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Disaggregating the Effect of the Business Cycle on the Distribution of Income

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Author Info
Rebecca M. Blank

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Abstract

This paper disaggregates total household income into a complete set of components and studies the comparative cyclicality of these components to economic growth. Comparisons of the relative responsiveness to GNP growth of wages, hours of work, and total labor market income of heads and wives, and transfer income sources of households are made across income, race, sex and age groups. This provides a picture of the channels by which economic growth produces income change. Significant differences in elasticities are found to exist both between different income components and between different population groups for the same components. The narrowing income distribution in times of high growth occurs primarily because of large elasticities on head's labor market income among the poor. Both wages and hours show evidence of cyclicality. The labor market earnings of women -- both wives and household heads -- are far less responsive to growth. Cyclicality in transfer income varies enormously between population groups and by type of transfer.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 2397.

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Date of creation: Oct 1987
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Publication status: published as Economica, vol. 56, no. 2, pp141-163, May 1989.
Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:2397

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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. Michael Ransom, 1982. "Estimating Family Labor Supply Models Under Quantity Constraints," Working Papers 530, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section.. [Downloadable!]
  2. Charles M. Beach, 1974. "Cyclical Sensitivity of Aggregate Income Inequality," Working Papers 162, Queen's University, Department of Economics.
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  3. Bils, Mark J, 1985. "Real Wages over the Business Cycle: Evidence from Panel Data," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 93(4), pages 666-89, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Mary Jo Bane & David T. Ellwood, 1983. "Slipping into and out of Poverty: The Dynamics of Spells," NBER Working Papers 1199, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Lundberg, Shelly, 1985. "The Added Worker Effect," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 3(1), pages 11-37, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Hirsch, Barry T, 1980. "Poverty and Economic Growth: Has Trickle Down Petered Out?," Economic Inquiry, Oxford University Press, vol. 18(1), pages 151-58, January.
  7. repec:fth:prinin:150 is not listed on IDEAS
  8. Rebecca M. Blank & Alan S. Blinder, 1985. "Macroeconomics, Income Distribution, and Poverty," NBER Working Papers 1567, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Thornton, James R & Agnello, Richard J & Link, Charles R, 1978. "Poverty and Economic Growth: Trickle Down Peters Out," Economic Inquiry, Oxford University Press, vol. 16(3), pages 385-94, July.
  10. Geary, Patrick T & Kennan, John, 1982. "The Employment-Real Wage Relationship: An International Study," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 90(4), pages 854-71, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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(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. Gary Solon & Robert Barsky & Jonathan A. Parker, 1992. "Measuring the Cyclicality of Real Wages: How Important is Composition Bias," NBER Working Papers 4202, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  2. Lídia Farré-Olalla & Francis Vella, 2006. "Macroeconomic Conditions and the Distribution of Income in Spain," IZA Discussion Papers 2512, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  3. Jeffrey Wenger & Christian E. Weller, 2008. "The Interplay between Labor and Financial Markets: What are the Implications for Defined Contribution Accounts?," Working Papers wp162, Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts at Amherst. [Downloadable!]
  4. Lilia Maliar & Serguei Maliar & Juan Mora, 2005. "Income and Wealth Distributions Along the Business Cycle: Implications from the Neoclassical Growth Model," Topics in Macroeconomics, Berkeley Electronic Press, vol. 5(1), pages 1238-1238. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  5. Timothy J. Bartik, 1993. "The Effects of Local Labor Demand on Individual Labor Market Outcomes for Diffrerent Demographic Groups and the Poor," Staff Working Papers 93-23, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Note: For best results & the figures should be printed on a non-Postscript printer. Hoynes & H., . "The Employment, Earnings, and Income of Less-Skilled Workers over the Business Cycle," Institute for Research on Poverty Discussion Papers 1199-99, University of Wisconsin Institute for Research on Poverty. [Downloadable!]
  7. repec:fth:prinin:454 is not listed on IDEAS
  8. Alan J. Auerbach & Daniel Feenberg, 2000. "The Significance of Federal Taxes as Automatic Stabilizers," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 14(3), pages 37-56, Summer. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  9. James R. Hines Jr. & Hilary W. Hoynes & Alan B. Krueger, 2001. "Another Look at Whether a Rising Tide Lifts All Boats," NBER Working Papers 8412, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Timothy J. Bartik, 1991. "The Effects of Metropolitan Job Growth on the Size Distribution of Family Income," Staff Working Papers 91-06, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Jordan Shan, 2002. "A Macroeconometric Model Of Income Disparity In China," International Economic Journal, Korean International Economic Association, vol. 16(2), pages 47-63, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Hilary Williamson Hoynes, 1999. "The Employment, Earnings, and Income of Less Skilled Workers Over the Business Cycle," JCPR Working Papers 85, Northwestern University/University of Chicago Joint Center for Poverty Research. [Downloadable!]
  13. Rebecca M. Blank, 1991. "Why Were Poverty Rates So High in the 1980s?," NBER Working Papers 3878, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
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