Does income inequality increase marginal propensity to consume?

This article empirically investigates the effects of income inequality on the marginal propensity to consume (MPC), using panel data of 22 OECD countries over the period 1994–2015. We find that MPC increases dramatically as income inequality increases. In subsample analyses, the MPC of a high inequality group is more than twice that of a low inequality group.     

中国居民收入差距对消费倾向变动趋势的影响

本文以消费的边际效用递减规律为基础,探讨了居民收入差距和消费倾向间可能的关系,并对中国居民消费倾向变动趋势进行解释.本文分析表明,收入差距对消费倾向可能的影响和经济发展水平有关系,当经济发展到一定程度时,居民收入差距在一定的范围内变化不会影响消费倾向的变化,但超过一定范围后,随着收入差距变大,消费倾向变低.我们认为过大的居民收入差距是造成近年来消费倾向变低的重要原因.     

Lange's 1938 model: dynamics and the “optimum propensity to consume”

Abstract

Oskar Lange's 1938 article “The Rate of Interest and the Optimum Propensity to Consume” is usually associated with the original IS-LM approach of the late 1930s. However, Lange's article was not only an attempt to illuminate Keynes's main innovations but the first part of a wide project that included the development of a theory of economic evolution. This paper aims at showing that Lange's article can help in illuminating critical aspects of this project: in particular, Lange's idea that a synthesis between Kaldor's and Kalecki's theories and that of Schumpeter, might have been possible and that it represented (in intentions) a “modern” and consistent reconstruction of the Marxist theory of the business cycle. Section 2 clarifies Lange's early reflection on dynamics. Section 3 centres on Lange's 1938 static model and indicates the effects of a change of saving on investment. Section 4 suggests a dynamic reconstruction from which are addressed important arguments raised by Lange in a series of papers written between 1934 and 1942.     

Long term trends in fair and unfair inequality in the United States

This article analyses the microeconomic sources of wage inequality in the United States from 1967–2012. Decomposing inequality into factors categorized by degree of personal responsibility, education explains over twice as much of inequality today as 45 years ago. However, neither hours worked nor education, industry, marital status, or geographical location can explain the rise in income inequality. In fact, ‘unfair’ inequality (income disparity derived from non-responsibility factors) has risen faster than ‘fair’ inequality (income disparity derived from responsibility factors), regardless of the set of variables chosen as fair sources of inequality. We further examine income inequalities within gender and racial groups, finding substantial heterogeneity. Overall, using micro data to understand the sources of inequality and how these changes over time can provide better information for policymakers motivated to combat rising inequality.     

收入不平等对经济增长的倒U型影响:理论和实证

文章致力于从理论和实证两个维度,探讨收入不平等对长期经济增长"先促进后阻碍"的"倒U型"影响.文章首先基于一个拉姆齐模型,从理论上证明这一"倒U型"关系的存在;其次是构建实证模型,根据跨国横截面数据,分别运用OLS和GMM估计方法从实证的角度检验这一"倒U型"关系的存在.实证结果显示:GMM估计方法要优于OLS估计方法,在其他条件不变情况下,收入不平等有一个合理区间,如果以基尼系数衡量不平等程度,这一数值处于0.37-0.40之间.当一国初始收入不平等程度低于最优值时,可以通过提高收入不平等程度来加快经济增长的速度;反之,则应通过降低收入不平等程度来促进经济的增长.     

农村居民消费结构变动的时序分析——以河北省为例

基于中国经济增长模式正在向消费主导型转变,以农村居民的生活消费作为研究重点,选择河北省作为研究区域,通过1993～2008年的时间序列数据对该区域农村居民的消费结构进行统计分析,意图探寻在相对发达的农村地区如何进一步优化农村消费结构,找到扩大农村消费市场的有效途径,从而促进经济的协调发展,为新农村的建设提供政策建议。     

Finance,income inequality and income redistribution

Using a panel fixed effects model for a large sample of countries covering 1975–2005, we test the hypothesis that income inequality caused by finance (financial development, financial liberalization and banking crises) is related to more income redistribution than inequality caused by other factors. Our results provide evidence in support of this hypothesis. We also find that the impact of inequality on redistribution is conditioned by ethno-linguistic fractionalization. Our findings are robust to the inclusion of several control variables suggested by previous studies.     

改革开放以来中国城镇居民消费结构变动及区域差异

近年来,我国主要靠投资拉动经济增长的方式越来越难以持续,因此,扩大内需和调整投资与消费的关系是我国经济结构调整的迫切需要。文章选取东、中、西部有代表性的江苏、山西和四川三省,比较其城镇居民消费结构的相同点、差异及变动趋势,得出的结论是:中西部地区由于收入水平偏低,虽然其边际消费倾向较高,但总体消费能力有限;而东部地区虽然收入较高,但边际消费倾向较低,所以也影响其总消费量,故而全国有效需求不足,不利于启动内需与调整经济结构。最后据此提出了缩小区域之间差距、提高城镇居民,尤其东部地区居民的发展性消费等建议。     

持久性收入对中国农民消费影响分析

运用弗里德曼的持久性收入假说分析我国农民的消费问题,并利用计量经济学的方法对中国历年农民消费统计数据进行分析,得出“持久性收入及持久性收入的边际消费倾向对我国现阶段农民消费支出影响较大”的结论,并从增加持久性收入和提高持久性收入的边际消费倾向两个方面就增加农民消费提出政策建议。     

我国收入不平等、金融发展和消费需求波动的实证研究:1978～2001

本文考察了收入不平等与总消费需求变动之间的联系,在高收入地区,不平等程度越大似乎消费需求波动越大,而在低收入地区,收入不平等越大,消费需求波动反而较小。本文找到证据表明金融发展水平能有助于解释为什么收入分配在高收入和低收入地区中影响消费需求的短期波动是不同的,本文的政策含义是,加快低收入地区如中西部的经济和金融发展步伐,加大金融发展相机调整的力度。     

Why Did Income Inequality in Germany Not Increase Further After 2005?

