The purpose of this Chartbook is to present a summary of evidence about long-run changes in economic inequality – primarily income, earnings, and wealth – for 25 countries covering more than one hundred years. There is a range of countries and they account for more than a third of the...

This paper is intended as a contribution to the debate about the relationship between economic growth and national objectives, and the way in which achievement of the latter can be assessed by alternative indicators of economic and social performance. Faster growth of GDP is an instrumental...

This paper examines the role of secondary data-sets in empirical economic research, taking the field of income distribution as a case study. We illustrate problems faced by users of "secondary" statistics, showing how both cross-country comparisons and time-series analysis can depend sensitively...

This article is concerned with the economics of the distribution of income, emphasizing aspects which have been missing from the recent literature. It begins with factor shares and the rise in real interest rates. These are important in their own right and in relation to the determination of...

In December 2001, the Laeken European Council adopted a set of commonly agreed and defined indicators for social inclusion. These should play a central role in monitoring the performance of Member States in making progress towards the key EU objectives in this area set by the Nice European...

Using taxation statistics, we estimate the income share held by top income groups in Australia over the period 1921-2003. We find that the income share of the richest fell from the 1920s until the mid-1940s, rose briefly in the postwar decade, and then declined until the early 1980s. During the...

Charitable giving is an important source of funding for overseas development and emergency relief. Donations in the UK are about a quarter of the size of government development aid. There has been strong growth over time, reflecting the activities of development charities and the public response...