Working Paper: NBER ID: w30524
Authors: Fatih Guvenen; Luigi Pistaferri; Giovanni L. Violante
Abstract: The Global Repository of Income Dynamics (GRID) is a new open-access, cross- country database that contains a wide range of micro statistics on income inequality, dynamics, and mobility. It has four key characteristics: it is built on micro panel data drawn from administrative records; it fully exploits the longitudinal dimension of the underlying datasets; it offers granular descriptions of income inequality and income dynamics for finely defined subpopulations; and it is designed from the ground up with the goals of harmonization and cross-country comparability. This paper introduces the database and presents a set of global trends in income inequality and income dynamics across the 13 countries that are currently in GRID. Our results are based on the statistics created for GRID by the 13 country teams who also contributed to this special issue with individual articles.
Keywords: Income Inequality; Income Dynamics; Mobility; Micro Statistics
JEL Codes: E24; J24; J31
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| longitudinal nature of the GRID database (C23) | study individual labor income dynamics over time (J69) |
| traditional cross-sectional measures (C21) | fail to capture true nature of income changes (H31) |
| income dynamics (D31) | influenced by economic factors (technology and trade liberalization) (O24) |
| income inequality (D31) | does not display a discernible global trend toward rising inequality (F62) |
| widening of the income distribution tails (D39) | associated with significant changes in inequality levels (F61) |
| convergence of women's and men's earnings inequality (J79) | reflects a trend toward gender equality in income levels (J31) |