Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-x5gtn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-31T04:23:36.564Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

STICKY INCOME INEQUALITY IN THE SPANISH TRANSITION (1973-1990)*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 July 2015

Sara Torregrosa-Hetland
Sara Torregrosa-Hetland*
Affiliation:
University of Barcelona
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper investigates the evolution of income inequality in Spain during its transition to democracy, suggesting a method for the correction of under-reporting of earnings and profits in the Household Budget Surveys’ data. The contribution is twofold: the methodological proposal, based on income-expenditure discrepancy and scaling-up to National Accounts, improves on previous work and can be useful for similar historical sources in other countries. Second, its application results in an alternative history of the distribution of income in this case, changing the levels and also the observed trend. Previous literature asserted a substantial equalisation, related to the democratisation process, while after the adjustment inequality in disposable income is shown to have been quite persistent.

Resumen

Este artículo analiza la evolución de la desigualdad de rentas en España durante la transición a la democracia, proponiendo un método para corregir la infra-declaración de ingresos en las Encuestas de Presupuestos Familiares. La contribución es doble: la metodología, basada en la discrepancia entre rentas y gastos y en el ajuste a Contabilidad Nacional, puede ser de utilidad para fuentes históricas similares en otros países. En segundo lugar, su aplicación resulta en una interpretación alternativa en este caso, al cambiar los niveles de desigualdad y también la tendencia observada. Si la literatura anterior había tratado de una sustancial mejora en la distribución, vinculada a la democracia, tras el ajuste efectuado la desigualdad en la renta disponible se muestra bastante persistente.

Keywords

income inequalityincome under-reportinghousehold surveysdemocratisationD31N34distribución de la rentainfra-declaración de rentasencuestas de hogaresdemocratización
Type
Articles/Artículos
Information
Revista de Historia Economica - Journal of Iberian and Latin American Economic History , Volume 34 , Issue 1 , March 2016 , pp. 39 - 80
Check for updates
Copyright
© Instituto Figuerola, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

Received 18 December 2014. Accepted 23 April 2015. This paper is part of the PhD dissertation project «Tax system and redistribution: the Spanish fiscal transition (1960-1990)», under the supervision of Alfonso Herranz-Loncán and Alejandro Esteller-Moré, to whom the author was grateful. The author acknowledges financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Education’s (FPU scholarship) and Research Project ECO2012-39169-C03-03. She also thanks the team from Carlos III University who worked on the Household Budget Surveys data, and comments from seminar participants in Santiago de Chile and Bogotá and two anonymous referees. Emmanuel Saez hosted her at UC Berkeley while culminating this research; she is also grateful for his insights. All errors are the author’s own.

a

Department of Economic History and Institutions. 690 Avda. Diagonal, 08034 Barcelona, Spain. storregrosa@ub.edu

