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Exclusive growth?: Rapidly increasing top incomes amidst low national growth in South Africa

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  • Ihsaan Bassier
  • Ingrid Woolard

Abstract

Despite South Africa's need for inclusive economic growth, we find that the income trajectories of the rich continue to diverge from the rest of the income distribution. We combine household survey data and tax data (which, unlike household survey data, includes accurate data for the very rich) to investigate the patterns of income growth over the period 2003 to 2017. We find that the gap between the stagnant middle and the top end of the income distribution widened between 2003 and 2017.

Suggested Citation

  • Ihsaan Bassier & Ingrid Woolard, 2020. "Exclusive growth?: Rapidly increasing top incomes amidst low national growth in South Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2020-53, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    • Handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2020-53
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    12. Facundo Alvaredo & Anthony B Atkinson, 2010. "Colonial Rule, Apartheid and Natural Resources: Top Incomes in South Africa 1903-2005," OxCarre Working Papers 046, Oxford Centre for the Analysis of Resource Rich Economies, University of Oxford.
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    Cited by:

    1. Bassier, Ihsaan, 2022. "Firms and inequality when unemployment is high," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 117999, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. Simone Schotte & Rocco Zizzamia & Murray Leibbrandt, 2022. "Snakes and ladders and loaded dice: Poverty dynamics and inequality in South Africa between 2008 and 2017," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 90(2), pages 214-242, June.
    3. Ihsaan Bassier, 2022. "Firms and inequality when unemployment is high," CEP Discussion Papers dp1872, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    4. Bassier, Ihsaan, 2023. "Firms and inequality when unemployment is high," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    5. Andrew Kerr, 2021. "Measuring earnings inequality in South Africa using household survey and administrative tax microdata," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2021-82, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    6. Gretha Steenkamp & Nicolene Wesson, 2023. "Do Share Repurchases Crowd Out Internal Investment in South Africa?," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-16, July.
    7. Chancel, Lucas & Cogneau, Denis & Gethin, Amory & Myczkowski, Alix & Robilliard, Anne-Sophie, 2023. "Income inequality in Africa, 1990–2019: Measurement, patterns, determinants," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    8. Kishan Shah, 2022. "Diagnosing South Africa’s High Unemployment and Low Informality," CID Working Papers 138a, Center for International Development at Harvard University.

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    Keywords

    Top incomes; Income distribution; Tax data;
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