Research Questions
1.How have income and wealth distributions in Switzerland changed?
2.What are the differences across cantons and what are potential explanations?
3.How has income composition changed over time and what has been the effect on income inequality?
4.How have shifting economic conditions, socio-demographic characteristics, and welfare state institutions impacted income inequality?
5.How do different social groups (e.g. by age or household type) differ with respect to the level and change in inequality? How can we explain those differences?
Method
These questions will be answered using data from various sources including:
- Digitally available aggregate tax data from the Swiss Federal Tax Administration (FTA) from 1999/2000 to present
- Printed aggregate tax data from FTA from 1947/1948 to 1997/1998
- Individual data from participating cantons (varying years)
- Contextual characteristics from various sources (BSFSO, Research Center for Social and Economic History, etc.)