This paper examines changes in individual earnings during positive and negative growthperiods in three Latin American economies: Argentina, Mexico, and Venezuela. We askwhether those individuals who start in the best economic position are those who experiencethe largest earnings gains or the...

The recent literature has argued for high concentration of earnings, differences in rates of return on assets and bequests as potential determinants of the high level of wealth concentration in the US. Analyzing the joint distribution of earnings, capital income and net worth, we find evidence...

Latin American countries have some of the highest levels of income inequality in the world. However, earnings inequality significantly changed over the last three decades, increasing during the 1980s and 1990s, declining sharply in the 2000s, and stagnating or even increasing in some countries...

This paper examines changes in individual earnings during positive and negative growth periods in three Latin American economies: Argentina, Mexico, and Venezuela. We ask whether those individuals who start in the best economic position are those who experience the largest earnings gains or the...

Neither market income nor consumption expenditure provides an adequate picture of individual standard of living. It is time which enables and restricts individual activities and is a further brick to a more comprehensive picture of individual wellbeing. In our study we focus on a prominent part...

In dieser Studie wird die Ungleichheit und Polarisierung der Einkommen in Deutschland in den letzten 30 Jahren untersucht. Neben der reinen eindimensionalen Einkommensbetrachtung wird dafür auch erstmals die Entwicklung der multidimensionalen Ungleichheit und Polarisierung von Einkommen und...

Income and wealth are important determinants of individual economic well-being because they are a fundamental resource for consumption. Due to increasing inequality the distribution of income and wealth has moved more and more into the focus of scientific and political attention. The aim of this...

German and United States data from the Luxembourg Income Study are used to compare the relative economic well-being of Germans and Americans in the 1980s. In our analysis we use both official equivalence scales and consumption-based country-specific equivalence scales developed for Germany and...

Choosing an appropriate equivalence scale is a prerequisite for comparisons of economic well-being income distribution, inequality or poverty. This is true for country specific work or for cross-national comparisons. Researchers generally either use a country specific equivalence scale (social...

Equivalence scales are a prerequisite for any economic well-being comparison with measures on income distribution, inequality and poverty. This paper provides equivalence scales based on revealed preference consumption microdata for West Germany 1983. It is a part of a joint US and German...