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。     

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。     

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。     

The distribution of income: Evidence,theories and policy

Summary This Tinbergen Lecture begins by reviewing empirical evidence about trends in income inequality in a number of Western countries. There is considerable diversity of experience across countries. The first quarter century after the Second World War was not generally characterised by a steady downward trend in inequality, but by episodes of inequality reduction at different dates. More recently, several OECD countries have seen a rise in inequality, but the rates of increase differed and in around half of the countries shown there was no significant upward trend over the 1980s. The differing experiences, and the episodic nature of changes, have implications for the explanations of inequality considered in Sections 2 and 3 of the Lecture. I begin with the mechanism which Tinbergen described in Chapter 6 of hisIncome Distribution: the race between technological development and education. It is argued that behind the supply and demand model there lie a variety of factors, and that the explanation we give may be important in determining whether what we are observing are wagedifferentials or wageinequality. Moreover, we need to consider non-labour income, and Section 3 examines the determination of state transfers and of capital income. Finally, in Section 4, I consider some of the policy implications, focusing on one particular set of policy proposals in which Jan Tinbergen was interested: the idea of a basic income.Ninth Tinbergen Lecture delivered on September 29, 1995 at De Nederlandsche Bank, Amsterdam for the Royal Netherlands Economic Association.     

Income inequality and subjective wellbeing: Panel data evidence from China

Using four waves of longitudinal data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), we examine the effects of income inequality on subjective wellbeing (SWB). We take a dual approach in measuring income inequality, and thus, we examine the effects of inequality using province-level Gini coefficient as well as between-group inequality or identity-related inequality defined as the income gap between migrants without urban household registration identity (hukou) and urban residents. We find negative effects of both province-level income inequality and between-group income inequality on SWB, measured by life satisfaction. Our results also show that the effects of income inequality on SWB is stronger for rural hukou residents compared to urban hukou residents. These findings are robust to alternative ways of measuring SWB and income inequality. In addition, we find evidence suggesting that neighbourhood trust is an important channel through which income inequality operates to reduce SWB. We suggest policies that promote trust in communities with high inequality with a view of addressing the negative effects of inequality on SWB.     

收入分配、医疗资源与人口健康:一个跨国研究

收入分配与人口健康的关系是一个争论已久的问题。本文在总结各种理论假说和以往实证研究的基础上,使用新的、质量较好的跨国面板数据,重新检验了收入分配与人口健康的关系。本文的分析重点有二:一是收入分配对人口健康的滞后影响;二是医疗资源在收入分配与人口健康的相关关系中所起的作用。本文的主要发现是,收入不均对人口健康的确有不利影响,但这种不利影响需要10年或更长的滞后期才能充分显现出来,这种滞后性是以往使用固定效应模型的跨国研究未能检测到收入不均与人口健康具有负相关关系的主要原因。此外,医疗资源(特别是初级医疗资源)人均拥有量对人口健康有积极作用;医疗资源有可能通过某种不可观察固定因素对收入分配与人口健康的关系发生影响。这些发现有助于澄清关于收入分配与人口健康关系的争论,对医疗政策也有重要参考价值。     

去工业化对收入不平等的影响:机制分析与实证检验

基于126个国家1991-2017年的面板数据,考察了去工业化对收入不平等的影响。研究发现,去工业化会显著加剧收入不平等程度,这在发展中经济体尤为显著。从传导机制看,去工业化既可以通过劳动力就业转移直接影响收入不平等,也可通过非熟练劳动力就业和服务业部门就业分化间接影响收入不平等。一方面,去工业化导致非熟练劳动力受到更大冲击,致使该部分劳动力失业,加剧收入不平等;另一方面,去工业化导致非熟练劳动力的就业从工业的高薪部门转移至服务业的低薪部门,最终影响收入不平等。进一步研究发现,在可能存在"过早去工业化"的国家去工业化对收入不平等的作用更加明显。因此发展中经济体要着重预防由于去工业化可能带来的收入不平等程度恶化。     

中国农村区域收入不均等变动：基于经济发展和制度变迁的解释

本文利用改革以来的中国省级农村居民收入数据,首先通过基尼系数和泰尔指数两个指标的测度,分析了中国农村区域收入不均等的变化趋势。结果发现,总体上持续扩大的农村区域收入不均等由工资性收入差异所主导,主要体现在东、中、西三大区域间。而基于收入决定因素的夏普利分解结果则进一步表明,改革后农村制度变迁的区域不一致所造就的农村经济的非农化进程、物质和人力资本积累水平等增长因素的分化是农村区域收入不均等变动的最主要根源。     

The growth,poverty and inequality nexus in South Africa: Cointegration and causality analysis

This study empirically established the long-run relationship and causality effects that exist between growth, poverty and inequality. The analysis was carried out on a panel of nine South African provinces from 1995 to 2012. To capture poverty and inequality in a broader context, two measures of poverty (income and non-income) and three measures of inequality (income, education and land) were adopted for the study. The results confirm that there is a long-run relationship between growth, poverty and inequality. Notable results from the causality tests suggest that growth does not promote equal distribution of income in society but as income distribution begins to equalise, economic growth rises. This is regarded as growth–inequality disconnect. The unidirectional causality, which runs from income poverty to income inequality, suggests that a rising level of income poverty will lead to falling income inequality in the society; likewise, income inequality increases as non-income poverty declines.     

