James Ziliak of the University of Kentucky discussed how inequalities in the labor market and disposable income have evolved over recent decades across high-income countries.  

Abstract:

The evolution of labor market and disposable income inequalities over recent decades in high-income countries has generated intense interest in academia and the wider public. This project, which has been conducted in parallel to the Institute for Fiscal Studies Deaton Review of Inequalities, provides the basis for consistent comparisons across research teams from 17 North American and European countries. We focus on inequalities at different stages of the income process that begin with individual market wages and end with household disposable incomes, and then test convergence across countries at each of those stages. Individual characteristics are key, such as education, household structures and the number and gender of workers in households. Therefore we control for cross-country differences in these demographics in our assessment of convergence in wage, earnings and disposable income inequality, and the gender earnings gap across the distribution.

Related Resources:

These are 17 country-specific reports with roughly 50 figures on outcomes across countries:

• Country studies | Inequality: the IFS Deaton Review:

This is a two-issue collection of Fiscal Studies containing country-specific narratives on the evolution of inequality (2024)

• Special Issue: Changing Labour Market and Income Inequalities in Europe and North America: A Parallel Project to the IFS Deaton Review of Inequalities in the 21st Century: Fiscal Studies (This issue also contains a cross-country cohort-level analysis of the gender wage gap)
   
• Special Issue: Changing Labour Market and Income Inequalities in Europe and North America: Part Two: Fiscal Studies (This issue also contains a comparative analysis of education)

The event was hosted by the Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University, the Columbia Population Research Center, and the Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality at the City University of New York (CUNY).