Top Incomes in Norway

Abstract

The shares of top incomes in Norway are of considerable intrinsic interest, since the series constructed in this chapter starts as far back as 1875. Based on the same source – the municipal and central government income tax records – the series allows us to trace the evolution of the top of the income distribution over a period when Norway industrialised and then became oil-rich. The Norwegian experience is also of interest on a comparative basis. The studies in Atkinson and Piketty (2007) have shown how income inequality at the top of the distribution has increased in Anglo-Saxon countries, whereas the same rise in top income shares was not experienced by Continental European countries – at least up to the late 1990s. It is therefore interesting to explore what has happened in Scandinavia. The present chapter examines the evidence for Norway, as well as making a comparison with other countries.