Abstract: Population aging and income inequality are two prominent phenomena across the world．Is aging one of the most important factors influencing income inequality? This paper presents empirical evidence on the effect of population aging on income inequality，using a panel dataset from 76 countries and regions from 1970 and 2011. The empirical results show that population aging does increase income inequality significantly．Moreover，this impact is mainly from top-aging rather than bottom－aging．Population aging also has a greater impact on income inequality in those countries having higher income levels and higher levels of aging．Impact of population aging on income inequality varies with the stages of economic development．The results are robust when several control variables are added in the model as well as potential endogenous problems and abnormal sample points are considered．

Keywords: Income Inequality, Population Aging, Old－age Dependency Ratio{Child Dependency Ratio

摘要： 老龄化与收入不平等是当今世界两个突出现象，老龄化是否为解释收入不平等变化的一支重要力量? 文章利用跨国面板数据实证考察老龄化对收入不平等的影响。全样本估计结果表明，老龄化会显著地拉大收入不平等，这种影响主要来自顶部老龄化而非底部老龄化的有力推动。对老龄化作用异质性研究发现，对于收入水平较高或者老龄化水平较高的国家，老龄化对收入不平等的促进作用更大。这意味着，老龄化对收入不平等的影响是随着经济发展阶段性变化而逐渐释放的。在考虑更多的控制变量、内生性问题以及异常样本点影响之后，上述结论依然稳健。研究基于跨国数据获得的经验发现，能够为当今中国应对日益严峻的老龄化和收入分配问题提供新的政策洞见。

关键词: 收入不平等, 人口老龄化, 老年抚养比, 少儿抚养比