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Cambridge Journal of Economics Advance Access published online on June 12, 2006
Cambridge Journal of Economics, doi:10.1093/cje/bel013
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© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Cambridge Political Economy Society. All rights reserved.
Received June 27, 2005
Revised January 3, 2006

Article

On data: a case study of the evolution of income inequality across time and across countries

A. B. Atkinson 1 * and A. Brandolini 2

1 Nuffield College, Oxford
2 Bank of Italy, Economic Research Department

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
A. B. Atkinson, E-mail: tony.atkinson{at}nuffield.oxford.ac.uk


  Abstract

This paper takes income distribution as a case study of the role of data in economics. After describing the transformation which has taken place with regard to the availability of data on income inequality, it discusses how the comparability of these estimates is brought into question by differences in methodology that cannot be eliminated by simple adjustments. Recent analyses of the relationships between income inequality and growth or globalisation are shown to be based on time series plagued by discontinuities which can seriously affect regression results. The paper concludes by calling for greater attention to data quality in applied economics.

Keywords: Data quality; Measurement bias; Income distribution; Growth; Globalisation.
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