Deux partages du revenu national des grands pays de l'OCDE

Abstract

[eng] Two Decompositions of National Income in the Major OECD Countries Jérôme Henry, Jacques Le Cacheux Two alternative decompositions of national income are commonly undertaken : the division of value added amongst major actors of the production process, i.e. the distribution of gross income ; and the decomposition of demand, which shows expenditure by category of expenditure (consumption, investment, etc.). These two approaches are confronted in this comparative study of six large OECD countries — Germany, France, Italy, Japan, the United States — over the period 1970-1987. During these years, factor shares have changed considerably : a marked increase in the wage share is observable everywhere until the beginning of the 1980s, followed by a decrease of about the same magnitude. Recently, wage shares have been on the rise again everywhere, including in France according to the new national accounts. The size and persistence of the most recent increase are however uncertain. Changes in the way value added is shared reflect variations in labor productivity and in the product wage, the time profiles of which have been extremely diverse across the various countries. Factor shares are also affected by relative price changes. And, due to exchange rate fluctuations and oil price shocks, the various relative prices have moved considerably during the period covered by this study. This has resulted in — sometimes large — divergences between the product wage and the real wage in terms of consumption goods. The structure of national spending in the various countries has also been profoundly altered during this period ; however, these changes appear to be only loosely related to those of income shares. Thus, for instance, the changes in investment rates in major OECD countries do not seem to be closely correlated with the variations in gross profit shares in value added. Our conclusions raise questions about the combined effects of the policies that have been pursued in the recent years. In particular, they bear upon the choice of the right mix of incomes policy and exchange- rate policy. [fre] Deux décompositions alternatives du revenu national sont généralement proposées : le partage de la valeur ajoutée entre les principaux acteurs du processus de production, qui permet l'étude de la répartition des revenus primaires ; la décomposition de la demande, qui fait apparaître l'affectation de ces revenus aux diverses catégories de dépenses (consommation, investissement, etc.). Ces deux optiques sont ici confrontées dans une étude comparative incluant Etats-Unis, France, Italie, Japon, RFA et Royaume-Uni — et couvrant la période 1970-1987. Au cours de ces années le partage de la valeur ajoutée a subi des déformations considérables : une hausse sensible de la part des salaires jusqu'au début de la présente décennie, une baisse, généralement du même ordre de grandeur, depuis lors. Récemment une nouvelle inversion semble être intervenue à l'étranger et, si l'on en juge d'après les nouvelles données de comptabilité nationale, en Fr...