Over the years, I've seen repeatedly that "pre-fisc" inequality of the Nordics was pretty high, but it was all equalized post fisc. This paper argues otherwise - or that only 1/3 was post fisc. So, that's a surprise if true. I'll have to go and dig around on this to see if they're measuring things differently somehow. The data - on the table on the wikipedia page shows the nordics with moderate gini pre-fisc among OECD, but comparatively lower gini post-fisc which implies a higher than average tax/redistribution level of effort. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_income_inequality?utm_source=chatgpt.com
Great to hear from you, Gawain! Hope you've been well.
Yes, that was one thing in the article that surprised me a lot too. I understood the major gap in inequality between, say the US and Sweden, to stem from the stronger redistribution of the Swedish welfare state. So I found the Mogstad argument very surprising!
I don't think I'm ready to update my total thinking on the topic - there are lots of ways to define inequality, redistribution, pre- and post-state distributions, and the groups of the population one focuses on when making these comparisons. I think of Mogstad more as making a strong argument that the Nordic wage coordination system is somewhat underappreciated by academics and journalists who talk a lot about the "Nordic way."
Yes - and that sectoral approach and the sort of labor/capital/state relations operate in Nordics (and I think Germany as well) is so different from the US that it makes it hard to draw practical/policy lessons. I was a little involved in an effort to try to build sectoral approaches in US municipalities - like to try to get fast food employers to set wages in coordination. but there are anti-trust issues involved, among many other obstacles and resistance.
Over the years, I've seen repeatedly that "pre-fisc" inequality of the Nordics was pretty high, but it was all equalized post fisc. This paper argues otherwise - or that only 1/3 was post fisc. So, that's a surprise if true. I'll have to go and dig around on this to see if they're measuring things differently somehow. The data - on the table on the wikipedia page shows the nordics with moderate gini pre-fisc among OECD, but comparatively lower gini post-fisc which implies a higher than average tax/redistribution level of effort. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_income_inequality?utm_source=chatgpt.com
Great to hear from you, Gawain! Hope you've been well.
Yes, that was one thing in the article that surprised me a lot too. I understood the major gap in inequality between, say the US and Sweden, to stem from the stronger redistribution of the Swedish welfare state. So I found the Mogstad argument very surprising!
I don't think I'm ready to update my total thinking on the topic - there are lots of ways to define inequality, redistribution, pre- and post-state distributions, and the groups of the population one focuses on when making these comparisons. I think of Mogstad more as making a strong argument that the Nordic wage coordination system is somewhat underappreciated by academics and journalists who talk a lot about the "Nordic way."
Yes - and that sectoral approach and the sort of labor/capital/state relations operate in Nordics (and I think Germany as well) is so different from the US that it makes it hard to draw practical/policy lessons. I was a little involved in an effort to try to build sectoral approaches in US municipalities - like to try to get fast food employers to set wages in coordination. but there are anti-trust issues involved, among many other obstacles and resistance.