Decomposing Income Inequality and Policy Implications in Rural China

Using village data from samples covering 6 provinces,36 counties and 216 townships,the income inequalities within and between townships in rural China are assessed. The Theil index and the mean logarithmic deviation methods enable us to test income inequality at the township level,and to decompose it into intra-regional and inter-regional at county and provincial levels. In the present paper,we also decompose income inequalities between and within the nationally designated poor counties (NDPC). The results show that approximately two-thirds of the income inequality in rural China would be eliminated if measures and policies were targeted at the county level. This study also confirms the rationale that China's poverty alleviation strategy of focusing on poor counties based on the inequalities between NDPC and non-NDPC accounts for the most inter-province inequality.     

中国农村收入不平等—基于微观调查数据的回归分解

论文利用2003-2008年CGSS的微观个体调查数据,运用回归分解方法对中国农村收入不平等进行分解。首先对收入不平等进行测算,研究发现农村收入极端不平等,并且呈上升趋势。回归分解结果表明,年龄、教育、性别、东部地区虚拟变量、政治地位、婚姻、健康和幸福感是对农村收入不平等的决定要素。其中教育、年龄、性别、东部地区虚拟变量和健康对农村收入不平等的贡献显著。其余变量对农村收入不平等的贡献相对较小,但其对农村收入不平等的影响也不能被忽视。研究结论对政府制定科学合理的收入分配政策和有效调控收入差距具有借鉴作用。     

城镇居民收入差距的形成与趋势

对我国城镇居民收入差距形成的分析表明,第一产业增加值、失业率等是影响我国城镇居民收入的显著因素。并且,从这些因素的变动趋势判断,我国城镇居民收入差距仍将会进一步扩大。因此,扩大就业渠道、大力普及教育、深化分配制度、完善社会保障体系等是控制我国城镇居民收入差距扩大的有效措施。     

收入差异与环境质量关系效应:一个文献综述

作为对环境库兹涅茨曲线的延伸和修正,收入不平等对环境质量的作用引起学者关注,形成了两种不同的观点:收入不平等不利于环境质量的改善,或是影响效应不确定。因具体国情不同,收入不平等对环境质量的作用机制和途径存在较大差异,这是理论与实证结果未达到统一的原因之一。     

China＇s New Rural Income Support Policy： Impacts on Grain Production and Rural Income Inequality

I. Introduction Since the beginning of 2004, the Chinese Government has replaced its centuries-old policy of taxing agriculture by a new policy aimed at subsidizing agriculture and stimulating rural incomes. To this end, agricultural taxes – standing at around 8 percent of agricultural incomes – were drastically reduced. By now they are abolished in most provinces. Inaddition, farmers growing grain receive a direct income subsidy, new seed varieties and mechanization are subsidized, and la…     

Inequality in South Africa: The distribution of income,expenditure and earnings

This article empirically analyses the state of inequality in South Africa. International comparisons show South Africa to be among the most unequal countries in the world. The levels of income inequality and earnings inequality are analysed with a range of measures and methods. The results quantify the extremely high level of inequality in South Africa. Earnings inequality appears to be falling in recent years, with relative losses in the upper-middle parts of the earnings distribution. Decomposing income inequality by factor source reveals the importance of earnings in accounting for overall income inequality. The article concludes by observing that, internationally, significant sustained decreases in inequality rarely come about without policies aimed at achieving that, and suggests that strong policy interventions would be needed to reduce inequality in South Africa to levels that are in the range typically found internationally.     

产品内国际分工对收入分配的影响研究

产品内国际分工的发展对参与分工各国的收入分配产生了重要的影响,文章利用中国省级面板数据研究产品内国际分工时我国收入分配的影响.从全国层面角度的分析显示,产品内国际分工显著导致收入分配恶化,在针对中国不同地区的实证研究表明,东中西部地区在参与产品内国际分工的过程中,产品内国际分工对于收入分配的影响方向一致,但是呈现东中西逐渐减弱的态势.在此基础上,验证了产品内国际分工对于收入分配的影响呈现倒“U”曲线特征,实证结果表明当前中国的产品内国际分工的收入分配效应处于倒“U”曲线的上升阶段.     

Trends in Total and Subgroup Income Inequality in the Singaporean Workforce

This paper examines the trends in income inequality in Singapore using Labour Force Survey data from 1974 to 1998. Trends in inequality within and between age, educational and occupational groups are studied using the Theil inequality index. A new method based on the Gini coefficient is also utilized to explore the nature of inter-temporal variation in within-group inequality. Any increase within age-group inequality is due to changing income shares, while the decrease in educational-group inequality comes from decreases in within-group inequality. The contribution of intereducation inequality has also increased over the years, as has inter-occupational inequality.     

海外学者关于中国收入和财富分配不平等问题的研究综述

文章首先分析了海外学者关于中国收入和财富分配不平等问题研究的观点;其次,分析了海外学者对改革与分配相关问题研究的方法与特点;最后在研究的基础上结合我国实际并提出相关的建议。     

Roles of Income Polarization,Income Inequality and Ethnic Fractionalization in Social Conflicts: An Empirical Study of Indonesian Provinces, 2002–2012

Previous studies have cited inequality as a major factor relating to conflicts in Indonesia, while consideration of polarization and fractionalization as drivers of conflict is limited. The current paper examined the roles of three indices (polarization, inequality and fractionalization) in explaining the incidence of conflicts in Indonesian provinces over 2002–2012. This study used income (proxied by expenditure) differences to measure polarization and inequality, with subnational data as the unit of analysis. In addition, to complete the analysis, the present study used a variety of socioeconomic indicators as additional control variables. This paper verified that the high degrees of income polarization, ethnic fractionalization and income inequality are associated with the high probability of conflicts in Indonesian provinces. It also found that socioeconomic factors such as poverty, unemployment, population and natural resources, as well as some types of local government spending are significantly associated with conflicts.     

