摘要：Both overall income inequality and inequality in the distribution of earnings rose sharplyduring the 1980s and 1990s in a number of industrialised countries, notably the UK and the USA.This makes it particularly important to know how the distribution of income in Ireland has beenchanging over time, how it compares with other countries, and what factors contribute to explainingIreland's particular experience. This paper addresses these issues with household survey dataallowing us to provide a picture of the distribution of household income in Ireland up to 1997. Thisallows us to assess for the first time how inequality has been changing during Ireland's boom.Comparisons are also made with recent estimates for other countries, notably from the EuropeanCommunity Household Panel, so that both Ireland's current distribution and trends over time canbe placed in comparative perspective. A decomposition analysis of changes over time is implemented,and trends in the distribution of earnings among individual employees are also analysed
