Reconstructing Income Inequality in Italy: New Evidence and Tax System Implications from Distributional National Accounts
Journal of the European Economic Association · 2023 · Demetrio Guzzardi、Elisa Palagi、Andrea Roventini、Alessandro Santoro
中文摘要
本文结合调查数据、税收数据以及国家和区域层面的国民账户，重构了意大利收入分配的新序列，并分析了税收制度的整体累进性。我们构建的新分配国民账户能够修正调查中严重的资本收入误报，提供更准确的消费估计，并更好地核算非正规经济的作用。我们的新估计显示，与以往研究相比，收入最高的前1%和前0.1%人群的收入集中度高出约1.5个百分点。此外，最富裕的前10%、前1%和前0.1%人群所占的国民收入份额在2008年危机后持续稳步上升。我们的结果进一步揭示了意大利不平等的多面性：最年轻的个体、女性以及南部地区居民日益面临不断加剧的不平等。最后，意大利税收制度在收入分布第95百分位及以下仅略具累进性，而对收入最高的前5%人群则呈累退性。此外，当按照个人净财富排序时，该税收制度在整个分布上均呈累退性。
Abstract
Abstract This work reconstructs novel series on income distribution in Italy combining survey data, tax data, and National Accounts both at the national and regional levels, and it analyzes the overall progressivity of the tax system. Our new Distributional National Accounts allow to correct for remarkable misreporting of capital income in surveys, to provide more accurate estimates of consumption, and to better account for the role of informal economy. Our fresh estimates show higher income concentration at the top 1% and 0.1% with respect to previous studies in order of 1.5 percentage points. Moreover, the share of national income of the richest top 10%, top 1%, and top 0.1% has been steadily increasing after the 2008 crisis. Our results shed further light on the multifaceted nature of inequality in Italy: youngest individuals, women, and inhabitants of Southern regions have been increasingly exposed to growing levels of inequality. Finally, the Italian tax system is only slightly progressive up to the 95th percentile of the income distribution, and regressive for the top 5%. Moreover, it is regressive throughout the whole distribution when individuals are ranked with respect to their net wealth.