THE GINI CONCENTRATION INDEX: A REVIEW OF THE INFERENCE LITERATURE

More than a century ago, Corrado Gini proposed his well-known concentration index for measuring the degree of inequality in the distribution of income and wealth. His index is still extremely relevant and widely used in several fields of research and application. In this paper, we focus on the inferential properties of the Gini index, and discuss the main directions of analysis proposed in the literature. The aim of the paper is to provide a comprehensive review of the main developments on the inferential aspects of the Gini concentration ratio. We feel that this work can provide a valuable contribution to those scholars who are approaching the large amount of literature on the inferential properties of the Gini index.     

Production complementarities and flexibility in a model of entrepreneurship

The focus of this paper is the flexibility in working hours as a motive for entrepreneurship. The model exhibits inflexibilities for workers and entrepreneurs, which arise due to complementarities in production. In addition, it allows for volatile value of leisure to make flexibility in hours desirable. Differences in occupation-specific flexibility, disciplined with the observed patterns in hours (level, persistence, dispersion) and income (persistence, dispersion), can explain relatively low income levels of entrepreneurs in the US and the occupation-specific distributions of working hours and income. Policy relevance of the model features is discussed using experiments of workweek restrictions and income taxation.     

The impact of agricultural policy on farm income concentration: the case of regional implementation of the CAP direct payments in Italy

One of the objectives of agricultural policy worldwide concerns the support of farm income. Common Agricultural Policy direct payments (DPs) are the main instruments to support farm income in the European Union. This article addresses their role in the concentration of farm income. This is done by calculating the Gini coefficient and its disaggregation in a large sample of Italian farms in the period between 2006 and 2007. Although this approach has been used to develop ex‐post analysis in previous studies, this article is innovative given that it is used here in an ex ante analysis aimed at evaluating the likely impact of a recent reform proposal. This latter requests changing the current model to a regional model of DPs application to make payment rates (i.e., payment per hectare) homogeneous among farms in the same region. The analysis shows that DPs and farm incomes are both very concentrated but that DPs allow for an income concentration reduction in Italian farms. The shift to a regional implementation reduces DPs concentration and, to a limited extent, farm income concentration. Of the considered regionalization scenarios, those that redistribute DPs among regions are the most effective in reducing concentration. The extension of the Gini considered approach to an ex ante setting seems effective because it provides insights that could feed the policy debate regarding the forthcoming reform.     

我国城乡收入差距的地区类型分析

改革开放以来,我国各地区的城乡收入差距均表现为扩大趋势,但由于各地区城乡发展条件的差异,各地区的城乡收入差距及其变化也表现为不同的类型。本文通过将反映各地区收入水平、工业化和城市化水平的变量进行聚类分析,将我国各地区的城乡收入差距划分为城乡高度协调型、城乡中度协调型、城乡低度协调型、城乡低度扭曲型、城乡中度扭曲型和城乡高度扭曲型共六种类型。各地区在1985-2006年期间,城乡收入差距的类型也并不是全部保持不变的,表现为有的地区城乡扭曲程度加剧,有的地区缓解,有的地区时而扭曲加剧、时而扭曲缓解,从而衍生为十种变化类型。这为我国中央和地方政府不是采取＂一刀切＂的政策措施,而是依据不同的城乡收入差距地区类型,有所侧重的治理城乡收入差距提供了参考依据。     

An alternative interpretation of the discontinuity in earnings distributions

We show that the asymmetric effects of income taxes and special items for profit and loss firms contribute to a discontinuity at zero in the distribution of earnings. Income taxes draw profit observations towards zero while negative special items pull loss observations away from zero. These earnings components are thus expected to contribute to a discontinuity even in the absence of discretion. We show our results are not an artifact of deflation and that other common components of earnings do not have similar effects on the earnings distribution around zero.

