Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/232307 
Year of Publication: 
2020
Citation: 
[Journal:] Socio-Economic Review [ISSN:] 1475-147X [Volume:] 18 [Issue:] 4 [Publisher:] Oxford University Press [Place:] Oxford [Year:] 2020 [Pages:] 1175-1198
Publisher: 
Oxford University Press, Oxford
Abstract: 
Focusing on the advanced political economies, this article critically reviews the recent scholarship on the evolution of top incomes over the past few decades. The existing literature shows that the determination of top incomes is complex, multifaceted and bound up with factors associated with both politics and economics. Technological change and globalization are vital sources of change in contemporary capitalism, but the continued diversity in top income shares across the advanced capitalist world suggests that these forces alone cannot account for the empirical patterns. Instead, there is compelling evidence that power and politics, including government policy, trade union and left party strength, institutions and financialization, all play a pivotal role in regulating distributive outcomes. It is argued that future research will require a plurality of methodological approaches in order to clarify the complex causal process that drives top-end income concentration.
Subjects: 
income distribution
JEL: 
P16
O15
URL of the first edition: 
Published Version’s DOI: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by-nc-nd Logo
Document Type: 
Article
Document Version: 
Manuscript Version (Preprint)

Files in This Item:
File
Size
605.29 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.