Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the structure of overall inequality in the EU-15 by investigating the extent to which total inequality is attributed to inequality between or within the individual countries. Also, the paper examines whether the contribution of between-country...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the structure of overall inequality in the EU-15 by investigating the extent to which total inequality is attributed to inequality between or within the individual countries. Also, the paper examines whether the contribution of between-country...

The Easterlin paradox, which posits that money does not buy happiness since wealthier nations are not better off in terms of subjective well-being than less wealthy nations, is challenged in a seminal study of Stevensson and Wolfers (2008). In the first part of the paper we replicate their...

This paper reviews changing income distributions in the United States, Germany, and the Netherlands, treating the three countries as leading economic performers in ' the three worlds of welfare capitalism.' Previous analyses have shown that earnings dispersion is increasing. The potential impact...