The rise and fall of worldwide income inequality, 1820–2035

The development process and the demographic changes that are a central element of it explain both the nearly two centuries of increasing income inequality prior to 2000 and the reversal of this trend that followed. There are at least four phases of the development process: (1) Malthusian pre-development, (2) initial growth, (3) improved productivity, and (4) receding growth. Prior to the industrial revolution, the entire world was in the Malthusian Phase 1. During 1820–1950, about 20 countries, mostly in Western Europe, North America, and Oceania, moved out of Phase 1 and began to grow more rapidly. But, per capita income levels in the rest of the world continued to stagnate and worldwide income inequality widened continuously for at least 150 years following the Industrial Revolution. Around 1960, developing countries began to escape the Malthusian trap and move into Phase 2 of development. By the latter part of the 20th century, many developing countries were achieving growth rates equal to or greater than the high-income countries, slowing the rise in inequality. By 2000–2015 most developing countries were in either Phases 2 or 3 of development, while most of the high-income countries were moving into Phase 4, leading to a sharp reduction in worldwide income inequality. The recent reductions in worldwide income inequality are likely to continue in the near term because of the continuation of the more favorable demographic changes in developing compared to high-income countries.     

Decomposing income inequality in a backward pre‐industrial economy: Old Castile (Spain) in the middle of the eighteenth century

Research on economic inequality in early modern Europe is complicated by the lack of appropriate data for reconstructing income or wealth distributions. This article presents a study of income inequality in mid‐eighteenth‐century Old Castile (Spain) using the Ensenada Cadastre, a census conducted between 1749 and 1759. The article describes the information provided by this census and then discusses its advantages and disadvantages for reconstructing income profiles and calculating income inequality. This is followed by analysis of a dataset derived from the Cadastre that consists of more than 4,000 observations from Palencia (a province in northern Spain) and contains information on sources of household income, each household head's main occupation, residence location, and other household characteristics. Demographic data from this census is used to weight observations in the sample and thereby minimize selection bias. Findings show that inequality in eighteenth‐century Spain was probably substantial despite its relative backwardness; that the relationship between inequality and per capita income was not clear‐cut and was probably influenced by measurement of the higher incomes; and that although income inequality was largely driven by uneven land distribution, labour income also contributed to overall inequality—especially in urban centres.     

China’s evolving inequality

China’s inequality is evolving. This paper brings the story up to date, drawing on recent research, much of it by the author. It begins with a brief account of rising inequality, and its causes, over the period of economic reform. It then examines the fall in the inequality of income in recent years and the reasons for this reversal of trend. Inequality of wealth, by contrast, has risen over the twenty-first century: its dimensions, components and causes are analysed. The final substantive section considers the evaluation of inequality in more depth and detail than is conventional, and provides pointers as to how value judgements about inequality might be made.     

Trends in neighbourhood inequality of Australian, Canadian, and United States of America cities since the 1970s

It is important to locate recent increases in neighbourhood inequality and economic segregation of Australian cities within the international debate about increasing urban disparities. The present article uses standard inequality techniques to show that neighbourhood inequality is increasing within Australian, Canadian, and USA cities. While the labour market status of people in poor neighbourhoods is similar for Australia and the USA, there is an almost inexorable trend towards increasing income inequality, probably reflecting ongoing labour market deregulation and the stricter welfare regimes that have been in place since the 1980s. Policy options to deal with locational disadvantage and increased economic segregation are also considered in detail.     

The Impact of Personal Income Tax Structure on Income Inequality for Belgium,Bulgaria, Germany,Lithuania, and Poland: A Comparison of Flat and Graduated Income Tax Structures

The level of income inequality in a country is usually a contentious and politically divisive issue. How the tax structure affects this inequality is of crucial concern to policymakers. In this paper, we examine the income tax experiences of five European Union countries: Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Lithuania, and Poland. This paper focuses on the comparison between flat and graduated personal income tax rate structures. Various methods were used to measure the progressivity of income taxes across these countries such as the average tax rate, cumulative shares of income, and the Gini and other indices. The findings show that the graduated rate income tax structure of Germany and Belgium are the most effective at reducing inequality. On the other hand, Lithuania’s proportional income tax structure is much more effective at reducing income inequality when compared to the graduated rate structure of Poland. Also, an appropriately-sized income tax threshold can transform a flat structure to a redistributive one that compares favorably with some graduated rate structures. In the case of Bulgaria, introducing an income tax threshold that is roughly the size of average income would reduce inequality by about 4 %.

