Zaidi, Salman2012-03-192012-03-192009-01-01https://hdl.handle.net/10986/4016Present levels of income inequality in Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia remain considerably higher than their pre-transition levels, although the relative pace of change over time has varied quite a bit across countries. Using data from the 2006 European Union Survey of Income and Living Conditions, this paper finds that prevailing levels of income inequality in these countries continue to be low by international standards, and that this is in large part due to the very high redistributive impact of direct taxes and public transfers. In addition to the instrumental role of tax and transfer policies in redistributing income, the paper highlights the important role played by differences in education levels and labor market participation rates in explaining observed inequalities across people and across different regions (although not in explaining observed differences across countries). The paper includes an analysis of key factors that help explain observed variation across countries in the level of public support for redistribution, including peoples' economic background and relative success in life, whether they perceive poverty to be associated with factors within or outside the control of those it afflicts (for example, laziness/lack of willpower vs. injustice in society).CC BY 3.0 IGOACCOUNTINGAVERAGE INCOMEAVERAGE INCOMESAVERAGE SHARECALCULATIONSCAPITAL INVESTMENTSCASH TRANSFERSCLIENT COUNTRYCONSUMERCONSUMER DURABLECONTRIBUTIONCROSS-COUNTRY COMPARISONSCROSS-SECTIONAL DATADATA COLLECTIONDATA SETDATA SETSDEMOGRAPHICDEPENDENT VARIABLEDIFFERENCES IN INCOMEDISABILITYDISABILITY BENEFITSDISADVANTAGED GROUPSDISPOSABLE INCOMEDISPOSABLE INCOMESDISTRIBUTION OF INCOMESDISTRIBUTIONAL OUTCOMESDIVIDENDSDURABLE GOODSEARNINGSECONOMIC ACTIVITYECONOMIC MANAGEMENTECONOMIC PERFORMANCEEMPLOYMENT STATUSEXPLANATORY VARIABLESFAMILY BENEFITSGDPGENERAL PUBLICGINI COEFFICIENTGINI INDEXGOVERNMENT INVOLVEMENTGROSS INCOMEGROSS INCOMESHIGH INCOME INEQUALITYHIGHER INEQUALITYHOUSEHOLD DEMOGRAPHICSHOUSEHOLD EXPENDITURESHOUSEHOLD INCOMEHOUSEHOLD MEMBERSHOUSEHOLD SIZEHOUSEHOLD SURVEYHOUSEHOLD SURVEY DATAHOUSEHOLD SURVEYSHUMAN CAPITALHUMAN DEVELOPMENTINCIDENCE ANALYSISINCOMEINCOME COMPONENTSINCOME DIFFERENCESINCOME DISPARITIESINCOME DISTRIBUTIONINCOME DISTRIBUTIONSINCOME GAPINCOME GROUPSINCOME INEQUALITYINCOME LEVELSINCOME POVERTYINCOME REDISTRIBUTIONINCOME TAXINCOME TAXESINCREASE IN INCOMEINCREASED INEQUALITYINDIVIDUAL COUNTRIESINEQUALITY ESTIMATESINEQUALITY MEASURESINSURANCEINVERSE RELATIONSHIPLABOR FORCELABOR INCOMELABOR MARKETLABOR MARKET PROGRAMSLEVEL OF EDUCATIONLIVING STANDARDSLONGITUDINAL DATALOW INCOMELOW INCOMESMARKET ECONOMIESMEMBER COUNTRIESMIDDLE CLASSMORTGAGENEGATIVE SLOPEOBSERVED INCREASEOUTPUTPER CAPITA INCOMEPERSONAL INCOMEPERSONAL INFORMATIONPOLICY IMPLICATIONSPOLICY RESEARCHPOLITICAL PLATFORMPOORPOOR HOUSEHOLDSPOOR PEOPLEPOPULATION SUB-GROUPPOSSESSIONPOVERTY REDUCTIONPRIMARY EDUCATIONPROBABILITIESPROBABILITYPUBLIC EXPENDITURESPUBLIC POLICYPUBLIC SERVICE DELIVERYPUBLIC SPENDINGPUBLIC SUPPORTPUBLIC TRANSFERSQUESTIONNAIRERAPID INFLATIONREDISTRIBUTIVE IMPACTREGIONAL DIFFERENCESREGIONAL DUMMIESREGRESSION ANALYSISREGRESSION RESULTSRELATIVE CONTRIBUTIONSRETIREDRURALRURAL AREASRURAL RESIDENTSSECOND JOBSECONDARY EDUCATIONSELF-EMPLOYMENTSOCIAL ASSISTANCESOCIAL EXCLUSIONSOCIAL INSURANCESOCIAL PROGRAMSSOCIAL TRANSFERSTAX BENEFITTAX CODETAX RATETAX RATESTAX SYSTEMTAX SYSTEMSTRANSITION COUNTRIESTRANSITION ECONOMIESUNEMPLOYEDUNEMPLOYMENTUNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITSUNEMPLOYMENT RATESWAGEWAGE INEQUALITYWELFARE PROGRAMSWELFARE STATEWELL-BEINGWORKING AGEWORKING AGE POPULATIONWorld Bankhttps://doi.org/10.1596/1813-9450-4815