Earnings inequality and the business cycle
By: Gadi Barlevy, Daniel Tsiddon.
Contributors: Tsiddon, Daniel.; National Bureau of Economic Research.
Series: NBER working paper series ;; working paper 10469; Working paper series (National Bureau of Economic Research : Online) ;; working paper no. 10469.
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research
Published: 2004
Place of publication: Cambridge, MA
Language: eng
Format: Electronic resource
Subjects: Income distribution.; Business cycles.
Description: "Economists have long viewed recessions as contributing to increasing inequality.  However, this conclusion is largely based on data from a period in which inequality was increasing over time.  This paper examines the connection between long-run trends and cyclical variation in earnings inequality.  We develop a model in which cyclical and trend inequality are related, and find that in our model, recessions tend to amplify long-run trends, i.e.  they involve more rapidly increasing inequality more when long-run inequality is increasing, and more rapidly decreasing inequality when long-run inequality is decreasing.  In support of this prediction, we present evidence that during the first half of the 20th Century when earnings inequality was generally declining, earnings disparities indeed appeared to fall more rapidly in downturns, at least among workers at the top of the earnings distribution"--National Bureau of Economic Research web site.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references.
Title from PDF file as viewed on 1/12/2005.
Also available in print.
System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Mode of access: World Wide Web.