While income inequality in Germany considerably increased in the years before 2005, this trend stopped after 2005. We address the question of what factors were responsible for the break in the inequality trend after 2005. Our analysis suggests that income inequality in Germany did not continue to rise after 2005 for the following reasons. First, we observe that the general rise in wage inequality that explained a lot of the inequality increase before 2005, became less steep (but did not stop) after 2005. Second, despite further increases in wage inequality after 2005, inequality in annual labour incomes did not increase further after 2005 because increased within‐year employment opportunities compensated otherwise rising inequality in annual labour incomes. Third, income inequality did not fall in a more marked way after 2005 because also the middle and the upper part of the distribution benefited from the employment boom after 2006. Finally, we provide evidence that the effect of a wide range of other factors that are often suspected to have influenced the distribution such as capital incomes, household structures, population ageing, changes in the tax and transfer system and the financial crisis of 2008 did not significantly alter the distribution after 2005.     

A nonbehavioral theory of saving

The article presents a demand-driven model, where the saving rate of households at the bottom of the income distribution becomes the endogenous variable that adjusts for full employment to be maintained over time. An increase in income inequality and the current account deficit and a consolidation of the government budget lead to a decrease in the saving rate of the household sector. Such a process is unsustainable because it leads to an increase in the debt-to-income ratio of the households and its maintenance depends on some kind of asset bubble. This framework allows us to better understand the factors that led to the Great Recession in the United States and the dilemma of the present and the future regarding a repeat of this unsustainable process or secular stagnation.     

Pareto-improving Untied Aid with Environmental Externalities

This paper shows that even untied aid is Pareto-improving if and only if the marginal propensity to consume the polluting good in the donor country is sufficiently larger than in the recipient country.     

经济增长对保险需求的引致效应--基于面板数据的分析

经济增长是影响保险需求的主要因素。根据预期效用理论,首先假设低收入和高收入群体边际保险消费倾向相对较低,中等收入群体边际保险消费倾向相对较高,即经济增长与边际保险消费倾向存在“倒U型”关系,且经济增长对寿险的引致效应要高于非寿险。然后采用面板数据模型,对1991~2003年全球78个国家和地区寿险和非寿险的边际消费倾向进行统计分析,研究发现两个假设基本成立。在此基础上,就当前我国保险业保费增长率减缓以及保费负增长的现象作了应用分析,并对此提出了具体政策建议。     

Human capital and income inequality in India: is there a non-linear and asymmetric relationship?

The article attempts to provide empirical evidence on the relationship between human capital and income inequality in India in a non-linear and asymmetric framework. To capture both long-run and short-run asymmetries, we have employed the non-linear autoregressive distributed lag approach using the relevant data from 1970 to 2016. Findings of the article suggest that education expansion acts as a major factor in reducing prevailing high income inequality, that is an increase in average years of schooling results in more equal distribution of income. In contrast, high economic growth, inflation and trade openness create unequal distribution of income. The asymmetric causality test results indicate that there is unidirectional causality running from female human capital, economic growth and inflation to income inequality. From a policy perspective, we suggest that education expansion should be used as a powerful tool to mitigate income inequality by emphasizing the quality of education. At the same time, policies geared towards social benefits, inclusive education, training for unskilled workers and price stability should be encouraged to attain fair income distribution in India.     

金融发展加剧了中国收入不平等吗?——基于门槛回归模型的证据

作为现代经济的核心变量,金融发展的收入分配效应是宏观经济领域的一个新兴议题。文章系统梳理了国内外研究文献,总结金融发展影响收入不平等的传导机制,并利用中国1996-2009年省际面板数据和Hansen(1999)的门槛模型,对金融发展的收入分配效应进行了估计。研究结果表明,在样本期间内金融发展显著加剧了中国收入不平等,而且金融发展的收入分配效应表现出鲜明的门槛特征,跨越特定门槛值省区的金融发展对收入不平等的影响更大。     

Does the impact of financial liberalization on income inequality depend on financial development? Some new evidence

Instead of empirically finding that higher levels of financial development reduce the positive impact of financial liberalization on inequality, as others do, we come up with the opposite result: financial development strengthens the inequality-raising impact of financial liberalization. We suggest that by, e.g., allowing financial liberalization to lead to more volatility and uncertainty, the model of Bumann and Lensink (2016 “Capital Account Liberalization and Income Inequality.“ Journal of International Money and Finance 61: 143–162.) can be extended as such that also an amplifying instead of reducing effect of financial depth on the impact of financial liberalization on income inequality can be theoretically justified.