Global earnings inequality, 1970-2015

Arbeitspapier

We estimate trends in global earnings dispersion across occupational groups using a new database covering 66 developed and developing countries between 1970 and 2015. Our main finding is that global earnings inequality has declined, primarily during the 2000s, when the global Gini coefficient dropped nearly 10 points and the earnings share of the world's poorest half doubled. Decomposition analyses emphasize the role of income convergence between poor and rich countries and that earnings have become more similar within occupations in traded industries. Sensitivity checks show that the results are robust to varying real exchange rates, inequality measures and population definitions.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IFN Working Paper ; No. 1166

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Personal Income, Wealth, and Their Distributions ; Global Outlook ; Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
• Subject: Global inequality ; Development ; Inequality decomposition ; Labor markets

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Hammar, Olle ; Waldenström, Daniel
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)
• (where): Stockholm
• (when): 2017

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/183395
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:43 AM CET