Using two period comparisons of six wealthy nations, the authors look at the extent of inequality at three levels of income: earned income, market income, and after tax and transfer disposable income. Interesting implications of the results are discussed.

This paper summarizes the recent literature on income distribution in European nations drawing on some of the material used in the OECD project report (see above) and additional new material.

This paper investigates the real living standards and poverty status of United States children in the 1990's compared to the children in 17 other nations, including Europe, Scandinavia, Canada and Australia. We find that American low-income children have lower real spendable income than do...

It is increasingly clear that the United States has adopted a strategic goal to shift federally-funded entitlement programs from a defined benefit to a defined cost basis. A cross-national comparison, this paper discusses the 1996 Welfare Reform Act and its probable effect on other federal...

Increasingly the rich nations of the world face a common set of social and economic issues: the cost of population aging, a growing number of single parent families, the growing majority of two-earner families, increasing numbers of immigrants from poorer nations, and in particular, rising...

This paper investigates the relationship between educational attainment and earnings inequality in eight nations using the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) database. Although the results should be considered exploratory rather than definitive until verified and qualified by more detailed...

This paper was originally presented a the Fourth International Research Seminar of the Foundation for International Studies on Social Security (FISS) in June 1997 in Sigtuna, Sweden. In the United States, several public policy initiatives have been undertaken to encourage more work and later...

This paper uses microdata from the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) to estimate and compare four dimensions of the well-being of the aged in Taiwan and eight other countries - the United States, Japan, Australia, Poland, Finland, Germany, Hungary and Canada. Together, these nine countries cover a...