Capital Shares and Income Inequality: Evidence from the Long Run

Erik Bengtsson · Daniel Waldenström

158 citations0/0 files storedThe Journal of Economic History

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Income, Poverty, and Inequality Historical Economic and Social Studies Economic Theory and Policy

Abstract

This article studies the long-run relationship between the capital share in national income and top personal income shares. Using a newly constructed historical cross-country database on capital shares and top income data, we find evidence on a strong, positive link that has grown stronger over the past century. The connection is stronger in Anglo-Saxon countries, in the very top of the distribution, when top capital incomes predominate, when using distributed top national income shares, and when considering gross of depreciation capital shares. Out of-sample predictions of top shares using capital shares indicates several cases of over- or underestimation.

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References

2014Capital in the Twenty-First Century 2003Income Inequality in the United States, 1913-1998 2011Top Incomes in the Long Run of History 2013The Global Decline of the Labor Share*2002Getting Income Shares Right 2014Capital is Back: Wealth-Income Ratios in Rich Countries 1700–2010 *2000Handbook of income distribution 2017Distributional National Accounts: Methods and Estimates for the United States*

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