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The Curious Incident of Luxury Imports during the Top-Income Surge

Author

Listed:
  • Stephanie Houle

    (McMaster University)

  • Pau Pujolas

    (McMaster University)

  • Michael Veall

    (McMaster University)

Abstract

Atkinson, Piketty and Saez (2011) find a post-1979 surge in taxfiler top income shares in "English speaking countries" (surge countries) but not in "continental European countries and Japan" (no-surge countries). Working at a similarly high level of abstraction, we find the puzzle that import-to-GDP ratios and import-to-total-import ratios for luxuries (pearls, precious stones, diamonds, works of art, jewellery, furs and coins) do not increase post-1979 in surge countries relative to no-surge countries. Explanations could include potential flaws in the taxfiler or import data, or that top income individuals do not have a particularly high marginal propensity to import these luxury goods. Overall, we believe that this is a fragment of evidence that there may not have been a large post-1979 increase in top-end domestic consumption inequality in surge countries compared to no-surge countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Stephanie Houle & Pau Pujolas & Michael Veall, 2019. "The Curious Incident of Luxury Imports during the Top-Income Surge," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 39(2), pages 1479-1487.
    • Handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-18-00873
    as

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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Anthony B. Atkinson & Thomas Piketty & Emmanuel Saez, 2011. "Top Incomes in the Long Run of History," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 49(1), pages 3-71, March.
    2. Francesca Fabbri & Dalia Marin, 2016. "What Explains the Rise in Executive Pay in Germany? A Panel Data Analysis for 1977–2009," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 118(2), pages 235-263, April.
    3. Andrew Leigh, 2007. "How Closely Do Top Income Shares Track Other Measures of Inequality?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 117(524), pages 619-633, November.
    4. 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.
    5. Christian Dustmann & Johannes Ludsteck & Uta Schönberg, 2009. "Revisiting the German Wage Structure," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 124(2), pages 843-881.
    6. Stefan Bach & Giacomo Corneo & Viktor Steiner, 2009. "From Bottom To Top: The Entire Income Distribution In Germany, 1992–2003," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 55(2), pages 303-330, June.
    7. Atkinson, A. B. & Piketty, Thomas (ed.), 2007. "Top Incomes Over the Twentieth Century: A Contrast Between Continental European and English-Speaking Countries," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199286881.
    8. Philip Armour & Richard V. Burkhauser & Jeff Larrimore, 2013. "Deconstructing Income and Income Inequality Measures: A Crosswalk from Market Income to Comprehensive Income," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(3), pages 173-177, May.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    income distribution; taxfiler data; luxury goods;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D3 - Microeconomics - - Distribution
    • F1 - International Economics - - Trade

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