Income, consumption and wealth inequality in Germany: Three concepts, three stories?

Bericht

Given how controversially inequality is still being discussed by both academics and policy makers in Germany, we discuss methodological issues related to the measurement of inequalities and review the literature and empirical estimates of different forms of inequality. One important issue is the choice of the measure of well-being: the central measures discussed are household equivalent disposable in-come, household consumption, and wealth. Subsequently we use the Income and Expenditure Survey (Einkommens- und Verbrauchsstichprobe (EVS)) for Germany since 1993 to compare inequality across income, consumption, and wealth. Generally, we find that these three concepts tell different stories about the level of inequality and its intertemporal pattern. In line with theoretical arguments and previous empirical evidence, wealth is more unequally distributed than income and income more une-qually than consumption.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Basic Papers ; No. 02/2020

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Single Equation Models; Single Variables: Cross-Sectional Models; Spatial Models; Treatment Effect Models; Quantile Regressions ; Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis ; Personal Income, Wealth, and Their Distributions
• Subject: inequality ; income ; consumption ; wealth

Contributors, Location and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Bartels, Charlotte ; Schroeder, Carsten
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Forum for a New Economy
• (where): Berlin
• (when): 2020

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/281434
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:44 AM CET