A ler - sobre as desigualdades em Portugal

Portugal não participou na 2ª Guerra Mundial, mas as desigualdades sociais agravarm-se significativamente nesse período. Manteve-se em toda a segunda metade do século XX como um país com grande desigualdade de rendimento, mesmo se comparado com Espanha. Tornou-se mais igualitário com o 25 de Abril e a desigualdade voltou a crescer desde a primeira metade dos anos 80. Para lá da espuma da pequena política quotidiana, Facundo Alvaredo dá uma imagem da persistência histórica da desigualdade em Portugal e de como ela não tende a diminuir, antes pelo contrário. Alvaredo, Facundo, Top incomes and earnings in Portugal 1936-2004, Paris School of Economics, Working Paper nº 2008/17. Abstract: This paper analyzes income and earnings concentration in Portugal from a longrun perspective using personal income and wage tax statistics. Our results suggest that income concentration was much higher during the 1930s and early 1940s than it is today. Top income shares estimated from reported incomes deteriorated during the Second World War, even if Portugal did not take active participation in the conflict. However, the magnitude of the drop was less important than in other European countries. The level of concentration between 1950 and 1970 remained relatively high compared to countries such as Spain, France, UK or the United States. The decrease in income concentration, started very moderately at the end of the 1960s and which accelerated after the revolution of 1974, began to be reversed during the first half of the 1980s. During the last fifteen years top income shares have increased steadily. The rise in wage concentration contributed to this process in a significant way. The evidence since 1989 suggests that the level of marginal tax rate at the top has not been the primary determinant of the level of top reported incomes. Marginal rates have stayed constant in a context of growing top shares.