자본소득과 임금소득이 소득불평등에 미치는 영향 분석

The Effects of Income Inequality Evaluated by Capital and Earned Incomes: The Case of the United States and the United Kingdom

The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of income inequality caused by capital and earned incomes in the U.S and the U.K. Empirical analysis was done using the ARDL cointegration model and included calculations of short-run and long-run elasticities and the estimated Gini coefficient. Empirical evidence from the ARDL cointegration model suggests that capital and earned incomes are effective inversely to income inequality in these countries. The sign of short-run and long-run elasticities is altered, either. This means that the net effect has to be taken into account. The estimated Gini coefficient shows that earned income affects substantially in forming a long-run, secular trend of income inequality, whereas fluctuation of the trend comes mainly from capital income. Recently, the gap between capital and earned incomes tends to widen. Therefore, the progressive tax and global wealth tax which are suggested by Piketty (2005/2013) would be a good device to attenuate the gap. Since income inequality is also affected by earned income, it suggests that it may be a good idea to set up a well-organized system to support it. Labor forces which are embodied with capital should be cultivated to alleviate the gap between these incomes as well.