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Capital income shares and income inequality in the European Union

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  • Schlenker, Eva
  • Schmid, Kai D.

Abstract

In this paper, we measure the effect of changing capital income shares upon inequality of gross household income. Using EU-SILC data covering 17 EU countries from 2005 to 2011 we find that capital income shares are positively associated with the concentration of gross household income. Moreover, we show that the transmission of a shift in capital income shares into the personal distribution of income depends on the concentration of capital income in an economy. Using fixed effect models we find that changing capital income shares play an important role in the development of household income inequality. Hence, in many industrialized countries income inequality has by no means evolved independently from the observed structural shift in factor income towards a higher capital income share over the last decades.

Suggested Citation

  • Schlenker, Eva & Schmid, Kai D., 2013. "Capital income shares and income inequality in the European Union," FZID Discussion Papers 80-2013, University of Hohenheim, Center for Research on Innovation and Services (FZID).
  • Handle: RePEc:zbw:fziddp:802013
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Alessandro Bellocchi, 2020. "Labor share is falling down, but which one?," Working Papers 2001, University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Department of Economics, Society & Politics - Scientific Committee - L. Stefanini & G. Travaglini, revised 2020.
    2. Pawel Bukowski & Filip Novokmet, 2019. "Between communism and capitalism: long-term inequality in Poland, 1892-2015," CEP Discussion Papers dp1628, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    3. Pawel Bukowski & Filip Novokmet, 2019. "Between Communism and Capitalism: Long-Term Inequality in Poland, 1892- 2015," World Inequality Lab Working Papers hal-02876995, HAL.
    4. Christian A Belabed & Thomas Theobald & Till van Treeck, 2018. "Income distribution and current account imbalances [Notes on capacity utilisation, distribution and accumulation]," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 42(1), pages 47-94.
    5. Yannis Dafermos & Christos Papatheodorou, 2015. "Linking functional with personal income distribution: a stock-flow consistent approach," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(6), pages 787-815, November.
    6. Eckhard Hein & Petra Dünhaupt & Ayoze Alfageme & Marta Kulesza, 2017. "Financialisation and distribution in three main Eurozone countries from a Kaleckian perspective: the US, the UK and Sweden compared – before and after the crisis," Working Papers 9/17, Sapienza University of Rome, DISS.
    7. Tanguiane, Andranick S., 2016. "Devaluation of one's labor in labor-commodities-money-commodities-labor exchange as a cause of inequality growth," Working Paper Series in Economics 86, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Department of Economics and Management.
    8. Jan Behringer & Till van Treeck, 2013. "Income distribution and current account: A sectoral perspective," IMK Working Paper 125-2013, IMK at the Hans Boeckler Foundation, Macroeconomic Policy Institute.
    9. Molero-Simarro, Ricardo, 2017. "Inequality in China revisited. The effect of functional distribution of income on urban top incomes, the urban-rural gap and the Gini index, 1978–2015," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 101-117.
    10. Bukowski, Pawel & Novokmet, Filip, 2019. "Between communism and capitalism: long-term inequality in Poland, 1892-2015," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 102814, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    11. Sinem Sefil Tansever, 2017. "Labor Income Share Consequences of Global Financial Crisis: Evidence from Turkey," International Journal of Business and Economic Sciences Applied Research (IJBESAR), International Hellenic University (IHU), Kavala Campus, Greece (formerly Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Institute of Technology - EMaTTech), vol. 10(2), pages 73-84, June.
    12. Gustav A. Horn & Sebastian Gechert & Miriam Rehm & Kai D. Schmid, 2014. "Wirtschaftskrise unterbricht Anstieg der Ungleichheit," IMK Report 97-2014, IMK at the Hans Boeckler Foundation, Macroeconomic Policy Institute.
    13. Sarah Godar & Achim Truger, 2017. "Shifting priorities in EU tax policies," IMK Studies 55-2017, IMK at the Hans Boeckler Foundation, Macroeconomic Policy Institute.
    14. Bukowski, Pawel & Novokmet, Filip, 2019. "Between communism and capitalism: long-term inequality in Poland, 1892-2015," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 102834, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    15. Barbieri Góes, Maria Cristina, 2019. "Personal income distribution and progressive taxation in a neo-Kaleckian model: Insights from the Italian case," IPE Working Papers 126/2019, Berlin School of Economics and Law, Institute for International Political Economy (IPE).
    16. Eckhard Hein & Petra Dünhaupt & Ayoze Alfageme & Marta Kulesza, 2017. "Financialisation and distribution in three main Eurozone countries from a Kaleckian perspective: France, Germany and Spain compared – before and after the crisis," Working Papers 8/17, Sapienza University of Rome, DISS.
    17. Valeria Cirillo & Marcella Corsi & Carlo D'Ippoliti, 2015. "Gender, class and the crisis," Working Papers CEB 15-026, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    18. Pawel Bukowski & Filip Novokmet, 2019. "Between Communism and Capitalism: Long-Term Inequality in Poland, 1892- 2015," Working Papers hal-02876995, HAL.
    19. Philip Arestis & Carolina Troncoso, 2017. "Income Distribution and Economic Growth: A Critical Approach," Panoeconomicus, Savez ekonomista Vojvodine, Novi Sad, Serbia, vol. 64(2), pages 125-138, March.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Factor Shares; Income Inequality; EU-SILC; Fixed Effects;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • D33 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Factor Income Distribution
    • E6 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook
    • E25 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Aggregate Factor Income Distribution

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