城市居民住房承受能力测度研究——剩余收入视角

借鉴扩展线性支出系统模型确定家庭食品、衣着、家庭设备用品及服务等非住房基本消费支出的基础上,运用剩余收入法测度了2003—2008年武汉市七种不同类型家庭的住房承受能力。剩余收入法测度结果能反映出不同类型家庭住房承受能力的具体差距,显示出武汉市中等偏下收入及以下收入家庭面临住房承受能力问题,并且收入越低住房承受能力问题越突出,结果比传统比率法更具有说服力。而比率法测度显示中等偏上户及以下家庭面临住房承受能力问题,扩大了存在住房承受能力问题的家庭范围。运用剩余收入法可以定量地测度各类家庭住房承受能力的大小和绝对差距,有助于确定城市中低收入家庭住房补贴的对象及标准,制定我国公共住房销售、租赁政府指导价格,促进完善住房保障政策。     

再分配倾向的决定:对既有文献的考察

本文对再分配倾向决定领域的既有文献进行详尽考察,认为从内在动力角度来理解各种决定因素才是根本,归纳提炼了再分配倾向决定的四大动机:经济利益动机、风险规避动机、公平信念动机和声誉理想动机。再分配倾向决定的四大动机通过不尽相同的理论逻辑机制和多种实证影响因素对人们的再分配倾向产生影响,四大动机的框架为实证研究中的因素筛选提供了有力的工具。对于该领域进一步的研究,本文提出应用实验手段的重要性,并应注意宏观变量对再分配倾向的内生性影响。     

收入分配、金融发展与宏观风险：一个文献综述

从收入分配角度解释金融危机是当前国际上正在热烈讨论的重要议题。本文旨在对这一研究领域的发展历程和最新进展做一个简单的综述。文章沿着收入分配研究的两条发展脉络——基于要素的收入分配理论和基于人际的收入分配理论——展开,并且分别考察了金融发展在两条路径的逻辑链条中起到的作用。最后,在回顾文献的基础上．提示出我国经济中潜在的宏观风险,得到对中国有借鉴意义的结论和启示。     

农村工业化还能走多远?

基于1987年到2008年28个省的面板数据,本文发现:无论是以就业人数还是以总产值来度量,乡镇企业规模的扩大都显著地缩小了城乡收入差距。通过雇佣农村富余劳动力以及生产的工业品在城乡间的自由流动,乡镇企业的发展抵补了一部分由于劳动力流动限制而造成的社会福利的损失。然而,本文更为重要的发现是:与其利润率的变化趋势一致,乡镇企业缩小城乡收入差距的年度作用递减;并且,在1998年之后,其作用的估计值在零附近一个很小的区域内摆动。这说明城乡间的产品流动对于生产要素流动不充分的补偿作用可能已经发挥到了极致——在我国高度竞争的工业品市场上,位于农村的工业企业是没有优势的,因为它们缺乏城市工业的规模经济与集聚效应。本文的政策含义是:只有改革现有户籍制度、加强劳动力在城乡间的流动、培育完善的要素市场,而非继续鼓励农村工业化,才能进一步缩小城乡收入差距,并最终消除城乡二元结构。     

论税收对要素收入分配的影响

我国自1994年分税制改革以来,一方面税收收入保持高速增长,另一方面国民收入分配格局发生显著变化——劳动要素分配份额迅速下滑,资本要素分配份额逐渐上升。本文的理论分析表明,税收通过替代效应和收入效应影响要素收入分配,前者改变了生产中要素相对投入比例,从而改变了税前要素收益率,后者则是通过直接税影响到税后要素收益率。本文利用系统GMM估计进行的实证分析表明,我国税收对要素收入分配具有明显影响:就直接税而言,企业所得税降低了资本分配份额,个人所得税中对劳动征税部分降低了劳动分配份额;就间接税而言,增值税明显降低劳动分配份额但对资本分配份额的影响不明显,营业税明显降低资本分配份额而对劳动分配份额的影响不明显。因此,如果从有利于调整要素收入分配格局角度考虑,我国有必要进一步调整现行税收政策、完善税收制度。