Mortality Inequality in Finland*

We study inequality in mortality in Finland using registry data that cover the whole population for years 1990–2018. We create municipality‐level indices of regional deprivation (poverty rate), and show how age‐specific mortality rates have evolved across regions and over time. The inequality in mortality has been remarkably low over the time period for most age groups. However, among young and prime‐age males, the mortality rates have been persistently higher in the poorer areas. For these age groups, the leading causes of death are deaths of despair (alcohol and suicides) and accidents. For the cohorts that were young during the deep recession of the early 1990s, we also document higher inequality in middle‐age mortality than for cohorts entering the labour market in recovery periods.     

Inequality in Mortality in Spain*

We analyse the evolution of mortality rates in Spain by age and gender between 1990 and 2018. We compare municipalities, ranked by socio‐economic status (SES) and grouped into bins of similar population size, to study changes not only in levels but also in inequality in mortality across the SES spectrum. We document large decreases in mortality rates throughout the period for all age groups, including children, even after 2000, and continuing after the Great Recession. These declines are stronger for boys and men, who had higher mortality rates to begin with. We find that inequality in mortality across municipalities was low among the young by 2018, while it was higher among adult men and older women. Inequality in fact increased over the period for older men. We explore the role of different causes of death and find that this increase in inequality is driven by stronger improvements in cancer‐related mortality among men living in richer areas. These improvements are not found among women, given their increases in mortality due to lung cancer.     

Diverging Mortality Inequality Trends among Young and Old in the Netherlands*

We analyse the trends in inequality in mortality across poverty groups at different ages over the period 1996–2016 in the Netherlands. In addition, we examine whether these trends are related to unequal changes in avoidable mortality, separated by preventable and treatable causes of death. We find that while inequalities in mortality have decreased at ages up to 65, inequalities increased for the oldest age groups. The decline in inequality at the younger ages can, to a large extent, be explained by a strong decrease of mortality from preventable and cardiovascular causes among the poor. The link between inequality and avoidable mortality at the oldest ages is less straightforward. The increasing inequality at old age might be the result of the inequalities shifting from the young to the older age groups, or of the rich benefiting more from the recent health (care) improvements than the poor.     

Mortality Inequality in England over the Past 20 Years*

In this paper, we study the evolution of age‐group‐ and gender‐specific mortality and mortality inequality in England between 2003 and 2016, by comparing small geographic areas ranked by deprivation and grouped into bins of similar population size. We show that across all age groups, but especially in the older age groups (65+), there has been a clear and significant reduction in rates of mortality since 2003. In spite of these improvements, we continue to see significant inequalities in mortality across most age groups in 2016 and evidence of rising inequalities among women in the 65+ and men in the 80+ age groups. Furthermore, we see a striking stalling of the downwards trend in mortality and mortality inequality observed between 2003 and 2010 during the years of economic austerity in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis in England between 2010 and 2016. Analysis of specific causes of death among adults aged 20–79 allows us to examine the drivers and dynamics of these trends in more depth, as well as to consider scope for, and types of, interventions that would be appropriate at different ages.     

Geographic Inequality in Income and Mortality in Germany*

We use data from the German Federal Statistical Office on population counts, births, deaths and income to study the development of socio‐economic inequality in mortality rates from 1990 to 2015 for different age groups and both genders. Ranking the 401 German districts by average disposable income per capita, we observe large inequalities in district‐level mortality rates in 1990, which had almost disappeared, or at least been flattened considerably, by 2015 particularly for infants, children and the very old. The most important driver of this reduction in inequality is German reunification in 1990. As indicated by more detailed analyses comparing districts in the former East and the former West, even five years after reunification there was a large gap in disposable income, with all Eastern districts considerably poorer than the poorest district in the West. At the same time, mortality rates were higher for all age groups and both genders in the East. Income has caught up, to the extent that there are equally poor districts in the East and West in most recent years (although the West is still much richer on average). Mortality rates in the East have improved considerably and are even below mortality rates for similarly poor districts in the West in the most recent data.     

Inequality in Mortality: Updated Estimates for the United States,Canada and France*

This study provides comparisons of inequalities in mortality between the United States, Canada and France using the most recent available data. The period between 2010 and 2018 saw increases in mortality and in inequality in mortality for most age and gender groups in the United States. The main exceptions were children under 5 and adults over 65. In contrast, Canada saw a further flattening of mortality gradients in most groups, as well as further declines in overall mortality. The sole exception was Canadian women over 80 years old, who saw small increases in mortality rates. France saw continuing improvements in mortality rates in all groups. Both Canada and France have distributions of mortality that are much more equal than those in the United States, demonstrating the importance of public policy in the achievement of equality in health.     