Labor Market Reform, Income Inequality and Economic Growth in China

The year 1996 was a turning point both in terms of Chinese labor market reform aria m China＇s economic growth pattern. Before 1996, labor market reform was mainly implemented through adjustment of people＇s occupation and income structure. Since 1996, employment restructuring has led to differentiation in terms of employment status. Labor market reform in the former stage resulted in slow growth in wages, whereas reform in the latter stage enhanced economic efficiency. Both stages have enabled the Chinese economy to apply its comparative advantage of low labor cost. Labor market reform has also increased income disparity and, therefore, new challenges are posed in sustaining economic growth. China needs to adjust its development strategies and introduce labor market reform that can improve income equality, so as to achieve sustainable economic development.     

Structural Changes and Regional Income Inequality in Indonesia: A Bidimensional Decomposition Analysis*

Using the bidimensional decomposition method of a population‐weighted coefficient of variation, this paper analyzes the changes in the determinants of interprovincial income inequality associated with structural changes in Indonesia from 1983 to 2004. The method unifies two inequality decompositions by regional groups and gross regional product components (industrial sectors) and, therefore, enables us to assess the contributions of gross regional product components to within‐region and between‐region inequalities, as well as to overall inequality. As the share of mining has decreased, the spatial distribution of manufacturing has played a more important role in the inequality of Sumatra and Kalimantan, while the primacy of Jakarta, with strong urbanization economies, facilitated by globalization and trade and financial liberalization, has determined much of the Java–Bali region's inequality and, therefore, overall inequality in Indonesia.     

Convergence and Intercountry Inequality within Asia: A Combined Approach Using Decomposition Techniques and Transitional Dynamics Analysis

This study provides a comprehensive analysis of intercountry inequality and convergence in Asia by using a combined approach that is based on decomposition techniques and transitional dynamics analysis. The research is divided into three stages. First, decomposition by regional subgroups is conducted to estimate the contributions of the interregional component and the five spatial groupings to overall inequality to reveal the development of inequality in Asia. Second, the technique of decomposition by income sources is used to evaluate the relative significance of the agricultural, industrial and service sectors to facilitate formulation of industrial policy for economic development. Finally, the present study analyses the evolution of regional inequality and assesses the possibility of convergence.     

基于差值法的城乡收入差距分解研究:浙江的数据

城乡居民收入差距是当前中国居民分配结构中最受关注的社会焦点问题，其现实状况和未来走势都与收入来源结构变化密切相关。文章采用差值法推算城乡居民收入差距演变轨迹，并将城乡居民收入基尼系数通过集中率与贡献率在各分项收入之间进行分解，以量化各项收入来源在城乡居民之间分配的均衡程度和对收入差距的影响，从而揭示城乡收入差距扩大的现实成因，提出政策建议。     

儒家文化降低企业内收入不平等了吗——基于区域信任度与公平感的视角

在我国不断推动区域均衡发展和收入公平分配的背景下,传统文化是否能够促进企业内收入分配均衡并提供有益的启示？文章首先对儒家文化所产生的企业内收入分配效应进行了理论分析;其次,基于 2007-2020 年 A 股上市公司数据对企业内收入不平等程度进行准确测算,同时手工整理出唐代至清末存在过的书院位置信息与数量,并与上市公司注册地位置匹配以表征儒家文化的影响力;最后,综合利用固定效应模型、中介效应模型以及工具变量法分析了儒家文化对企业内收入不平等的影响及其作用机制。研究发现,儒家文化对企业内收入不平等有着显著的“抑制效应”,这一结论在进行一系列稳健性检验并控制内生性问题后依然成立。中介效应检验表明,儒家文化的影响越大,区域信任度和公平感则越强,企业内收入不平等程度越低。异质性分析结果显示,“抑制效应”在受儒家文化影响较弱的少数民族聚居的边疆省份和民营企业中表现不明显,并且随着西方文化的冲击而减弱。研究结论从正面肯定了儒家文化的当代价值,为缩小贫富差距贡献了中国智慧,也为推动实现区域共同富裕提供了新的视角与证据。     

Income versus Consumption Inequality in Korea: Evaluating Stochastic Dominance Rankings by Various Household Attributes

Using four rounds (1999, 2002, 2005 and 2008) of the Korean Labor and Income Panel Study, the present paper examines determinants of household income and consumption levels and inequalities. Unconditional as well as conditional stochastic dominance tests are performed by year, by household heads’ characteristics (age, education, gender, health, marital status and occupation) and by household characteristics (household type, household size and degree of urbanization). Mean least squares regression techniques are used to predict conditional expectations. The residuals containing effects for each characteristic conditional on the remaining characteristics are then used for the stochastic dominance analysis employing extended Kolmogorov–Smirnov tests of first‐order and second‐order dominance in distribution of income and consumption. The results provide a detailed and up‐to‐date picture of inequality and poverty by subgroup in Korea, which helps in targeting particularly vulnerable groups. While inequality in disposable income is found to be substantial, consumption inequality is less substantial. Households headed by the elderly, the uneducated, the divorced, the widowed, females, and those with health problems are found to be the most vulnerable groups.