This paper presents a framework for studying international differences in the distribution of household income. Integrating micro-econometric and micro-simulation approaches in a decomposition analysis, it quantifies the role of tax-benefit systems, employment and occupational structures, labour and financial market returns, and demographic composition in accounting for differences in income inequality across countries. Building upon EUROMOD (the European tax-benefit calculator) and its harmonised datasets, the model is portable and can be implemented for cross-country comparisons between any participating country. An application to the UK and Ireland—two countries that have much in common while displaying different levels of inequality—shows that differences in tax-benefit rules between the two countries account for over one third of the observed difference in disposable household income inequality. Demographic differences play negligible roles. The Irish tax-benefit system is more redistributive than UK’s due to a higher tax progressivity and higher average transfer rates. These are largely attributable to policy parameter differences, but also to differences in pre-tax, pre-transfer income distributions.

本文提出了一个研究家庭收入分配的国际差异的框架。在分解分析中集成了微观计量经济学和微观模拟方法，可以量化税收福利体系，就业和职业结构，劳动力和金融市场收益以及人口构成在衡量各国收入不平等差异方面的作用。该模型以EUROMOD（欧洲税收收益计算器）及其统一的数据集为基础，具有可移植性，可用于在任何参与国之间进行跨国比较。在英国和爱尔兰（两个国家在显示不同程度的不平等程度时有很多共同点）的申请显示，这两个国家之间的税收优惠规则差异占可观察到的家庭可支配收入差异的三分之一以上。人口差异的作用微不足道。由于更高的税收累进性和更高的平均转移率，爱尔兰的税收优惠体系比英国的更具再分配性。这些主要归因于政策参数的差异，也归因于税前，转移前收入分配的差异。