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The Impact of Redistributive Policies on Inequality in OECD Countries

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Listed author(s):
  • Philipp Doerrenberg

    (CGS, University of Cologne)

  • Andreas Peichl

    (IZA, University of Cologne, ISER and CESifo)

Abstract

Recent discussions about rising inequality in industrialized countries have triggered calls for more government intervention and redistribution. Due to obvious behavioral effects caused by redistribution, it is however not clear whether redistributional policies are indeed able to combat inequality. This paper contributes to this relevant research question by using different contextual country-level data sources to study inequality trends in OECD countries since the 1980s. We first investigate the development of inequality over time before analyzing the question of whether governments can effectively reduce inequality. Different identification strategies, using fixed effects and instrumental variables models, provide some evidence that governments are capable of reducing income inequality despite countervailing behavioral adjustments. The effect is stronger for social expenditure policies than for progressive taxation, which seems to trigger more inequality increasing indirect behavioral effects. Our results also suggest that the use of secondary inequality data should be handled with caution.

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Paper provided by Cologne Graduate School in Management, Economics and Social Sciences in its series Cologne Graduate School Working Paper Series with number 03-05.

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Date of creation: 13 Apr 2012
Handle: RePEc:cgr:cgsser:03-05
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Keywords: Inequality; Redistribution; Social Expenditure; Progressive Taxation;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
  • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
  • D60 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - General
  • H20 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - General

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Blog mentions

As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
  1. Inequality in OECD Countries
    by maximorossi in NEP-LTV blog on 2012-05-11 16:54:58
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Cited by:

  1. Kuhn, Andreas, 2012. "Redistributive Preferences, Redistribution, and Inequality: Evidence from a Panel of OECD Countries," IZA Discussion Papers 6721, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  2. John V. Duca & Jason L. Saving, 2016. "Income Inequality and Political Polarization: Time Series Evidence Over Nine Decades," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 62(3), pages 445-466, 09.
  3. Thibault Darcillon, 2016. "What Determines Top Income Shares? The Role of the Interactions between Financial Integration and Tax Policy," Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 16032, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne.
  4. Christoph Schinke, 2014. "Government Ideology, Globalization, and Top Income Shares in OECD Countries," ifo Working Paper Series Ifo Working Paper No. 181, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
  5. Andreas Kuhn, 2012. "Redistributive Preferences, Redistribution and Inequality: Evidence from a Panel of OECD Countries," NRN working papers 2012-08, The Austrian Center for Labor Economics and the Analysis of the Welfare State, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
  6. Thibault Darcillon, 2012. "Do Interactions between Finance and Labor Market Institutions Affect Wage Distribution?," Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 12089, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne.
  7. K. Sommerfeld, 2013. "Higher and higher? Performance pay and wage inequality in Germany," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(30), pages 4236-4247, October.
  8. Töngür, Ünal & Elveren, Adem Yavuz, 2014. "Deunionization and pay inequality in OECD Countries: A panel Granger causality approach," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 417-425.
  9. Katarzyna Metelska-Szaniawska, 2016. "Reassessing the Economic Effects of Post-Socialist Constitutions Using the Synthetic Control Method," Working Papers 2016-18, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw.
  10. European Commission, 2013. "Tax reforms in EU Member States - Tax policy challenges for economic growth and fiscal sustainability – 2013 Report," Taxation Papers 38, Directorate General Taxation and Customs Union, European Commission.
  11. Björn Kauder & Niklas Potrafke, 2015. "Globalization and social justice in OECD countries," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 151(2), pages 353-376, May.
  12. Niklas Potrafke, 2015. "The Evidence on Globalisation," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(3), pages 509-552, 03.
  13. Andreas Kuhn, 2012. "Redistributive preferences, redistribution, and inequality: Evidence from a panel of OECD countries," ECON - Working Papers 084, Department of Economics - University of Zurich.
  14. Karen Davtyan, 2016. "“Income Inequality and Monetary Policy: An Analysis on the Long Run Relation”," AQR Working Papers 201604, University of Barcelona, Regional Quantitative Analysis Group, revised Apr 2016.
  15. Karen Davtyan, 2016. "“Income Inequality and Monetary Policy: An analysis on the Long Run Relation”," IREA Working Papers 201604, University of Barcelona, Research Institute of Applied Economics, revised Apr 2016.
  16. d'Agostino, Giorgio & Pieroni, Luca & Procidano, Isabella, 2016. "Revisiting the relationship between welfare spending and income inequality in OECD countries," MPRA Paper 72020, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  17. András Gábos & Réka Branyiczki & Barbara Lange & György Tóth, 2015. "Employment and poverty dynamics in the EU countries before, during and after the crisis," ImPRovE Working Papers 15/06, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.

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