Importing inequality: immigration and the top 1 percent

Advani, Arun, König, Felix, Pessina, Lorenzo and Summers, Andrew ORCID: 0000-0002-4978-7743 (2020) Importing inequality: immigration and the top 1 percent. CEP Discussion Papers (CEPDP1717). London School of Economics and Political Science. Centre for Economic Performance, London, UK.

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Abstract

In this paper we study the contribution of migrants to the rise in UK top incomes. Using administrative data on the universe of UK taxpayers we show migrants are over-represented at the top of the income distribution, with mi-grants twice as prevalent in the top 0.1% as anywhere in the bottom 97%. These high incomes are predominantly from labour, rather than capital, and migrants are concentrated in only a handful of industries, predominantly finance. Almost all (85%) of the growth in the UK top 1% income share over the past 20 years can be attributed to migration.

Item Type:	Monograph (Discussion Paper)
Official URL:	https://cep.lse.ac.uk/_new/publications/discussion...
Additional Information:	© 2020 The Author(s)
Divisions:	Law School
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor
JEL classification:	H - Public Economics > H2 - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J3 - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J6 - Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies
Date Deposited:	11 Jan 2021 11:15
Last Modified:	09 May 2025 01:51
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/108220

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