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Explaining Rising Income Inequality in Germany, 1991-2010

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  • Kai Daniel Schmid
  • Ulrike Stein

Abstract

In Germany, inequality of net equivalized income increased noticeably in the first half of the new millennium. We aim to identify the main drivers of this rise in income inequality since the early 1990s. We provide a broad overview of the circumstances under which inequality evolved, i.e. which changes in the German economy are most likely to provide an explanation for changes in income concentration. To explain the development of the distribution of net equivalized income we analyze changes in the distribution of market income as well as shifts in the effectiveness of public redistribution mechanisms. We find that cyclical and structural changes in the labor market, the increasing relevance of capital income as well as the decreasing effectiveness of the public mechanisms of income redistribution are the main explanatory factors for the development of income inequality. In addition to this, we discuss several issues that are of high relevance for the distribution of economic resources but are not directly covered in the analysis of net equivalized income. Most significantly, the design of the tax and social security contributions burden as well as the rising relevance of value-added taxes have exhibited negative redistributive effects for low income households.

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Paper provided by IMK at the Hans Boeckler Foundation, Macroeconomic Policy Institute in its series IMK Studies with number 32-2013.

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Length: 47 pages
Date of creation: 2013
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:imk:studie:32-2013
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Keywords: Income Inequality; Redistribution; SOEP;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
  • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
  • I30 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General
  • J30 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - General

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  17. Martin Adler & Kai Daniel Schmid, 2012. "Factor Shares and Income Inequality - Empirical Evidence from Germany 2002-2008," IAW Discussion Papers 82, Institut für Angewandte Wirtschaftsforschung (IAW).
  18. Antonczyk, Dirk & Fitzenberger, Bernd & Sommerfeld, Katrin, 2010. "Rising wage inequality, the decline of collective bargaining, and the gender wage gap," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(5), pages 835-847, October.
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Cited by:

  1. Moritz Drechsel-Grau & Kai D. Schmid, 2013. "Consumption-Savings Decisions under Upward Looking Comparisons: Evidence from Germany, 2002-2011," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 594, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
  2. Eva Schlenker & Kai Daniel Schmid, 2013. "Capital Income Shares and Income Inequality in the European Union," IMK Working Paper 119-2013, IMK at the Hans Boeckler Foundation, Macroeconomic Policy Institute.
  3. Hermann Adam, 2014. "Die politische Ökonomie wachsender Ungleichverteilung der Einkommen," Wirtschaftsdienst, Springer, vol. 94(2), pages 104-111, February.
  4. Eva Schlenker & Kai D. Schmid, 2014. "Capital Income Shares and Income Inequality in 16 EU Member Countries," IAW Discussion Papers 109, Institut für Angewandte Wirtschaftsforschung (IAW).
  5. Alexander Herzog-Stein & Fabian Lindner & Rudolf Zwiener, 2013. "Is the supply side all that counts?," IMK Report 87e-2013, IMK at the Hans Boeckler Foundation, Macroeconomic Policy Institute.

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