References

Accardo, J., Bellamy, V., Consales, G., Fesseau, M., Laidier, S., and Raymaud, E. (2009): «Inequalities Between Households in the National Accounts – Breakdown of Household Accounts». INSEE Working Paper.Google Scholar
Acemoglu, D., Naidu, S., Restrepo, P., and Robinson, J. A. (2013): «Democracy, Redistribution and Inequality». NBER Working Papers 19746, National Bureau of Economic Research.Google Scholar
Alcaide, A., and Alcaide, J. (1974): «Metodología Para la Estimación de la Distribución Personal de la renta en España en 1970». Hacienda Pública Española 1 (26), pp. 55-63.Google Scholar
Alcaide, J. (2000): «La Renta Nacional de España y su Distribución. Serie años 1898 a 1998», in J. V. Fuertes (ed.), 1900-2000. Historia de un Esfuerzo Colectivo: Cómo España Superó el Pesimismo y la Pobreza. cap. XXII, vol. II Madrid: Fundación BSCH, pp. 375-449.Google Scholar
Alvaredo, F. (2011): «A Note on the Relationship Between Top Income Shares and the Gini Coefficient». Economics Letters 110 (3), pp. 274-277.Google Scholar
Alvaredo, F., and Saez, E. (2009): «Income and Wealth Concentration in Spain from a Historical and Fiscal Perspective». Journal of the European Economic Association 7 (5), pp. 1140-1167.Google Scholar
Andrés, L., and Mercader-Prats, M. (2001): «Sobre la fiabilidad de los datos de renta en el Panel de Hogares de la Unión Europea (PHOGUE, 1994)». Working Papers wp0102, Department of Applied Economics at Universitat Autònoma of Barcelona.Google Scholar
Argimón, I.; González-Páramo, J. M., and Salas, R. (1987): «¿Quién Pagaba los Impuestos Indirectos en España? Un Ejercicio de Reparto de la Carga Impositiva Indirecta en 1980». Hacienda Pública Española, 104, pp. 99-127.Google Scholar
Atkinson, A. (2000): «The Changing Distribution of Income: Evidence and Explanations». German Economic Review 1, pp. 3-18.Google Scholar
Atkinson, A. (2007): «Measuring Top Incomes: Methodological Issues», in A. Atkinson, and T. Piketty (eds), Top Incomes over the 20th Century: A Contrast Between Continental European and English-Speaking Countries. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 18-42.Google Scholar
Attanasio, O. P. (1999): «Consumption», in J. B. Taylor, and M. Woodford (eds), Handbook of Macroeconomics. Volume 1 of Handbook of Macroeconomics, Chapter 11, Amsterdam: Elsevier, pp. 741-812.Google Scholar
Ayala, L.; Jurado, A., and Pedraja, F. (2006): «Desigualdad y Bienestar en la Distribución Intraterritorial de la Renta, 1973-2000». Investigaciones Regionales 8, pp. 5-30.Google Scholar
Ayala, L.; Martínez, R., and Ruiz-Huerta, J. (1996): La Distribución de la renta en España desde una Perspectiva Internacional: Tendencias y Factores de Cambio. Volume VI, La desigualdad de recursos Madrid: Fundación Argentaria, pp. 315-440.Google Scholar
Barreix, A.; Bès, M., and Roca, J. (eds) (2009): La Equidad Fiscal en Centroamérica, Panamá y República Dominicana. Washington: BID-Eurosocial.Google Scholar
Bosch-Domenech, A. (1991): «Economies of Scale, Location, Age, and Sex Discrimination in Household Demand». European Economic Review 35 (8), pp. 1589-1595.Google Scholar
Budd, E., and Radner, D. (1975): «The Bureau of Economic Analysis and Current Population Survey Size Distributions: Some Comparisons for 1964», in J. D. Smith (ed.), The Personal Distribution of Income and Wealth. Volume 39 of Studies in Income and Wealth. New York: Columbia University Press, pp. 449-558.Google Scholar
Buhmann, B., et al. (1988): «Equivalence Scales, Well-Being, Inequality, and Poverty: Sensitivity Estimates across Ten Countries Using the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) Database». Review of Income and Wealth 34 (2), pp. 115-142.Google Scholar
Canberra Expert Group (2011): Handbook on Household Income Statistics, 2nd edn. Geneva: United Nations Economic Commission for Europe.Google Scholar
Cowell, F. A.; Litchfield, J., and Mercader-Prats, M. (1999): «Income Inequality Comparisons with Dirty Data: The UK and Spain during the 1980s». STICERD - Distributional Analysis Research Programme Papers 45, Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines, LSE.Google Scholar
Cutanda, A. (2003): «An Empirical Investigation of the Effect of Borrowing Constraints on Spanish Consumption». Spanish Economic Review 5, pp. 63-84.Google Scholar
