zealand," CEPR Discussion Papers 503, Centre for Economic Policy Research, Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University. [Downloadable!]
  5. Roine, Jesper & Waldenström, Daniel, 2006. "The Evolution of Top Incomes in an Egalitarian Society; Sweden, 1903–2004," Working Paper Series 667, Research Institute of Industrial Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. Sambit Bhattacharyya & Jeffrey G. Williamson, 2009. "Commodity Price Shocks and the Australian Economy since Federation," CEPR Discussion Papers 605, Centre for Economic Policy Research, Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  7. Roine, Jesper & Waldenström, Daniel, 2009. "Common Trends and Shocks to Top Incomes – A Structural Breaks Approach," Working Paper Series 801, Research Institute of Industrial Economics. [Downloadable!]
  8. Bjorn Gustafsson & Birgitta Jansson, 2007. "Top Incomes in Sweden during Three-Quarters of a Century: A Micro Data Approach," IZA Discussion Papers 2672, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  9. Anthony B. Atkinson & Thomas Piketty & Emmanuel Saez, 2009. "Top Incomes in the Long Run of History," NBER Working Papers 15408, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Ross Finnie & Ian Irvine, 2006. "Mobility and Gender at the Top Tail of the Earnings Distribution," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 37(2), pages 149-173. [Downloadable!]
  11. Burkhauser, Richard V. & Feng, Shuaizhang & Jenkins, Stephen P. & Larrimore, Jeff, 2009. "Recent Trends in Top Income Shares in the USA: Reconciling Estimates from March CPS and IRS Tax Return Data," IZA Discussion Papers 4426, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  12. Andrew Leigh, 2004. "Deriving Long-Run Inequality Series from Tax Data," CEPR Discussion Papers 476, Centre for Economic Policy Research, Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  13. Rolf Aaberge and Anthony B. Atkinson, 2008. "Top Incomes in Norway," Discussion Papers 552, Research Department of Statistics Norway. [Downloadable!]
  14. repec:ese:iserwp: is not listed on IDEAS
  15. Roine, Jesper & Vlachos, Jonas & Waldenström, Daniel, 2007. "What Determines Top Income Shares? Evidence from the Twentieth Century," Research Papers in Economics 2007:17, Stockholm University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  16. Emmanuel Saez & Joel B. Slemrod & Seth H. Giertz, 2009. "The Elasticity of Taxable Income with Respect to Marginal Tax Rates: A Critical Review," NBER Working Papers 15012, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  17. Roine, Jesper & Waldenström, Daniel, 2005. "Top Incomes in Sweden over the Twentieth Century," Working Paper Series in Economics and Finance 602, Stockholm School of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  18. A. B. Atkinson, 2004. "Income Tax and Top Incomes over the Twentieth Century," Hacienda Pública Española, IEF, vol. 168(1), pages 123-141, march. [Downloadable!]
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