- Additional Authors
- Pearson, Mark.
- Found In
- OECD Economic Studies Vol. 2002, no. 1, p. 7-38 1609-7491
- Description
- 44 p.
- Summary
- This article uses internationally-comparable data on the distribution of income across households to identify some well-founded facts to replace the conjecture and supposition which too often dominate discussions on inequality and poverty. There has been a general trend in nearly all OECD countries towards increased market income (earnings and income from capital) inequality between the mid-1970s and the mid-1990s. However, in a significant minority of countries this has not resulted in higher levels of inequality because either the amounts distributed through the tax and transfer system have increased, or because it has become more progressive. Changes in income distribution in the past ten years generally favoured the prime-age and elderly age groups, particularly those around retirement age. Relative income levels of single parents are very low and have worsened in a number of countries. Trends in earned income, and in particular trends in employment, are found to be crucial in explaining these changes.
- Subject
- Economics
- LCCN
- 10.1787/eco_studies-v2002-art2-en
- OCLC
- oecd-lib
- Author
Förster, Michael.
- Title
Income Distribution and Poverty in the OECD Area [electronic resource]: Trends and Driving Forces / Michael Förster and Mark Pearson
- Imprint
Paris : OECD Publishing, 2003.
- Connect to:
- Indexed Term
Economics
- Added Author
Pearson, Mark.
- Found In:
OECD Economic Studies Vol. 2002, no. 1, p. 7-38 2002:1<7 1609-7491
- Other Editions:
Distribution des revenus et pauvreté dans la zone de l'OCDE : Tendances et déterminants fre (FR-PaOEC)eco_studies-v2002-art2-fr
- Other Standard Identifier
10.1787/eco_studies-v2002-art2-en doi