From macro totals to household distributions: Advancing the national accounts with inequality metrics

This thesis originates from the need to incorporate distributions into the national accounts, as aggregate indicators such as GDP or disposable income provide only a partial view of welfare. Conventional inequality statistics omit key components of household resources—such as pensions, in-kind transfers, and retained earnings—and thereby risk distorting our understanding of inequality and its policy implications. The central research question is how inequality changes when measured within the framework of the national accounts. Addressing this question requires reconciling detailed administrative microdata with the coherent structure of the System of National Accounts (SNA) and assessing how definitional choices affect both national estimates and international comparability.

The empirical foundation is a micro-founded database of household income, consumption, savings, and wealth. By combining administrative and survey data with macroeconomic aggregates, the database enables the allocation of the full sequence of national-account transactions to individual households.

Bruil, A (2025). From macro totals to household distributions: Advancing the national accounts with inequality metrics. Dissertation, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.