Publicly-provided Services and the Distribution of Resources

This report looks at the effects on the distribution of household income of those government-provided services that confer a personal benefit to users. While most of the comparative evidence of the size and evolution of income inequalities in OECD countries relies on the concept of household disposable income, integrating the effects of these government services is important for both conceptual and practical reasons: first, as the tax burden levied on households represent a deduction from their disposable income, it is important to account for the services which governments provide...