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Facts and Myths in the Popular Debate about Inequality in Sweden

Author

Listed:
  • Björklund, Anders

    (Institute for Social Research (SOFI), Stockholm University)

  • Waldenström, Daniel

    (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN))

Abstract

This paper presents a critical assessment of the public debate on income and wealth inequality in Sweden. We scrutinize ten often-heard claims in the debate by contrasting them against facts in available databases and results in the research literature. The paper also addresses specific measurement problems in the Swedish income statistics and suggests possible ways to handle them.

Suggested Citation

  • Björklund, Anders & Waldenström, Daniel, 2021. "Facts and Myths in the Popular Debate about Inequality in Sweden," Working Paper Series 1392, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:1392
    as

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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jesper Roine & Daniel Waldenström, 2009. "Wealth Concentration over the Path of Development: Sweden, 1873–2006," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 111(1), pages 151-187, March.
    2. Jacob Lundberg & Daniel Waldenström, 2018. "Wealth Inequality in Sweden: What can we Learn from Capitalized Income Tax Data?," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 64(3), pages 517-541, September.
    3. Thomas Piketty & Emmanuel Saez & Gabriel Zucman, 2018. "Distributional National Accounts: Methods and Estimates for the United States," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 133(2), pages 553-609.
    4. Jesper Roine & Daniel Waldenström, 2012. "On The Role Of Capital Gains In Swedish Income Inequality," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 58(3), pages 569-587, September.
    5. Annette Alstadsæter & Martin Jacob, 2016. "Dividend Taxes and Income Shifting," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 118(4), pages 693-717, October.
    6. Michał Brzeziński & Michał Myck & Mateusz Najsztub, 2019. "Reevaluating distributional consequences of the transition to market economy in Poland: new results from combined household survey and tax return data," Working Papers 2019-18, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw.
    7. Martin Ravallion, 2015. "The Luxembourg Income Study," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 13(4), pages 527-547, December.
    8. Stephen Jenkins, 2015. "World income inequality databases: an assessment of WIID and SWIID," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 13(4), pages 629-671, December.
    9. Facundo Alvaredo & Lucas Chancel & Thomas Piketty & Gabriel Zucman, 2018. "Distributional National Accounts," Post-Print halshs-03342488, HAL.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Income distribution; Wealth distribution; Public debate;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • D33 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Factor Income Distribution

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    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

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