LIS database is used to compare various nations' earnings distributions with respect of earnings inequality during the mid 1980's. The paper also addresses whether or not earnings inequality changed in some of these countries between the beginning of the decade and the mid-1980's.

In this paper the authors present a comparative analysis of earnings inequality during the 1980s among prime age men who headed households and worked year-round, full-time from five industrialized countries--Canada, Sweden, Australia, West Germany, and the United States. The data were obtained...