Trends and Cycles of Top Income Shares in Greece: 1957-2010

摘要

This paper analyses the evolution of top income shares in Greece for the period 1957 to 2010 following Piketty (2001) methodology. We present trends and cycles of 10%, 5%, 1%, 0,5% and 0,1% income shares estimates which are based on tax statistics. The empirical results indicate that the behavior of the alternative estimated top income shares is quite similar. A 'flat' U-shaped pattern for most cases seems to exist. This common pattern is more apparent for the 1%, 0,5% and 0,1% top income shares. The top 10% and 5% income shares seem to be more volatile, accompanied with an increasing trend by the end of the period. Also, most of the upper income shares yield similar business cycles for the periods 1970-1976, 1976-1984, 1984-1994 and 1998-2007. This paper is an attempt to extend the existing research in southern Europe by presenting the relevant Greek experience. For the whole period, country comparisons show that the 1% top income share in Greece is in lower levels than that of USA and the other European countries (Italy, Portugal, Spain, France, Germany).