Intranational Inequality: A Cross-National Dataset

Abstract

Most previous cross-national research on income inequality has been insensitive to issues concerning the quality of the data. This paper builds on recent work by Menard (1986) in examining the comparability of various types of income inequality data. Specifically, I suggest that comparability of the data will be enhanced (and research findings will be more trustworthy) if we are more stringent concerning the definition and measurement of the key concept: income. Income distribution data for 61 nations which take this factor into account are presented.