Top Incomes in Italy 1974-2004

FACUNDO ALVAREDO; ELENA PISANO

Top Incomes over the XXth Century: A Global Perspective

Oxford University Press

Lugar: Oxford, UK; Año: 2010; p. 625 - 663

This chapter describes the evolution of top income shares in Italy between 1974 and 2004. We provide systematic and homogenous time series of income concentration based on tax records. Tax statistics have hardly been used before to study income concentration in Italy. Top income shares have increased steadily since the mid 1980s, mainly driven by top wages and self-employment income. Notwithstanding this trend, the increase is very small relative to the surge experienced by top incomes in the United States and other Anglo-Saxon countries. Thus, the Italian experience is also closer to the one of continental Europe countries such as France, Spain or Portugal.