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Redistribution by the State

Bild vom Veranstaltungsposter
Presentation and discussion of the new WIFO study

Date: Tuesday, January 16, 2024

Time: 17:00

Place: Club room in the Learning Centre (LC, 2nd floor)

Content and programme

The study analyses the impact of the public sector on income inequality and poverty in Austria in 2019 and traces developments between 2005 and 2019. The study is presented by the two authors Silvia Rocha-Akis and Christine Mayrhuber (both WIFO). The two authors will first explain Austria's tax structure and the tax ratio of private households based on market income. They will then outline the distributional effects of state benefits in cash and in kind in the areas of health, education, family, housing, unemployment and social exclusion as well as social contributions and (in-)direct taxes. Furthermore, it will be shown that the stable distribution measures in the cross-section of the population conceal divergent income trends between households according to age groups. The presentation also sheds light on the dependence of the balance of benefits received and taxes paid on personal and household-related characteristics that change over the life course.

After a presentation of the study by the two authors, Emanuel List (INEQ) will comment on it. Wilfried Altzinger (INEQ) will moderate the event. Following the event, a small buffet will be provided for further discussion.

Link to the study

Grafik zur Verteilung der Markt- und Sekundäreinkommen sowie der öffentlichen Leistungen und Abagaben 2019

Distribution of market and secondary income as well as public benefits and levies in 2019 (population sorted by equivalent primary income)

© WIFO

Contributors

Christine Mayrhuber
© WIFO/Eric Krügl

Christine Mayrhuber (study author), economist (Senior Economist) at WIFO in the research group "Labour Market Economics, Income and Social Security" and Deputy Director. She conducts research on questions of income development and income distribution, on the structure and financing of pension insurance, on the redistributive effects of welfare state structures and on the new challenges for social security mechanisms in changing labour markets and under destandardised income trends.

Silvia Rocha-Akis
© WIFO/Alexander Müller

Silvia Rocha-Akis (study author), economist (Senior Economist) at WIFO in the research area "Labour Market, Income and Social Security". Her research and work focuses on income distribution and redistribution, the tax-transfer system, the welfare state, the distribution and revenue effects of economic policy measures and the development of microsimulation models.

Emanuel List
© Sonja Spitzer

Emanuel List, postdoctoral researcher at the Economics of Inequality Research Institute at the Vienna University of Economics and Business. His research focuses on income and wealth distribution, housing, trade union organisation, productivity and corporate saving behaviour.

Wilfried Altzinger
© Martin Morscher

Wilfried Altzinger, co-founded the Economics of Inequality Research Institute at WU Vienna and headed it until his retirement in 2023. His main area of research was and is economic policy and, in particular, the distribution of wealth and its impact on the political system.

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