Twenty-five years of income inequality in Britain: the role of wages,household earnings and redistribution

We study earnings and income inequality in Britain over the 25 years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. We focus on the middle 90 per cent of the income distribution, within which the gap between top and bottom in 2019–20 was essentially the same, after taxes and transfers, as a quarter-century earlier. This has led to a narrative of ‘stable inequality’, which we argue misses important nuances and key lessons from the UK's experience. In particular, there have been periods in which household earnings inequalities were changing considerably but tax and transfer policy was offsetting its effects on income inequality – in different directions at different times, reflecting sharp changes of policy approach. Means-tested transfers played a crucial role in containing inequality during the ‘inclusive growth’ period of the 1990s and early 2000s, as well as the Great Recession. During the 2010s, the minimum wage emerged as the government's primary policy tool for boosting incomes, but this happened almost simultaneously with cutbacks to means-tested transfers, meaning that household earnings inequalities fell considerably and yet net income inequality rose.     

公积金制度对住房财富不平等的影响效应分析——基于CHFS数据的实证研究

住房公积金制度对住房财富积累具有较强的中介效应,其再分配机制对住房财富水平有显著影响。为此,结合中国家庭金融调查数据,引入结构方程模型和不平等回归分解法,对其影响路径进行系统性研究发现：我国住房公积金制度对高收入和高社会地位群体的住房财富积累具有稳定的正向再分配效应,对住房财富不平等的贡献较高。按照公积金的代际支付转移及分配差异的负反馈循环机制,这种不平等远未达到其最大影响。未来通过政策调整和结构优化,在公积金制度公平性和财富分配方面还蕴含着巨大的改善空间。     

Does Monetary Policy Affect Income Inequality in the Euro Area?

This paper examines how the ECB's expansionary monetary policy affects income inequality in 10 euro area countries over the period 1999–2014. We distinguish two channels—labor-market and financial—through which monetary policy can have distributional effects. The labor-market channel is captured by wages and employment and the financial channel by asset prices and returns. We find that expansionary monetary policy in the euro area reduces income inequality, especially in the periphery countries. The labor-market channel enhances the equalizing effect: monetary expansion reduces income inequality stronger by raising wages and employment. There is limited evidence for the financial channel.     

Changes in Assortative Matching and Inequality in Income: Evidence for the UK*

The extent to which like-with-like marry is important for inequality as well as for the outcomes of children who result from the union. In this paper, we present evidence on changes in assortative mating and its implications for household inequality in the UK. Our approach contrasts with others in the literature in that it is consistent with an underlying model of the marriage market. We argue that a key advantage of this approach is that it creates a direct connection between changes in assortativeness in marriage and changes in the value of marriage for the various possible matches by education group. Our empirical results do not show a clear direction of change in assortativeness in the UK between the birth cohorts of 1945–54 and 1965–74. We find that changes in assortativeness pushed income inequality up slightly, but that the strong changes in education attainment across the two cohorts contributed to scale down inequality.     

城市化对于中国居民收入不均的影响

本篇论文重新定义了城市化和中国人口收入不均的关系,以中国居民的收入不均变化是否遵循着库兹涅茨倒U型曲线为切入点。根据本文的研究,尽管中国城市地区和农村地区收入不均的变化没有遵循库兹涅茨的倒U型假说,但是中国总的收入不均变化遵循了这一假说。中国总体收入不均遵循倒U假说的主要原因就是：由城市化导致的收入不均已经在近十年来进入下降的阶段,从而使得中国总体收入不均水平也在下降或使其加速缓慢。在未来,对于总体收入不均水平的下降,两项政策将刻不容缓：一方面,限制劳动力流动的户籍制度必须打破,从而使城市化加快;另一方面,农村居民的收入必须尽快提高,从而使城乡差距缩小。     

A Study on the Effect of Financial Inclusion on the Relationship Between Income Inequality and Economic Growth

In this article, we attempt to estimate whether financial inclusion, expressed as financial accessibility, has a positive effect on reducing income inequality. Furthermore, we estimate the effect of such financial inclusion on economic growth by reducing income inequality. From the results of our empirical analysis, we can draw the following three conclusions. First, income inequality has a very negative effect on GDP growth. The negative relationship between income inequality and GDP growth is strong in low-income countries. In addition, income inequality has a stronger effect on reducing economic growth in high-fragility countries. Second, progressivity is not a major factor in reducing income inequality in low-income countries or in high-fragility countries. Finally, financial inclusion improves the relationship between income inequality and economic growth. The reduction in income inequality through financial inclusion changes the negative relationship between income inequality and economic growth into a positive relationship. This trend is stronger in high-fragility countries than in low-fragility countries.     

