The upswing in finance in recent decades has led to rising inequality, but do downswings in finance lead to a symmetric decline in inequality? We analyze the asymmetry of the effect of ups and downs in finance, and the effect of increased capital requirements and the bonus cap on national earnings inequality. We use administrative employer–employee-linked data from 1990 to 2019 for 12 countries and data from bank reports, from 2009 to 2017 in 13 European countries. We find a strong asymmetry in the effect of upswings and downswings in finance on earnings inequality, a weak, if any, mitigating effect of capital requirements on finance’s contribution to inequality, and a restructuring but no absolute effect of the bonus cap on financiers’ earnings. We suggest that while rising financiers’ wages increase inequality in upswings, they are resilient in downswings and thus downswings do not contribute to a symmetric decline in inequality.
Nous mesurons l’ampleur et l’évolution de la prime salariale liée à un emploi en finance. Dans treize pays développés, les salaires, notamment les hauts salaires, ont augmenté dans ce secteur à un rythme soutenu pendant les années 1990 et 2000, contribuant fortement à l’augmentation de la part du top 1 % national et par conséquent aux inégalités. L’explication de cet écart par des différences de talent ne suffit pas à en rendre compte. En France, les salaires restent 25 à 30 % plus élevés, une fois déduit l’effet du diplôme. Nous proposons une piste d’explication alternative fondée sur la capacité des salariés à déplacer d’une firme à l’autre l’activité financière avec eux.
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