Inequality trends for Germany in the last two decades : a tale of two countries

Fuchs-Schündeln, Nicola ; Krüger, Dirk ; Sommer, Mathias

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URL:	https://ub-madoc.bib.uni-mannheim.de/2394
URN:	urn:nbn:de:bsz:180-madoc-23941
Document Type:	Working paper
Year of publication:	2009
The title of a journal, publication series:	MEA Discussion Papers
Volume:	184
Place of publication:	Mannheim
Publication language:	English
Institution:	School of Law and Economics > Sonstige - Fakultät für Rechtswissenschaft und Volkswirtschaftslehre
MADOC publication series:	Veröffentlichungen des MEA (Mannheim Research Institute For the Economics of Aging) > MEA Discussion Papers
Subject:	330 Economics
Classification:	JEL: E24 D33 D31 ,
Subject headings (SWD):	Deutschland , Lohn , Arbeitszeit , Wohlstand , Verteilungsgerechtigkeit , Deutschland <Östliche Länder> , Deutschland <Westliche Länder>
Individual keywords (German):	Lebensstandard
Keywords (English):	Inequality , German Unification
Abstract:	In this paper we first document inequality trends in wages, hours worked, earnings, consumption, and wealth for Germany from the last twenty years. We generally find that inequality was relatively stable inWest Germany until the German unification (which happened politically in 1990 and in our data in 1991), and then trended upwards for wages and market incomes, especially after about 1998. Disposable income and consumption, on the other hand, display only a modest increase in inequality over the same period. These trends occured against the backdrop of lower trend growth of earnings, incomes and consumption in the 1990s relative to the 1980s. In the second part of the paper we further analyze the differences between East and West Germans in terms of the evolution of levels and inequality of wages, income, and consumption.
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