Trends in Income and Expenditure Inequality in the 1980s and 1990s: a re-examination and further results

Ann Harding, Harry Greenwell

Research output: Working paperDiscussion paper

Abstract

This paper considers trends in income and expenditure inequality in Australia, using unit record file data from the last four Household
Expenditure Surveys (1984, 1988-89, 1993-94 and 1998-99) and four Income Distribution Surveys (1990, 1994-95, 1995-96 and 1997-98) conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The results suggest that income inequality increased during the 1990s, but that expenditure inequality remained stable. This paper is a revised version of Discussion Paper no. 56. This version corrects an incorrect equivalence scale used in the earlier work on expenditures for 1993-94 and adds results on current non-durable expenditure. In addition, it has now emerged that these results can be regarded as only preliminary, as the ABS revealed in April this year that it has concerns about the accuracy of the data for low income families in the income and expenditure surveys and intends to release revised versions of the unit record files.
Original languageEnglish
Place of PublicationCanberra
PublisherNATSEM, University of Canberra
Pages1-52
Number of pages52
ISBN (Print)1 74088 061 7
Publication statusPublished - 2002

Publication series

NameNATSEM Discussion Papers
PublisherNATSEM
No.57
ISSN (Electronic)1320-3398

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