Causes of increasing income inequality

Sébastien Barc

Master's thesis

Abstract:

Income inequality is a hot point of social debates and a hobbyhorse for policymakers, economists, journalists... Indeed, we witness a paradox from which, on one hand, individuals have never been richer than they are today, and on the other, that the gap between the richest and the poorest is as high as ever. Throughout that thesis, we have seen that pre-tax income inequality trickle from various factors and pointed out factual evidence of it in the analysis of France and Spain. Furthermore, we found out that inequalities over the last century evolved a lot, and that in general, the large majority of individuals tend to know very little on the subject whereas it provokes a lot of social reactions. Finally, the practical analysis showed that for both France and Spain, actual increasing income inequality are hurting especially the middle class, as they are the only category of earners to be left aside global enrichment of our society, translating a real concern as the middle class is crucial for any successful economy.

Keywords

Spain, Economy, Income inequality, France

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 26. 11. 2020

Thesis defence

• Supervisor: doc. Ing. Irena Benešová, Ph.D.

Czech University of Life Sciences Prague

Faculty of Economics and Management

Master programme / field:
Economics Policy and Administration / Business Administration