Del Río, C., and Ruiz-Castillo, J. (1996): Ordenaciones de Bienestar e Inferencia Estadística. El caso de las EPF de 1980-81 y 1990-91. Volume 6. Madrid: Fundación Argentaria.Google Scholar
Díaz, C., and Fernández, R. (1993): «El Fraude en las rentas del trabajo: Salarios y Pensiones». Cuadernos de Actualidad 7, pp. 268-274.Google Scholar
Duclos, J. Y., and Mercader-Prats, M. (1999): «Household Needs and Poverty: With Application to Spain and the U.K». Review of Income and Wealth 45 (1), pp. 77-98.Google Scholar
Easterly, W. R. (2004): «Globalization, Inequality, and Development: The Big Picture». Monetary and Economic Studies 22 (S1), pp. 57-87.Google Scholar
ECLAC. (1991): «Magnitud de la pobreza en América Latina en los años ochenta». Number 81 in Estudios e informes de la CEPAL. Santiago de Chile.Google Scholar
Engel, E.; Galetovic, A., and Raddatz, C. (1999): «“Taxes and Income Distribution in Chile: Some Unpleasant Redistributive Arithmetic». Journal of Development Economics 59 (1), pp. 155-192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Engström, P., and Holmlund, B. (2009): «Tax Evasion and Self-Employment in a High-Tax Country: Evidence from Sweden». Applied Economics 41 (19), pp. 2419-2430.Google Scholar
Estruch, A. (1996): Los Efectos Redistributivos del gasto Social de las Administraciones Centrales y Autonómicas. Volume VII, Sector Público y Redistribución Madrid: Fundación Argentaria, pp. 261-290.Google Scholar
Fixler, D., and Johnson, D. (2012): «Accounting for the Distribution of Income in the U.S. National Accounts». Paper prepared for the NBER Conference on Research in Income and Wealth «Measuring Economic Stability and Progress Conference», (September 30). Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Garde, J. A.; Martínez, R., and Ruiz-Huerta, J. (1996): Los Estudios Sobre Distribución de la renta en España: Fuentes, Resultados y Perspectivas de Futuro. Volume VI. Madrid: Fundación Argentaria, pp. 257-314.Google Scholar
Goerlich, F. J., and Mas, M. (2001): «Inequality in Spain 1973-91: Contribution to a Regional Database». Review of Income and Wealth 47 (3), pp. 361-378.Google Scholar
Gradín, C. (2002): «Polarization and Inequality in Spain: 1973-1991». Journal of Income Distribution 11 (1-2), pp. 34-52.Google Scholar
Gradín, C.; Cantó, O., and Del Río, C. (2008): «Inequality, Poverty and Mobility: Choosing Income or Consumption as Welfare Indicators». Investigaciones Economicas 32 (2), pp. 169-200.Google Scholar
Hurst, E.; Li, G., and Pugsley, B. (2014): «Are Household Surveys Like Tax Forms? Evidence from Income Underreporting of the Self Employed». The Review of Economics and Statistics 96 (1), pp. 19-33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Instituto Nacional de Estadística (1977): La Renta Nacional y su Distribución 1976. Madrid: INE.Google Scholar
Johansson, E. (2005): «An Estimate of Self-Employment Income Underreporting in Finland». Nordic Journal of Political Economy 31 (1), pp. 99-109.Google Scholar
Krugman, P. R. (2000): «Technology, Trade and Factor Prices». Journal of International Economics 50 (1), pp. 51-71.Google Scholar
Kuznets, S. (1955): «Economic Growth and Income Inequality». The American Economic Review 45 (1), pp. 1-28.Google Scholar
Labeaga, J.; Preston, I., and Sanchís-Llopis, J. (2004): «Demanda y Escalas de Equivalencia: Evidencia Para España». Cuadernos Económicos del ICE 68, pp. 63-87.Google Scholar
Lerman, R. I., and Yitzhaki, S. (1985): «Income Inequality Effects by Income Source: A New Approach and Applications to the United States». The Review of Economics and Statistics 67 (1), pp. 151-156.Google Scholar
Levy, F., and Temin, P. (2007): «Inequality and Institutions in 20th Century America». NBER Working Papers 13106, National Bureau of Economic Research.Google Scholar
Lyssiotou, P.; Pashardes, P., and Stengos, T. (2004): «Estimates of the Black Economy Based on Consumer Demand Approaches». Economic Journal 114 (497), pp. 622-640.Google Scholar
Marchante Mera, A.; Ortega Aguaza, B.; Soria Torres, T., and Colomer Real, L. (2002): «Renta, Consumo y Ahorro de los Mayores: Un Análisis Aplicado». Estudios de Economía Aplicada 20 (1), pp. 197-215.Google Scholar
