Discussant : Jonas Vanderkelen
Room : P02
Abstract : In this paper, we apply the methodology of the Distributional National Accounts (DINA) to insert the distributional information from income surveys into the aggregate income information contained in the National Accounts. This allows to reconsider the evolution of income inequality in Belgium between 1985 and 2022. Our results highlight the importance of calibrating the distributional information contained in the survey data to the National Accounts aggregates. We unveil a previously undetected rise in Belgian income inequality in the aftermath of the financial crisis. By decomposing the Gini into different income components, we find that this increase in inequality is due to the increasing share of both distributed and undistributed profits on the one hand, and collapsing fixed-interest incomes on the other hand.