[PEN-L:5074] Re: Brits, USA, and inequality

[dhenwood@xxxxxxxxx (Doug Henwood)]

On the debate over whether the US or UK did worse on income distribution
during the 1980s, here's what I have, from the Luxembourg Income Study. The
first set of numbers, labeled wave 1, are from the early 1980s (1980-81);
the second, wave 2, from the mid-1980s (1985-87). The first set were
reported in the American Economic Review, May 1989, in an article by Tim
Smeeding & John Coder; the second set were custom-computed for me by Coder
(of the US Census Bureau) and reported in LBO. I don't think they've been
published anywhere else.

Details: income is after taxes and transfers. Poor are those with incomes
less than 50% of the median; near-poor, from 50-62.5%; middle, from 62.5%
to 150%; well-to-do, 150% and above. I've combined the poor and near-poor
to create the sub-mid category.

By the way, the US "middle" is the smallest of the dozen or so countries
for which the LIS data exists.


SHARE OF POPULATION BY INCOME CLASS
(percent)

                poor   near-poor   middle  well-to-do sub-mid
WAVE 1
------
UK              11.7       9.7      58.5      20.2      21.4
US              16.6       7.6      53.7      22.1      24.2

WAVE 2
------
UK               9.1       9.1      58.1      23.7      18.2
US              18.1       8.2      49.7      23.7      26.3

CHANGE
------
UK              -2.6      -0.6      -0.4      +3.5      -3.2
US              +1.5      +0.6      -4.0      +1.6      +2.1



Doug

--

Doug Henwood
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