Isabell Koske

This book provides a comprehensive review of income inequality issues in the OECD in a cross-country setting. It presents a wealth of data and analysis on the formation of inequality and identifies groups of countries that share similar inequality patterns. It also reviews developments at the extremes of the income distribution, namely poverty, top incomes as well as the distribution of wealth. An important contribution of the book is the careful examination of the determinants of the income distribution, such as globalisation and technical progress as well as the effect of a wide range of economic policies that shape the distribution of income. These include in particular labour market regulations, household taxes and transfers as well as in-kind public services. It also sheds light on an under-researched issue: do policies aimed at boosting economic growth raise or reduce income inequality?

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Contents:

• Introduction (Peter Hoeller and Mauro Pisu)
• Mapping Income Inequality Across the OECD (Peter Hoeller, Isabelle Joumard, Mauro Pisu, and Debbie Bloch)
• The Distribution of Labor Income (Isabell Koske, Jean-Marc Fournier and Isabelle Wanner)
• Income Redistribution via Taxes and Transfers (Isabelle Joumard, Mauro Pisu and Debbie Bloch)
• Poverty (Mauro Pisu)
• Top Incomes (Peter Hoeller)
• The Distribution of Wealth (Kaja Bonesmo Fredriksen)
• Conclusion: Growth-Enhancing Policies and Inequality (Isabelle Joumard and Isabell Koske)

Readership: Graduate students and academic researchers, financial analysts and experts interested in income inequality, bureaucrats and policy makers working in the finance ministries, especially in OECD countries.
Key Features:

• Analyzes the key drivers of inequality across the OECD countries, based on comparable data and innovative techniques, such as unconditional quantile regressions
• Provides the most comprehensive quantitative analysis of the various economic policies that shape the distribution of income
• Provides many policy lessons, including the under-researched issue on whether growth-enhancing policies widen or narrow the distribution of income