Bukowski Paweł, Novokmet Filip
Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London, WC2A 2AE United Kingdom.
Institute of Economics, The Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland.
J Econ Growth (Boston). 2021;26(2):187-239. doi: 10.1007/s10887-021-09190-1. Epub 2021 Jun 2.
We construct the first consistent series on the long-term distribution of income in Poland by combining tax, household survey and national accounts data. We document a U-shaped evolution of inequalities from the end of the nineteenth century until today: (1) inequality was high before WWII; (2) abruptly fell after the introduction of communism in 1947 and stagnated at low levels during the whole communist period; (3) experienced a sharp rise with the return to capitalism in 1989. We find that official survey-based measures strongly under-estimate the rise in inequality since 1989. Our results highlight the prominent role of capital income in driving the U-shaped evolution of top income shares. The unique inequality history of Poland speaks to the central role of institutions and policies in shaping inequality in the long run.
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10887-021-09190-1.
我们通过整合税收、家庭调查和国民账户数据,构建了波兰收入长期分配的首个连贯序列。我们记录了从19世纪末至今不平等现象呈U形演变的情况:(1)第二次世界大战前不平等程度较高;(2)1947年引入共产主义后急剧下降,并在整个共产主义时期停滞在低水平;(3)1989年回归资本主义后经历了急剧上升。我们发现,基于官方调查的衡量方法严重低估了自1989年以来不平等现象的加剧。我们的结果凸显了资本收入在推动最高收入份额呈U形演变中所起的突出作用。波兰独特的不平等历史表明,制度和政策在长期塑造不平等方面起着核心作用。
在线版本包含可在10.1007/s10887-021-09190-1获取的补充材料。