Economic Growth from the Household Perspective : GDP and Income Distribution Developments Across OECD Countries

Orsetta Causai ; Sonia Araujoi ; Agnès Cavaciutii ; Nicolas Ruizi ; Zuzana Smidovai iOECD

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

关键词: income distribution;    polarisation;    poverty;    median income;    middle class;    inequality;   

DOI  :  https://doi.org/10.1787/5jz5m89dh0nt-en

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: OECD iLibrary

【 摘 要 】

This paper provides an assessment of how households’ income has fared compared with GDP. While the prime focus is on incomes around the median, attention is paid also to the bottom of the income distribution. Thus, one contribution of the paper is to deliver a fresh assessment of the evolution of inequality and poverty across OECD countries over the last fifteen years. The analysis relies on a rich array of indicators, producing new evidence of the various patterns of differences in income distributions across countries and over time. For example, it assesses the extent to which stability in overall income inequality masks compensating changes between the lower and upper halves of the income distribution. Also, it explores whether contracting inequalities coexist with increasing poverty. The paper adds to previous studies by introducing, measuring and analysing income polarisation in a cross-country comparative perspective. Distinguishing polarisation from inequality and comparing their evolution over time provides new policy-relevant perspectives on the nature of the changing income distribution.