1. About the IWH
  2. Team
  3. Economists

Dr Theresa Neef

Current Position

since 9/24

Economist in the Department of Structural Change and Productivity

Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH) – Member of the Leibniz Association

Research Interests
  • inequality
  • distribution
  • economic history
  • taxation
  • gender issues

Theresa Neef joined the Department of Structural Change and Productivity in September 2024. She also serves as the gender coordinator at the World Inequality Lab, Paris School of Economics. Her research focuses on distributional issues, particularly between income groups, genders, and East and West Germans.

Theresa Neef studied at Leipzig University, the University of Göttingen and Freie Universität Berlin, where she also completed her doctorate on the topic of income inequality in Germany. Prior to her current role, she worked at the World Inequality Lab and EU Tax Observatory (Paris School of Economics) and at the DIW Berlin.

Your contact

Dr Theresa Neef
- Department Structural Change and Productivity
Send Message +49 345 7753-707 Personal page

Working Papers

cover_DP_2024-25.jpg

The Distribution of National Income in Germany, 1992-2019

Stefan Bach Charlotte Bartels Theresa Neef

in: IWH Discussion Papers, No. 25, 2024

Abstract

<p>This paper analyzes the distribution and composition of pre-tax national income in Germany since 1992, combining personal income tax returns, household survey data, and national accounts. Inequality rose from the 1990s to the late 2000s due to falling labor incomes among the bottom 50% and rising incomes in the top 10%. This trend reversed after 2007 as labor incomes across the bottom 90% increased. The top 1% income share, dominated by business income, remained relatively stable between 1992 and 2019. A large share of Germany’s top 1% earners are non-corporate business owners in labor-intensive professions. At least half of the business owners in P99-99.9 and a quarter in the top 0.1% operate firms in professional services – a pattern mirroring the United States. From 1992 to 2019, Germany’s top 0.1% income concentration exceeded France’s and matched U.S. levels until the late 2000s.</p>

read publication
Browse all working papers
Mitglied der Leibniz-Gemeinschaft LogoTotal-Equality-LogoSupported by the BMWK