Understanding the Distributional Impact of Long‐Run Inflation

The impact of fully anticipated inflation is systematically studied in heterogeneous agent economies with an endogenous labor supply and portfolio choices. In stationary equilibrium, inflation nonlinearly alters the endogenous distributions of income, wealth, and consumption. Small departures from zero inflation have the strongest impact. Three features determine how inflation impacts distributions and welfare: financial structure, shock persistence, and labor supply elasticity. When agents can self‐insure only with money, inflation reduces wealth inequality but may raise consumption inequality. Otherwise, inflation reduces consumption inequality but may raise wealth inequality. Given persistent shocks and an inelastic labor supply, inflation may raise average welfare. The results hold when the model is extended to account for capital formation.     

Financial Structure and Income Inequality: Evidence from China

This study investigates the relationship between financial structure and income inequality in China and explores a channel for changes of financial structure to influence income inequality. Our results suggest that, relative to total bank credit, an increase in the raised capital from the stock market reduces income inequality, whereas a rise of turnover in the stock market augments income inequality. Financial structure affects income inequality by influencing the development of medium-sized enterprises. Our evidence supports the financial structure relevancy view. To reduce income inequality, the Chinese government should help to promote equity financing and decrease excessive speculation on the stock market.     

Historical Patterns of Inequality and Productivity around Financial Crises

To understand the determinants of financial crises, previous research focused on developments closely related to financial markets. In contrast, this paper considers changes originating in the real economy as drivers of financial instability. To this end, I assemble a novel data set of long-run measures of income inequality, productivity, and other macrofinancial indicators for advanced economies. I find that rising top income inequality and low productivity growth are robust predictors of crises, and their slow-moving trend components largely explain these relations. Moreover, recessions that are preceded by such developments are deeper than recessions without such ex ante trends.     

中老年消费不平等的度量与分解:来自CHARLS的经验证据

利用CHARLS数据考量中老年人的消费不平等问题,结果发现：2011-2015年中老年家庭总消费水平快速上升,同时不平等程度进一步扩大。从消费分类上看,医疗保健对中老年人消费水平影响最大;从年龄效应上看,中老年群体不平等在67岁以后开始上升。随着中国经济快速发展,后出生中老年群体会积累更多财富,在基本衣食需求满足后,消费不平等的代际效应更多体现在家庭用品、教育娱乐和医疗保健方面。     

我国城镇居民消费不平等演变及其原因

本文利用1992—2010年城镇居民收入调查数据,通过消费不平等衡量指标和回归模型考察消费不平等的演变及其原因。结果发现：（1）1992—2010年,中国城镇居民消费不平等呈现增长趋势;（2）临时性收入差距对消费不平等具有重要影响。最后,本文提出政府应该完善消费信贷市场和社会保障等措施,降低消费不平等进一步扩大势头。     

企业年金缩小企业与机关事业单位职工养老金差距的政策仿真研究——工资异质性的视角

引入工资差异对企业职工企业年金缴费意愿的影响,采用仿真方法测量企业年金对企业与机关事业单位职工养老金差距的影响。首先,根据我国养老制度安排,构建了企业年金基金、基本养老金、退休金预测模型和养老金差距测量指标;其次,选取工资水平从社平工资的0．5倍～5．0倍的14类代表性职工,模拟了基准情境和提高企业年金税收优惠的四种情境——提高雇主缴费的企业所得税免税上限、降低雇主缴费计入个人账户部分的个人所得税税率、降低领取阶段的个人所得税税率、免征个人缴费的个人所得税,并进行了敏感性分析。仿真结果表明,企业年金及其税收优惠政策能够有效缩小企业与机关事业单位职工养老金差距,提高雇主缴费的企业所得税免税上限的作用最显著。企业年金投资收益率提高、企业年金管理费率降低、余寿减少、社平工资增长率提高和工作年限增加都会放大这种作用,反之亦然。工资越高企业职工从企业年金中获益越大,可能扩大企业职工内部养老金差距。     

分项收入不平等效应与收入结构的优化

从分项收入角度考察城乡收入不平等,不仅能判断产生收入不平等的原因,还能判断什么分项收入有利于增加收入总量;不仅能量化收入不平等效应,还能根据收入不平等效应来优化收入结构。研究发现,分项收入具有性质不同、大小不等的收入不平等效应,其中工资性收入扩大收入不平等的效应最强、转移性收入次之、财产性收入最小;经营性收入是唯一具有缩小收入不平等效应的分项收入。据此,我们认为,城乡居民收入结构优化的方向应该是,稳定维持工资性收入、适当调整转移性收入、适度控制财产性收入并努力增加经营性收入。     

Financial Development and Income Inequality: Long-Run Relationship and Short-Run Heterogeneity

This article examines the dynamic relationship between financial development and income inequality using the PMG. We find that financial development will reduce inequality in the long run, while it can increase inequality in the short run. Using the estimates of country-specific short-run coefficients, we also find that adverse short-run effects of financial development are associated with the vulnerabilities of countries in terms of their greater susceptibility to crises and poor quality of governance. Good governance seems to be important for achieving inclusive growth though financial development.