DT 12-23 Distribución funcional del ingreso en Uruguay (1908 – 2019). Metodología de cálculo y construcción de las series

After having lost ground as a variable of interest in the discipline for more than three
decades, since the 2008 crisis the functional income distribution has once again attracted growing interest in the economic literature. In this paper we describe the methodology and sources used for the estimation of historical series of functional income distribution in Uruguay; we show the estimates and splices used to obtain continuous series, with annual frequency, for the period 1908 - 2019. Income is decomposed, in functional terms, into wage share, land rent share, mixed income capital-labour share and profit share. Due to the length of the period of analysis and the diversity of sources available, the methodology followed for each income component is detailed in different sub-periods. In methodological terms, we highlight: 1955 - 2019 as the period for which there is a greater availability of official estimates, previous studies and statistical information that allows us to make our own estimates; and 1908 - 1955 due to the availability of previous estimates of different income shares based on social tables. The results obtained show a decreasing trend in the land rent share until the 1960s, after which it remains almost stable. Mixed incomes have shown great stability (around 10% of income), except for the 1980s and 1990s, when they took a larger income share. The wage share shows an increasing trend until the 1920s, after which it stabilized at around 50% of income until the 1960s; from the 1970s, this share underwent two major regressive adjustments followed by periods of recovery. Profits showed great instability at the beginning of the twentieth century but began a rising trend in the 1930s that reached its peak in 1981; it experienced a significant drop during the 1980s, followed by a rising trend until the end of the period.