Martín-Guzmán, P., et al. (1996): Encuesta de Presupuestos Familiares. Desigualdad y Pobreza en España. Estudio Basado en las Encuestas de Presupuestos Familiares de 1973-74, 1980-81 y 1990-91. Madrid: Instituto Nacional de Estadística and Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.Google Scholar
Martínez-López, D. (2012): «The Underreporting of Income by Self-Employed Workers in Spain». SERIEs 4 (4), pp. 353-371.Google Scholar
McColl, B.; Billing, J.; Kindermann, B., and Burgess, H. (2010): «Micro and Macro Economic Estimates for Australian Households: Recent Developments and Future Directions». Paper presented at the IARIW Annual Meetings, (August 2010). St-Gallen, Switzerland.Google Scholar
Meltzer, A., and Richard, S. (1981): «A Rational Theory of the Size of Government». Journal of Political Economy 89 (5), pp. 914-927.Google Scholar
Mistiaen, J., and Ravallion, M. (2003): «Survey Compliance and the Distribution of Income». Policy Research Working Paper 2956, World Bank, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Morelli, S.; Smeeding, T., and Thompson, J. (2015): «Post-1970 Trends in Within-Country Inequality and Poverty: Rich and Middle Income Countries», in A. Atkinson, and F. Bourguignon (eds), Handbook of Income Distribution. Volume 2A, Amsterdam: Elsevier B.V., pp. 596-693.Google Scholar
Neri, A., and Zizza, R. (2010): «Income Reporting Behaviour in the SHIW». Temi di Discussione 777, Bank of Italy.Google Scholar
Oliver, J. (1997): «Ingreso, Consumo y Ahorro de las Familias: Propuesta de una Metodología Para la Explotación de la Encuesta de Presupuestos Familiares». Documentos de Trabajo FIES, (1), 132.Google Scholar
Oliver, J.; Ramos, X., and Raymond-Barà, J. (2001): «Anatomía de la Distribución de la renta en España, 1985-1996: la Continuidad de la Mejora». Papeles de Economía Española 88, pp. 67-88.Google Scholar
Pena Trapero, J. B. (dir) (1996): Distribución Personal de la renta en España: Corrección y Modelización de la Información Básica: Desigualdad y Análisis. Madrid: Pirámide.Google Scholar
Pijoan-Mas, J., and Sánchez-Marcos, V. (2010): «Spain is Different: Falling Trends of Inequality». Review of Economic Dynamics 13, pp. 154-178.Google Scholar
Piketty, T. (2003): «Income Inequality in France, 1901-1998». Journal of Political Economy 111 (5), pp. 1004-1042.Google Scholar
Pissarides, C. A., and Weber, G. (1989): «An Expenditure-Based Estimate of Britain’s Black Economy». Journal of Public Economics 39 (1), pp. 17-32.Google Scholar
Pou, L., and Alegre, J. (2002): «La Encuesta Continua de Presupuestos Familiares: Descripción, Representatividad y Propuestas de Metodología para la Explotación de la Información de los Ingresos y el Gasto». Documento de Trabajo 172/2002, Fundación de las Cajas de Ahorro Confederadas.Google Scholar
Prados De La Escosura, L. (2003): El Progreso Económico de España (1850-2000). Bilbao: Fundación BBVA.Google Scholar
Prados De La Escosura, L. (2008): «Inequality, Poverty and the Kuznets Curve in Spain, 1850-2000». European Review of Economic History 12 (3), pp. 287-324.Google Scholar
Pérez-Duarte, S.; Sánchez-Muñoz, C., and Törmälehto, V. (2010): «Re-Weighting to Reduce Unit Non-Response Bias in Household Wealth Surveys: A Cross-Country Comparative Perspective Illustrated by a Case Study». European Conference on Quality in Official Statistics, Helsinki.Google Scholar
Ravallion, M. (2003): «The Debate on Globalization, Poverty and Inequality: Why Measurement Matters». International Affairs 79 (4), pp. 739-754.Google Scholar
Sanz, B. (1995): «La Articulación micro-macro en el Sector Hogares: de la Encuesta de Presupuestos Familiares a la Contabilidad Nacional». Papeles de trabajo, Instituto de Estudios Fiscales 1995/27.Google Scholar
Sen, A. (1992): Inequality Reexamined. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Tedds, L. (2010): «Estimating the Income Reporting Function for the Self-Employed». Empirical Economics 38 (3), pp. 669-687.Google Scholar
Torregrosa-Hetland, S. (n.d.): «Did Democracy bring Redistribution? Insights from the Spanish Tax System (1960-1990)». European Review of Economic History, doi:10.1093/ereh/hev006, forthcoming.Google Scholar