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Working Paper No. 1396

COVID-19 and Income Inequality: Evidence from Monthly Population Registers

Working Paper
Reference
Angelov, Nikolay and Daniel Waldenström (2021). “COVID-19 and Income Inequality: Evidence from Monthly Population Registers”. IFN Working Paper No. 1396. Stockholm: Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN).

Authors
Nikolay Angelov, Daniel Waldenström

We measure the distributional impact of the COVID-19 pandemic using newly released population register data in Sweden. Monthly earnings inequality increased during the pandemic, and the key driver is income losses among low-paid individuals while middle- and high-income earners were almost unaffected. The pandemic had a larger negative impact on private-sector workers and on women. Using data on individual take-up of government COVID-19 support, we show that policy significantly dampened the inequality increase, but did not fully offset it. Annual total market income inequality, which also includes capital income and taxable transfers, shows similar patterns of increasing inequality during the pandemic.

 

Daniel Waldenström

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daniel.waldenstrom@ifn.se