From Needs to the Market.The changing inequality of household income in the Czech transition

Statistical income surveys are used to document systemic changes in distribution of household income and its determinants in the period 1988-1996: 1. the growing difficulties of income surveys under the democratic regime are reflected; 2. the substantive meaning of various income indicators and their relationship to the social and economic situation is discussed; 3. growing disparities of income after 1989 and the shift from demographic factors (numbers of active earners and children, age) to socioeconomic factors (education, branch, occupation) are displayed; 4. increasing redistribution of income through taxes and social benefits is documented.