The Great Recession, Austerity and Inequality

 The advent of the Great Recession and the widespread adoption of fiscal austerity policies have heightened concern about inequality and its effects. We examine how the distribution of income in Ireland – a country which... [ view full abstract ]

 The advent of the Great Recession and the widespread adoption of fiscal austerity policies have heightened concern about inequality and its effects. We examine how the distribution of income in Ireland – a country which experienced one of the most severe economic contractions – has evolved over the years 2008 to 2013. Analysis of the income distribution shows broad stability in the Gini coefficient and in decile shares, with one main exception: the share of the bottom decile fell sharply, with the largest fall in average incomes being for that group. The extent of redistribution through taxes and transfers increased strongly, as measured by the Reynolds-Smolensky index, which rose from 0.20 before the onset of the crisis to 0.27 in 2013. Analysis indicates that about three-quarters of this increased redistribution is due to automatic stabilisers and one-quarter to discretionary policy changes.