What Drives Differences in Inequality Across Countries?

IADP Research Department Working Paper No. WP-439

42 Pages Posted: 12 Feb 2001

See all articles by Miguel Szekely

Miguel Szekely

Independent

Marianne Hilgert

Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)

Date Written: November 2000

Abstract

This paper presents microeconomic simulation techniques to examine what drives differences in inequality across countries. The simulation decomposes cross-country inequality differences into the importance of individual decisions, such as fertility, mating, labor force participation, and household structure, while at the same time including information on the importance of different income sources. The decomposition is applied to household survey data from 35 countries from 6 regions in the world. The empirical results provide insights into the transmission mechanisms through which inequality is generated.

Keywords: Inequality, Income Sources, Household Structure, Fertility, Mating, and Simulation Techniques

JEL Classification: D1, D3, J12, J13

Suggested Citation

Szekely, Miguel and Hilgert, Marianne, What Drives Differences in Inequality Across Countries? (November 2000). IADP Research Department Working Paper No. WP-439, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=258947 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.258947

Marianne Hilgert

Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) ( email )

1300 New York Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20577
United States

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