Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. . All these approaches have certain drawbacks, and many of them have been subject to academic criticism. Terms of use: Documents in 10Constructing a measure of international (global or European) inequality requires the combination of measures of within-country inequality with measures of betweencountry inequality. As a rule, there is no simple mathematical operation which makes it possible to calculate the international measure from given national measures. The most widely used measures of inequality are the Gini coeffi cient and the Theil T-index and the ratio of certain income brackets, such as deciles or quintiles, usually between the top and the bottom bracket. The problem of composing aggregate measures mirrors the problem of decomposing aggregate indicators into contributory factors. The latter has long been a problem of social research with a view to identifying the role of sex, race or region in explaining overall inequality.11 The literature on both processes, decomposing and composing, shows clearly that one needs to resort to the individual data sets. One cannot, for instance, calculate an international Gini coeffi cient from national Gini coeffi cients plus the population and average income per capita fi gures of the countries included. Starting from national quintile ratios, one cannot obtain the international ratio by calculating averages weighted by population or total income. Eu- Inequality is never easy to measure, but measuring transnational inequality is particularly diffi cult. 2 All the problems of measuring and comparing income levels (before or after redistribution through taxes and benefi ts, income and expenditure, individuals or households with adultequivalents, the effects of owner occupancy and household production, and many more issues) are compounded by additional diffi culties (exchange rates and purchasing power, different price levels and infl ation rates, differences in national statistics). Nonetheless, there is a substantial body of literature on these questions as they relate to global inequality. Michael Dauderstädt* and Cem Keltek** Immeasurable Inequality in the European UnionOver time, the European Union has acquired more and more of the attributes of a state and, in economic terms, it can arguably be considered a single market. Nevertheless, the differences between member states are enormous. Small, rich countries, such as Luxembourg, contrast sharply with big, poor ones, such as Romania. Despite this, many indica...

Over the last two decades, income disparities between EU member states tended to decline, particularly before the financial crisis. While Central and Eastern Europe caught up with the EU average, Southern Europe fell behind after 2009. Catch-up growth in both peripheries relied on nominal convergence (real appreciation) and foreign capital. Further growth can and should be fostered by an economic policy that does not neglect domestic demand, stabilises capital markets and invests in research, education, health and intangibles.

The lockdowns and stimulus programmes that governments have adopted to fight the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated economic crisis have affected the distribution of income and production within and between countries. Considering both, current evidence indicates that the EU-wide and global inequality of disposable income did not change dramatically in 2020. However, the unequal impact on the wealth and health of people is likely to worsen income inequality in the future.

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