Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/245788 
Year of Publication: 
2021
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 14737
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We use a new Australian longitudinal income tax dataset, Alife, covering 1991–2017, to examine levels and trends in the persistence in top-income group membership, focussing on the top 1%. We summarize persistence in multiple ways, documenting levels and trends in rates of remaining in top-income groups; re-entry to the top; the income changes associated with top-income transitions; and we also compare top-income persistence rates for annual and 'permanent' incomes. Regardless of the perspective taken, top-income persistence increased markedly over the period, with most of the increase occurring in the mid-2000s and early 2010s. In the mid- to late-2010s, Australian top-income persistence rates appear to have been near the top of the range of tax-data estimates for other countries. Using univariate breakdowns and multivariate regression, we show that the rise in top-income persistence in Australia was experienced by many population subgroups.
Subjects: 
top incomes
income mobility
top-income persistence
JEL: 
D31
I31
C81
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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