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The Ins and Outs of Top Income Mobility

Author

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  • Aaberge, Rolf

    (Statistics Norway)

  • Atkinson, Tony

    (Nuffield College, Oxford)

  • Modalsli, Jorgen Heibo

    (Statistics Norway)

Abstract

This paper is concerned with the question of whether top income earners are permanently there or only temporarily receive the highest incomes. How much mobility is there at the top of the income distribution, and how has mobility changed over time? The paper makes both a methodological and an empirical contribution to answering these questions. The first part of the paper introduces a family of top income mobility measures based on differences in average annual incomes of top income earners in short-term and long-term distributions of income. Norwegian income tax records are then employed to study top income mobility in Norway since 1967. The results reveal low levels of top income mobility, but a relatively large increase in mobility starting at the same time as the income shares of the top income receivers started to increase around 1990.

Suggested Citation

  • Aaberge, Rolf & Atkinson, Tony & Modalsli, Jorgen Heibo, 2013. "The Ins and Outs of Top Income Mobility," IZA Discussion Papers 7729, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7729
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Björklund, Anders & Roine, Jesper & Waldenström, Daniel, 2012. "Intergenerational top income mobility in Sweden: Capitalist dynasties in the land of equal opportunity?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(5), pages 474-484.
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    3. Aaberge, Rolf, 2001. "Axiomatic Characterization of the Gini Coefficient and Lorenz Curve Orderings," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 101(1), pages 115-132, November.
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    5. Anthony Atkinson & Thomas Piketty, 2007. "Top incomes over the twentieth century: A contrast between continental european and english-speaking countries," Post-Print halshs-00754859, HAL.
    6. Rolf Aaberge & Anders Björklund & Markus Jäntti & Mårten Palme & Peder J. Pedersen & Nina Smith & Tom Wennemo, 2002. "Income Inequality and Income Mobility in the Scandinavian Countries Compared to the United States," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 48(4), pages 443-469, December.
    7. Rolf Aaberge, 2000. "Characterizations of Lorenz curves and income distributions," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 17(4), pages 639-653.
    8. Rolf Aaberge & Anthony B. Atkinson, 2008. "Top Incomes in Norway," Discussion Papers 552, Statistics Norway, Research Department.
    9. Michael Sattinger (ed.), 2001. "Income Distribution," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, volume 0, number 2018.
    10. Gerald Auten & Geoffrey Gee & Nicholas Turner, 2013. "Income Inequality, Mobility, and Turnover at the Top in the US, 1987-2010," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(3), pages 168-172, May.
    11. Rolf Aaberge & A B Atkinson, 2013. "The median as watershed," Discussion Papers 749, Statistics Norway, Research Department.
    12. Atkinson, A. B. & Piketty, Thomas (ed.), 2010. "Top Incomes: A Global Perspective," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199286898.
    13. repec:bla:revinw:v:48:y:2002:i:4:p:443-69 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Rolf Aaberge & Magne Mogstad, 2014. "Income mobility as an equalizer of permanent income," Discussion Papers 769, Statistics Norway, Research Department.
    15. Wojciech Kopczuk & Emmanuel Saez & Jae Song, 2010. "Earnings Inequality and Mobility in the United States: Evidence from Social Security Data Since 1937," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 125(1), pages 91-128.
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    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. The ins and outs of top income mobility
      by maximorossi in NEP-LTV blog on 2013-12-27 18:50:38
    2. The Ins and Outs of Top Income Mobility
      by maximorossi in NEP-LTV blog on 2013-12-03 19:11:38

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    Cited by:

    1. Gabriel Burdín & Mauricio de Rosa & Andrea Vigorito & Joan Vilá, 2019. "Was falling inequality in all Latin American countries a data-driven illusion? Income distribution and mobility patterns in Uruguay 2009-2016," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 19-30, Instituto de Economía - IECON.
    2. Andreas Fagereng & Luigi Guiso & Davide Malacrino & Luigi Pistaferri, 2020. "Heterogeneity and Persistence in Returns to Wealth," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 88(1), pages 115-170, January.
    3. Rolf Aaberge & Anthony B. Atkinson & Sebastian Königs, 2018. "From classes to copulas: wages, capital, and top incomes," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 16(2), pages 295-320, June.
    4. Anthony B. Atkinson & Alessandra Casarico & Sarah Voitchovsky, 2018. "Top incomes and the gender divide," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 16(2), pages 225-256, June.
    5. Nicolas Hérault & Dean Hyslop & Stephen P. Jenkins & Roger Wilkins, 2024. "Rising top‐income persistence in Australia: Evidence from income tax data," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 70(1), pages 154-186, March.
    6. Annette Alstadsæter & Martin Jacob & Wojciech Kopczuk & Kjetil Telle, 2016. "Accounting for Business Income in Measuring Top Income Shares: Integrated Accrual Approach Using Individual and Firm Data from Norway," NBER Working Papers 22888, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Thomas A Hirschl & Mark R Rank, 2015. "The Life Course Dynamics of Affluence," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(1), pages 1-10, January.
    8. Isabel Z. Martínez, 2021. "Evidence from Unique Swiss Tax Data on the Composition and Joint Distribution of Income and Wealth," NBER Chapters, in: Measuring Distribution and Mobility of Income and Wealth, pages 105-142, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Aaberge, Rolf & Atkinson, Anthony B. & Modalsli, Jørgen, 2020. "Estimating long-run income inequality from mixed tabular data: Empirical evidence from Norway, 1875–2017," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    10. Rolf Aaberge & Anthony B Atkinson & Jørgen Modalsli, 2016. "On the measurement of long-run income inequality. Empirical evidence from Norway, 1875-2013," Discussion Papers 847, Statistics Norway, Research Department.
    11. Terhi Ravaska, 2018. "Top incomes and income dynamics from a gender perspective: Evidence from Finland 1995–2012," Working Papers 321, Työn ja talouden tutkimus LABORE, The Labour Institute for Economic Research LABORE.
    12. Guttorm Schjelderup, 2015. "Taxing Mobile Capital and Profits: The Nordic Welfare States," CESifo Working Paper Series 5603, CESifo.
    13. Roberto Iacono, 2019. "The Norwegian Oil Bonanza and the Scandinavian Model in Comparative Perspective," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 61(1), pages 63-82, March.
    14. Terhi Ravaska, 2018. "Top incomes and income dynamics from a gender perspective: Evidence from Finland 1995-2012," Working Papers 469, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    15. Zeng, Ting & Zhu, Shenghao, 2022. "The mobility of top earnings, income, and wealth in China: Facts from the 2011–2017 China household finance survey," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    16. Ravaska Terhi, 2018. "Top incomes and income dynamics from a gender perspective : Evidence from Finland 1995-2012," Working Papers 1822, Tampere University, Faculty of Management and Business, Economics.
    17. Modalsli, Jørgen, 2018. "The regional dispersion of income inequality in nineteenth-century Norway," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 62-79.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    top income shares; income mobility; inequality;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • N34 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Europe: 1913-

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