Top Indian Incomes, 1922-2000
This article presents data on the evolution of top incomes and wages for 1922-2000 in India using individual tax return data. The data show that the shares of the top 0.01 percent, 0.1 percent, and 1 percent in total income shrank substantially fro...
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English en_US |
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Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank
2014
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2005/01/17747442/top-indian-incomes-1922-2000 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/16482 |
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okr-10986-164822021-04-23T14:03:29Z Top Indian Incomes, 1922-2000 Banerjee, Abhijit Piketty, Thomas AVERAGE GROWTH AVERAGE INCOME AVERAGE INCOMES CAPITAL CONCENTRATION COMMODITIES CONSUMER EXPENDITURE CONSUMER PRICE INDEX CONSUMPTION EXPENDITURE CONSUMPTION GROWTH DEFLATORS DEVELOPING COUNTRIES DEVELOPING ECONOMIES DEVELOPING ECONOMY DEVELOPMENT BANK DISTRIBUTION OF INCOME DIVIDENDS ECONOMIC ACTIVITY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ECONOMIC POLICY ECONOMIC POWER ECONOMIC REFORMS ECONOMIC REVIEW ELASTICITY EXCHANGE RATE FINANCIAL SUPPORT GDP GDP DEFLATOR GDP PER CAPITA GLOBALIZATION GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT GROWTH PERFORMANCE GROWTH RATE GROWTH RATES HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INCOME INCOME DATA INCOME DISTRIBUTION INCOME GROUP INCOME GROUPS INCOME GROWTH INCOME INEQUALITY INCOME LEVEL INCOME SHARE INCOME SOURCES INCOME TAX INCOME TAXATION INCOMES INEQUALITY INTERNATIONAL BANK INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS INTERNATIONAL TRADE LABOR FORCE LABOUR MARKET LIBERALIZATION MEASURING POVERTY MIXED ECONOMY NATIONAL INCOME NOMINAL INCOMES OUTPUT PER CAPITA CONSUMPTION PER CAPITA GROWTH POLICY REFORM POLICY RESEARCH POLITICAL ECONOMY POLITICAL SCIENCE POVERTY ESTIMATES POVERTY MEASURES POWER PARITY PRIVATE CONSUMPTION PRIVATE SECTOR PUBLIC SECTOR PURCHASING POWER REAL GROWTH RENTS RETURN RETURNS RISING INEQUALITY SERIES DATA SKILLED LABOR STOCK OPTIONS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT TAX TAX COLLECTION TAX POLICY TAX RATE TAX RATES TAXABLE INCOMES TAXPAYER TAXPAYERS TRADE POLICY WAGE GROWTH WAGES WEALTH WORLD DEVELOPMENT INDICATORS WORLD MARKETS This article presents data on the evolution of top incomes and wages for 1922-2000 in India using individual tax return data. The data show that the shares of the top 0.01 percent, 0.1 percent, and 1 percent in total income shrank substantially from the 1950s to the early to mid-1980s but then rose again, so that today these shares are only slightly below what they were in the 1920s and 1930s. This U-shaped pattern is broadly consistent with the evolution of economic policy in India: from the 1950s to the early to mid-1980s was a period of ''socialist'' policies in India, whereas the subsequent period, starting with the rise of Rajiv Gandhi, saw a gradual shift toward more pro-business policies. Although the initial share of the top income group was small, the fact that the rich were getting richer had a nontrivial impact on the overall income distribution. Although the impact is not large enough to fully explain the gap observed during the 1990s between average consumption growths shown in National Sample Survey based data and the national accounts based data, it is sufficiently large to explain a non-negligible part of it. 2014-01-03T21:08:00Z 2014-01-03T21:08:00Z 2005-01 Journal Article http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2005/01/17747442/top-indian-incomes-1922-2000 World Bank Economic Review doi:10.1093/wber/lhi001 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/16482 English en_US CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo World Bank Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank Publications & Research :: Journal Article Publications & Research :: Journal Article South Asia India |
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Digital Repository |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
| institution |
Digital Repositories |
| building |
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
| collection |
World Bank |
| language |
English en_US |
| topic |
