Technology/Science
World Inequality Database THE WORLD INEQUALITY DATABASE (WID. WORLD) aims to provide open and convenient access to the most extensive available database on the historical evolution of the world distribution of income and wealth, both within countries and between countries. it possible to compare over long periods of time and across countries the income shares captured HISTORY OF WID.world During the past fifteen years, the renewed by top income groups (e.g. the top 1%), they interest for the long-run evolution of income contributed to reveal new facts and refocus the and wealth inequality gave rise to a flourishing discussion on rising inequality. In principle, all the top income share series literature. These projects generated a large volume of data, intended as a research resource respond to the same general methods: following for further analysis, as well as a source to inform the pioneering work of S. Kuznets (1953), they use the public debate on income inequality. To a large income tax data, national accounts, and Pareto extent, this literature follows the pioneering work interpolation techniques to estimate the share of of Simon Kuznets 1953, and A. B. Atkinson and total income going to top income groups (typically Alan Harrison 1978, and extends it to many more the top decile and the top percentile). However, despite researchers’ best efforts, the units of countries and years. observation, the income concepts, and also THE WORLD TOP INCOMES DATABASE the Pareto interpolation techniques were never (2011) made fully homogeneous over time and across The World Inequality Database was initially countries. Moreover, for the most part attention created as the The World Top Incomes has been restricted to the top decile, rather than Database (WTID) in January 2011 with the aim the entire distribution of income and wealth. These of providing convenient and free access to all the elements pointed to the need for a methodological existing series. Thanks to the contribution of over re-examination and clarification. a hundred researchers, the WTID expanded to include series on income inequality for more than FROM INCOME INEQUALITY TO WEALTH thirty countries, spanning over most of the 20th INEQUALITY One reason is the growing recognition that, in and early 21st centuries, with over forty additional seeking explanations for rising income inequality, countries now under study. The key novelty has been to combine fiscal, we need to look not only at wages and earned survey and national accounts data in a systematic income but also at income from capital. Income manner. This allowed us to compute longer and from interest, from dividends, and from rents more reliable top income shares series than represents a minority of total personal income, but previous inequality databases (which generally it is nonetheless significant, especially at the top of rely on self-reported survey data, with large under- the distribution. In January 2017, with the objective of reaching reporting problems at the top, and limited time span). These series had a large impact on the yet a wider audience of researchers and general global inequality debate. In particular, by making public, we released the first version of the more user-friendly website, WID.world, hosting the 82
March-April 2021
DAWN
www.africabusinessassociation.org
