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Estimating Top Income Shares Without Tax Return Data: Mexico Since the 1990s
Author(s) -
CamposVazquez Raymundo M.,
Chavez Emmanuel,
Esquivel Gerardo
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
latin american policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.195
H-Index - 4
eISSN - 2041-7373
pISSN - 2041-7365
DOI - 10.1111/lamp.12143
Subject(s) - decile , misrepresentation , income distribution , distribution (mathematics) , economics , income shares , survey data collection , inequality , economic inequality , adjusted gross income , gross income , demographic economics , labour economics , public economics , state income tax , tax reform , political science , statistics , mathematical analysis , mathematics , law
This study estimates the income of individuals in the top part of the income distribution in Mexico since 1992. Mexico is the only Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development country that does not report publicly income from fiscal sources. To circumvent this problem, we use income information from household surveys but adjust the misrepresentation of top earners using national accounts data. We then estimate incomes of the very rich using interpolations based on a Pareto distribution. Once we correct for the misrepresentation of top earners in the survey, we find that the income share of the top decile has increased in the last two decades. Our findings contradict the conclusion that is usually obtained solely from household survey information. We also find that the income share of top‐1% earners in Mexico is close to 25%, making Mexico one of the countries where the rich take the largest share of total income. Moreover, we find that inequality among the rich in Mexico is larger than in most countries where information is available.