     

Inward and outward FDI and income inequality: evidence from Europe

This paper examines the effects of inward and outward FDI on income inequality in Europe using panel cointegration techniques and unbalanced panel regressions. Our main result is that both inward FDI and outward FDI have, on average, a negative long-run effect on income inequality. This result is robust to employing alternative estimation methods, controlling for potential outliers, using different measures of FDI and inequality, and changing the period and sample selection. Other findings are: (i) while the long-run effect of inward and outward FDI on income inequality is clearly negative, their short-run effect appears to be positive. (ii) Long-run causality runs in both directions, suggesting that an increase in inward and outward FDI reduces income inequality in the long run, and that, in turn, a reduction in inequality leads to an increase in inward and outward FDI. (iii) There are large cross-country differences in the long-run effects of inward and outward FDI on income inequality; for some countries the long-run effects on income inequality are positive.     

INCOME INEQUALITY IN THE PHILIPPINES, 1961–91

Household income inequality in the Philippines remains high and the trends for three decades have been fairly stable except for a sharp decline in the mid-1980s. Gini coefficient of income inequality has been consistently close to 0.50. Urbanization and education of household head are the most important factors determining the level of income inequality while the contribution of age of head is limited. The increase in the number of urban households results in an increase of overall inequality while the increase in the number of household heads with a college education tends to decrease the inequality. Among the household income sources, wage income is the largest contributor to total income inequality. Wage rate inequality appears to be a major source of wage income inequality.     

The redistributive role of government social security transfers on inequality in China

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the redistributive role of government social security transfers on inequality in China. We attempt to answer two questions. First, does inequality of after-transfer income narrow, compared to that of before-transfer income? Second, given the scale and distribution of existing government social security transfers, will a small percentage increase in the transfers narrow or widen the inequality of total income? By employing the methodologies of the Musgrave-Thin (MT) index and decomposition of the Gini coefficient of total income by its sources, we find a positive answer to the first question and a negative answer to the second question. Government social security transfers have a positive role on inequality in the sense that the Gini coefficient of after-transfer income is smaller than that of before-transfer income. However, government social security transfers have a negative role on inequality, as current inequality will go up if there is a universal increase in government social security transfers for all recipients. Of all the components of government social security transfers, formal sector pensions are most unequalizing, whereas dibao and rural pension benefits have equalizing effects on the income distribution in China.     

Inequality of opportunity and income inequality in nine Chinese provinces, 1989–2006

While there is a large and growing body of research describing and analyzing changes in the Chinese income distribution, researchers have paid considerable less attention to inequality of opportunity. The aim of this paper is to contribute to filling this gap in the literature. The two main questions addressed empirically for the first time in a Chinese context are: to what extent are individuals’ incomes and individual income differences due to factors beyond the individual's control (in Roemer's terminology “circumstances”) and to what extent are they due to outcomes of the individual's own choices (“effort”). What is the relationship between income inequality and inequality of opportunity?For this purpose we use data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey collected from nine provinces during the period 1989 to 2006. The CHNS has detailed information about incomes and other factors enabling us to construct a host of circumstance and effort variables for the offspring.We find that China has a substantial degree of inequality of opportunity. Parental income and parents' type of employer explain about two thirds of the total inequality of opportunity. Notably, parental education plays only a minor role implying that parental connections remain important. The results show that the increase in income inequality during the period under study largely mirrors the increase in inequality of opportunity. Thus, increased income inequality does not reflect changes in effort variables, or expressed differently, increased income inequality has not been accompanied by a decrease in inequality of opportunity.     

The role of public pensions in income inequality among elderly households in China 1988–2013

Using data from the Chinese Household Income Project surveys for 1988, 1995, 2002 and 2013, we investigate the role of public pensions in income inequality among households with elderly members across two decades of pension policy reforms. We examine the distribution and role of public pensions at a national level and analyse the evolution of the contribution of public pensions to national income inequality across a much more extended time period than earlier studies, which have generally focused on regional changes over short periods. Our findings suggest that public pensions have become the most important source of income for households with elderly members on average in China, but the distribution of pension income is highly unequal, with a Gini coefficient of 0.74 in 2013. Public pension income has been the largest source of income inequality for elderly households since 2002 and contributed to more than half of total income inequality in the most recent year of the survey. This finding is robust against variations in the income inequality measures used. Additionally, our analysis suggests unequal distribution of pension benefits is the primary driver of pensioners' income inequality. Among several hypothetical policy changes, ensuring a minimum pension benefit for all existing pensioners seems to be the most fiscally effective option in reducing income inequality, with a 0.8% reduction in the Gini coefficient for a 1% increase in public pension expenditure.     

Intergenerational income mobility and economic freedom

Numerous studies have found that income inequality reduces the chances of upward relative mobility (i.e., climbing up the income ladder). However, most of this work ignores the role played by institutional quality (namely, economic freedom) in determining mobility and increasing the individual's set of choices. We fill this gap by empirically testing the direct and indirect (through economic growth) impacts of economic freedom on intergenerational income mobility. We find that economic freedom has both direct and indirect effects on intergenerational income mobility, while income inequality is a strong predictor of downward income mobility. When we incorporate findings about the purely mechanical relationship between inequality and intergeneration income mobility, we find that the legal system and property rights component of economic freedom matters more than inequality. These results suggest that good institutions can increase intergenerational income mobility.