Reevaluating Distributional Consequences of the Transition to Market Economy in Poland: New Results from Combined Household Survey and Tax Return Data

34 Pages Posted: 10 Nov 2019 Last revised: 10 Aug 2022

See all articles by Michał Brzeziński

Michał Brzeziński

University of Warsaw

Michal Myck

German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin); IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Mateusz Najsztub

Centre for Economic Analysis (CenEA)

Abstract

We use Pareto imputation, survey reweighting, and microsimulation methods applied to combined household survey and tax return data to reevaluate distributional consequences of the post-socialist transition in Poland. Our approach results in the first estimates of top-corrected inequality trends for real equivalized disposable incomes over the years 1994-2015. We find that the top-corrected Gini coefficient grew by 14-26% more compared to the unadjusted survey-based estimates. This implies that over the last three decades Poland has become one of the most unequal European countries among those for which top-corrected inequality estimates exist. The highest-income earners benefited the most during the post-socialist transformation: the annual rate of income growth for the top 5% of the population exceeded 3.5%, while the median income grew by about 2.5%.

Keywords: income inequality, Gini index, top income shares, tax record, Pareto distribution, survey data, Poland

JEL Classification: D31, D63, C46, P36

Suggested Citation

Brzeziński, Michał and Myck, Michal and Najsztub, Mateusz, Reevaluating Distributional Consequences of the Transition to Market Economy in Poland: New Results from Combined Household Survey and Tax Return Data. IZA Discussion Paper No. 12734, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3483972

Michał Brzeziński (Contact Author)

University of Warsaw

Krakowskie Przedmiescie 26/28
Warszawa, Pl-00681
Poland

Michal Myck

German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin) ( email )

Mohrenstraße 58
Berlin, 10117
Germany

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Schaumburg-Lippe-Str. 7 / 9
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Mateusz Najsztub

Centre for Economic Analysis (CenEA) ( email )

ul. Krolowej Korony Polskiej 25
Szczecin, 70-486
Poland

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