AVERAGE GROWTH AVERAGE INCOME AVERAGE INCOMES CAPITAL CONCENTRATION COMMODITIES CONSUMER EXPENDITURE CONSUMER PRICE INDEX CONSUMPTION EXPENDITURE CONSUMPTION GROWTH DEFLATORS DEVELOPING COUNTRIES DEVELOPING ECONOMIES DEVELOPING ECONOMY DEVELOPMENT BANK DISTRIBUTION OF INCOME DIVIDENDS ECONOMIC ACTIVITY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ECONOMIC POLICY ECONOMIC POWER ECONOMIC REFORMS ECONOMIC REVIEW ELASTICITY EXCHANGE RATE FINANCIAL SUPPORT GDP GDP DEFLATOR GDP PER CAPITA GLOBALIZATION GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT GROWTH PERFORMANCE GROWTH RATE GROWTH RATES HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INCOME INCOME DATA INCOME DISTRIBUTION INCOME GROUP INCOME GROUPS INCOME GROWTH INCOME INEQUALITY INCOME LEVEL INCOME SHARE INCOME SOURCES INCOME TAX INCOME TAXATION INCOMES INEQUALITY INTERNATIONAL BANK INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS INTERNATIONAL TRADE LABOR FORCE LABOUR MARKET LIBERALIZATION MEASURING POVERTY MIXED ECONOMY NATIONAL INCOME NOMINAL INCOMES OUTPUT PER CAPITA CONSUMPTION PER CAPITA GROWTH POLICY REFORM POLICY RESEARCH POLITICAL ECONOMY POLITICAL SCIENCE POVERTY ESTIMATES POVERTY MEASURES POWER PARITY PRIVATE CONSUMPTION PRIVATE SECTOR PUBLIC SECTOR PURCHASING POWER REAL GROWTH RENTS RETURN RETURNS RISING INEQUALITY SERIES DATA SKILLED LABOR STOCK OPTIONS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT TAX TAX COLLECTION TAX POLICY TAX RATE TAX RATES TAXABLE INCOMES TAXPAYER TAXPAYERS TRADE POLICY WAGE GROWTH WAGES WEALTH WORLD DEVELOPMENT INDICATORS WORLD MARKETS |
| spellingShingle |
AVERAGE GROWTH AVERAGE INCOME AVERAGE INCOMES CAPITAL CONCENTRATION COMMODITIES CONSUMER EXPENDITURE CONSUMER PRICE INDEX CONSUMPTION EXPENDITURE CONSUMPTION GROWTH DEFLATORS DEVELOPING COUNTRIES DEVELOPING ECONOMIES DEVELOPING ECONOMY DEVELOPMENT BANK DISTRIBUTION OF INCOME DIVIDENDS ECONOMIC ACTIVITY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ECONOMIC POLICY ECONOMIC POWER ECONOMIC REFORMS ECONOMIC REVIEW ELASTICITY EXCHANGE RATE FINANCIAL SUPPORT GDP GDP DEFLATOR GDP PER CAPITA GLOBALIZATION GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT GROWTH PERFORMANCE GROWTH RATE GROWTH RATES HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INCOME INCOME DATA INCOME DISTRIBUTION INCOME GROUP INCOME GROUPS INCOME GROWTH INCOME INEQUALITY INCOME LEVEL INCOME SHARE INCOME SOURCES INCOME TAX INCOME TAXATION INCOMES INEQUALITY INTERNATIONAL BANK INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS INTERNATIONAL TRADE LABOR FORCE LABOUR MARKET LIBERALIZATION MEASURING POVERTY MIXED ECONOMY NATIONAL INCOME NOMINAL INCOMES OUTPUT PER CAPITA CONSUMPTION PER CAPITA GROWTH POLICY REFORM POLICY RESEARCH POLITICAL ECONOMY POLITICAL SCIENCE POVERTY ESTIMATES POVERTY MEASURES POWER PARITY PRIVATE CONSUMPTION PRIVATE SECTOR PUBLIC SECTOR PURCHASING POWER REAL GROWTH RENTS RETURN RETURNS RISING INEQUALITY SERIES DATA SKILLED LABOR STOCK OPTIONS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT TAX TAX COLLECTION TAX POLICY TAX RATE TAX RATES TAXABLE INCOMES TAXPAYER TAXPAYERS TRADE POLICY WAGE GROWTH WAGES WEALTH WORLD DEVELOPMENT INDICATORS WORLD MARKETS Banerjee, Abhijit Piketty, Thomas Top Indian Incomes, 1922-2000 |
| geographic_facet |
South Asia India |
| description |
This article presents data on the
evolution of top incomes and wages for 1922-2000 in India
using individual tax return data. The data show that the
shares of the top 0.01 percent, 0.1 percent, and 1 percent
in total income shrank substantially from the 1950s to the
early to mid-1980s but then rose again, so that today these
shares are only slightly below what they were in the 1920s
and 1930s. This U-shaped pattern is broadly consistent with
the evolution of economic policy in India: from the 1950s to
the early to mid-1980s was a period of
''socialist'' policies in India, whereas
the subsequent period, starting with the rise of Rajiv
Gandhi, saw a gradual shift toward more pro-business
policies. Although the initial share of the top income group
was small, the fact that the rich were getting richer had a
nontrivial impact on the overall income distribution.
Although the impact is not large enough to fully explain the
gap observed during the 1990s between average consumption
growths shown in National Sample Survey based data and the
national accounts based data, it is sufficiently large to
explain a non-negligible part of it. |
| format |
Journal Article |
| author |
Banerjee, Abhijit Piketty, Thomas |
| author_facet |
Banerjee, Abhijit Piketty, Thomas |
| author_sort |
Banerjee, Abhijit |
| title |
Top Indian Incomes, 1922-2000 |
| title_short |
Top Indian Incomes, 1922-2000 |
| title_full |
Top Indian Incomes, 1922-2000 |
| title_fullStr |
Top Indian Incomes, 1922-2000 |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Top Indian Incomes, 1922-2000 |
| title_sort |
top indian incomes, 1922-2000 |
| publisher |
Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank |
| publishDate |
2014 |
| url |
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2005/01/17747442/top-indian-incomes-1922-2000 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/16482 |
| _version_ |
1764433349681610752 |