Gender Disparities in Top Earnings: Measurement and Facts for Denmark 1980-2013

Niels-Jakob Harbo Hansen; Karl Harmenberg; Erik Öberg; Hans Henrik Sievertsen

doi:10.1007/s10888-020-09476-1

Gender Disparities in Top Earnings: Measurement and Facts for Denmark 1980-2013

Niels-Jakob Harbo Hansen, Karl Harmenberg, Erik Öberg^*, Hans Henrik Sievertsen

^*Corresponding author for this work

Department of Economics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

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Abstract

Extending the work of Atkinson et al. (J. Econ. Inequal. 16, 225–256, 2018), we decompose top-earnings gender disparities into a glass-ceiling coefficient and a top-earnings gender gap. The decomposition uses that both male and female top earnings are Pareto distributed. If interpreting top-earnings gender disparities as caused by a female-specific earnings tax, the top-earnings gender gap and glass-ceiling coefficient measure the tax level and tax progressivity, respectively. Using Danish data on earnings, we show that the top-earnings gender gap and the glass-ceiling coefficient evolve differently across time, the life cycle, and educational groups. In particular, while the top-earnings gender gap has been decreasing in Denmark over the period 1980-2013, the glass-ceiling coefficient has been remarkably stable.

Original language	English
Journal	The Journal of Economic Inequality
Volume	19
Issue number	2
Pages (from-to)	347-362
Number of pages	16
ISSN	1569-1721
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s10888-020-09476-1
Publication status	Published - Jun 2021

Keywords

Decomposition
Gender gap
Glass ceiling
Summary statistics

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title = "Gender Disparities in Top Earnings: Measurement and Facts for Denmark 1980-2013",

abstract = "Extending the work of Atkinson et al. (J. Econ. Inequal. 16, 225–256, 2018), we decompose top-earnings gender disparities into a glass-ceiling coefficient and a top-earnings gender gap. The decomposition uses that both male and female top earnings are Pareto distributed. If interpreting top-earnings gender disparities as caused by a female-specific earnings tax, the top-earnings gender gap and glass-ceiling coefficient measure the tax level and tax progressivity, respectively. Using Danish data on earnings, we show that the top-earnings gender gap and the glass-ceiling coefficient evolve differently across time, the life cycle, and educational groups. In particular, while the top-earnings gender gap has been decreasing in Denmark over the period 1980-2013, the glass-ceiling coefficient has been remarkably stable.",

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author = "Hansen, {Niels-Jakob Harbo} and Karl Harmenberg and Erik {\"O}berg and Sievertsen, {Hans Henrik}",

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T2 - Measurement and Facts for Denmark 1980-2013

AU - Hansen, Niels-Jakob Harbo

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AU - Öberg, Erik

AU - Sievertsen, Hans Henrik

PY - 2021/6

Y1 - 2021/6

N2 - Extending the work of Atkinson et al. (J. Econ. Inequal. 16, 225–256, 2018), we decompose top-earnings gender disparities into a glass-ceiling coefficient and a top-earnings gender gap. The decomposition uses that both male and female top earnings are Pareto distributed. If interpreting top-earnings gender disparities as caused by a female-specific earnings tax, the top-earnings gender gap and glass-ceiling coefficient measure the tax level and tax progressivity, respectively. Using Danish data on earnings, we show that the top-earnings gender gap and the glass-ceiling coefficient evolve differently across time, the life cycle, and educational groups. In particular, while the top-earnings gender gap has been decreasing in Denmark over the period 1980-2013, the glass-ceiling coefficient has been remarkably stable.

AB - Extending the work of Atkinson et al. (J. Econ. Inequal. 16, 225–256, 2018), we decompose top-earnings gender disparities into a glass-ceiling coefficient and a top-earnings gender gap. The decomposition uses that both male and female top earnings are Pareto distributed. If interpreting top-earnings gender disparities as caused by a female-specific earnings tax, the top-earnings gender gap and glass-ceiling coefficient measure the tax level and tax progressivity, respectively. Using Danish data on earnings, we show that the top-earnings gender gap and the glass-ceiling coefficient evolve differently across time, the life cycle, and educational groups. In particular, while the top-earnings gender gap has been decreasing in Denmark over the period 1980-2013, the glass-ceiling coefficient has been remarkably stable.

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KW - Summary statistics

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KW - Glass ceiling

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