LibGuides: Income Inequality Data & Resources: Start

Databases to Use

Statista This link opens in a new window
highly findable and usable stats on markets, industries, companies, and more. Also data-centered reports, fully downloadable. Search "income inequality" to get great info.
World DataBank This link opens in a new window
5 huge databases from the World Bank with financial and demographic info on all countries. Create your own queries, generate tables, and more. Best to watch the tutorial first. Check out the Poverty and Equity database.
DataPlanet Statistical Datasets This link opens in a new window
Interdisciplinary datasets from a wide range of sources with mapping, graphing, and report-generating capability. Select the Population and Income "Subject" to narrow.
OECD iLibrary This link opens in a new window
Reports and data on international economics, development, employment, and more from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. Use the Browse by Theme option or search "income inequality" to narrow results.

Mergent Online Economics
over 1,000 economics datasets covering retail, housing, trade, commodities, banking, energy, industry and other indicators. Use the "Analysis" tab to limit to income indicators.

IMPORTANT READINGS

JEL: Benhabib, J., & Bisin, A. (2018). Skewed wealth distributions: Theory and empirics. Journal of Economic Literature, 56(4), 1261-1291. ACCESS HERE

NYT: Scheiber, N. (13 May 2021). Middle-class pay lost pace. Is Washington to blame? The New York Times. ACCESS HERE

Data Collections

ICPSR This link opens in a new window
A data archive of datasets related to social and political research, made available through the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research at the University of Michigan. CMU affiliates have access to member-only data. To create an account, click Log In from the home page and then Create Account. Note that you must be in the CMU IP range when creating an account (either on campus, or using the Full VPN). Once an account is created, you can access the resource from any location using the link above. Use this guide for more info.

Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS)
international and US population data - census, health, time use, harmonized data - historical through current.
Harvard Dataverse Network
repository for multidisciplinary research data that is free and open to all researchers, including numerous datasets in business and economics. Search "income inequality" to narrow datasets.

Other Data Sources

World Inequality Database (WID)
Most extensive available data series on the world distribution of income and wealth. Sourced by a team of economists including T. Piketty.
FRED - Economic Data from the Federal Reserve
816,000 economic data time series from 107 national, international, public, and private sources, along with tools for interaction, display, and dissemination. Use the "Browse by Category - Population, Employment, & Labor Markets" subsection to narrow results.
Bureau of Labor Statistics
prices, employment, pay, productivity, etc. Use the Employment, Unemployment, and Pay & Benefits subjects to help narrow results.
Bureau of Economic Analysis
US production, consumption, investment, income and saving, and more data. Use the Data - by Topic drop down and select Income & Saving to narrow results.
Survey of Consumer Finances (US)
triennial cross-sectional survey of U.S. families, with information on families’ balance sheets, pensions, income, and demographic characteristics. Sponsored by the Federal Reserve Board and the US Treasury.
ILOSTAT (previously LABORSTA) from the International Labour Office
labor data for 200 countries, from 1969 to the present
Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP)
SIPP is the premier source of information for income and program participation. SIPP collects data and measures change for many topics including: economic well-being, family dynamics, education, assets, health insurance, childcare, and food security.
Occupational Wages Around the World (OWW)
This database contains occupational wage data for 164 occupations in 192 countries from 1953 to 2008.
Penn World Table
purchasing power parity and national income accounts converted to international prices for 189 countries/territories 1950-2019.
Angus Maddison database
measures of world economic growth, from 1 A.D to 2018, by country. Updated every few years.
Total Economy Database (TED)
from the Conference Board - annual data on GDP, population, employment, hours, labor quality, capital services, labor productivity, and total factor productivity for 123 countries. Requires free account.
Bank for International Settlements
international banking, derivatives, securities, exchange rates, debt, etc.
UNData
from the United Nations - Agriculture, Crime, Education, Employment, Energy, Environment, Health, and more from an international perspective. Use Datamarts section to narrow results.
National Bureau for Economic Research
many historical datasets of all kinds used by the NBER. Use the "Topics" limiter and "Poverty & Wellbeing" as a potential narrowing strategy for results.
Links to statistical agencies for each country/region
their versions of our Census Bureau
Links to central banks for each country
which often have a statistical section for economic and financial data