收入不平等的宏观视角

Inequality has become a defining challenge for modern economies and a central focus of economic research over the past two decades. I begin by revisiting the foundations of income measurement, showing that standard definitions — taxable income, factor income, and Haig-Simons income — suffer from important conceptual limitations. I contrast these income measures with the ideal notion of income from a welfare perspective — Hicksian income — which captures an individual’s ability to consume or save for future consumption. I then examine the drivers of rising top income inequality, with particular attention to the surge in entrepreneurial incomes. I highlight three key forces behind this phenomenon: higher returns on capital (technological factors), lower external financing costs (financial factors), and a lighter tax burden on business owners (fiscal factors).