INCENTIVE AND INSURANCE EFFECTS OF INCOME TAXATION

Tax distortions cause a trade‐off between efficiency and equity. However, taxes not only affect incentives; they also provide implicit insurance, and this may critically affect the efficiency–equity relationship. For a standard labour supply problem it is shown that the insurance effect mutes the sensitivity of labour supply to taxes, which tends to reduce tax distortions and lower the marginal costs of public funds. The relation between incentives and insurance and thus efficiency and equity is flattened by the insurance effect and it may even be non‐monotone. However, the optimal utilitarian policy implies that there is always a trade‐off between efficiency and equity on the margin.     

WEALTH AND THE DISTRIBUTION OF INCOME: PERMANENT AND TRANSITORY EFFECTS

This paper examines the permanent and transitory effects of changes in wealth, the top federal marginal income tax rate, and capital gains tax rate on the distribution of Adjusted Gross Income (AGI). This paper establishes the importance of wealth in determining the distribution of AGI, and results here suggest that its effects can negate the permanent effect of a change in both tax rates. Of the two tax rates, the capital gains tax rate is the most important for AGI distribution. The marginal income tax rate is notably less important for long run behavior, but does have short run impacts.     

THE DISTRIBUTION OF INCOME AND WEALTH IN JAPAN

This paper reviews research on the distribution of income and wealth in Japan, identifies sources of data on income and wealth, and describes limitations of these data. Evidence that Japan's poorest income groups are relatively well-off is convincing, but there is less evidence that the overall distribution of income in Japan is more equal than in other OECD countries. Agricultural policy, social welfare policy, the tax system, trends in earnings differentials, and the role of the Japanese family are among the many factors that have shaped Japan's income distribution. The rapid appreciation of the stock market and land prices during the late 1980s led to greater inequality in the distribution of wealth. Rapid population aging is expected to lead to an increase in total national wealth relative to national income which may have an adverse impact on the distribution of income.     

MEASUREMENT ERROR IN THE BANK OF ITALY'S SURVEY OF HOUSEHOLD INCOME AND WEALTH

This paper is aimed at evaluating the incidence of measurement error in the Bank of Italy's Survey of Household Income and Wealth (SHIW). In the case of time-invariant variables, we assess the degree of inconsistency of answers given by panel households in subsequent survey waves. For quantities that vary with time, we estimate the incidence of measurement error by decomposing observed variability into true dynamics and error-induced noise. We apply the Heise model or the latent Markov model, depending on whether the data are continuous or categorical. We also present regression models that explain the error-generating process. Our results are relevant to researchers who use SHIW data for economic analysis, but also to data producers involved in similar income and wealth surveys. The methods we describe and test can be employed in a number of contexts to gain better understanding of data-related problems and plans for survey improvement.     

WEALTH AND THE DISTRIBUTION OF INCOME, CANADA 1969–70

This paper explores the sensitivity of the size distribution of family income in Canada to alternative definitions of income. These alternative definitions examine both wealth generally in the form of an annuity equivalent, and home ownership in the form of imputed rent. An adjustment for family size differences is also made. The impact of these adjustments is assessed for average incomes, inequality, and the incidence of low income for different age groups. The adjustments do have significant effects that vary by age; in particular, the economic position of the elderly seems understated by the usual data. Also, methodological considerations, such as the direct use of micro data and the choice of inequality indicator are shown to be significant.     

RETIREMENT INCOME RIGHTS AS A COMPONENT OF WEALTH IN THE UNITED STATES*

Americans have accumulated a considerable amount of future purchasing power in the form of Social Security and employer pension rights. These rights are a form of wealth. In this paper, we ask how their inclusion alters the wealth portfolios of a sample of Americans at or nearing normal retirement age. Data from the 1973 wave of the longitudinal Retirement History Study suggest that, for many Americans, retirement income rights are the dominant component of wealth, and are often more important than all other entries combined, including home equity. We also find that this wealth can be seriously eroded during times of high inflation. Because of differences in marketability, pension and Social Security rights are not perfect substitutes for more liquid assets. Nonetheless, since they are so large in magnitude, and have been shown to be key determinants of the behavior of older workers, they should not be ignored.     

THE EFFECT ON POVERTY STATUS IN ISRAEL OF CONSIDERING WEALTH AND VARIABILITY OF INCOME

This paper assesses the effects of including wealth and the variability of income on the incidence of poverty and the degree of income inequality in Israel. A special survey, which includes data on the wealth and income of a national sample of Israeli families in 1963–64 and 1964–65, allows us to go beyond measures based on current income alone.
The first section reviews earlier studies of poverty in Israel. The next section looks at poverty and inequality in terms of current income, current wealth, and a combined measure of income and wealth. The combined measure is the Hansen-Weisbrod measure (HW), which equals income plus the annuity value of wealth, assuming all wealth is just consumed at the time of death. It is interesting that, in spite of the much higher wealth inequality than income inequality, the HW measure was slightly more equally distributed than income. This result occurred because the annuity component made up a low share of the total HW measure and the correlation between income and wealth was well under 1. Although overall inequality and poverty were similar for income and HW measures, the incidence of poverty by subgroup depended on the measure used.
The final section presents a dynamic view of poverty and inequality. Year-to-year changes in poverty were substantial. Because of the use of a relative poverty concept and the rise in real incomes, the real income poverty line rose by 15 percent between 1963 and 1964. Still, of those in income poverty in 1963, 37 percent managed to escape poverty in 1964. The paper shows how the degree to which poverty was stable or transitory varied substantially by age and country of origin.     

THE EFFECTS OF MACROECONOMIC FLUCTUATIONS ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF INCOME*

This study develops a microanalytic simulation model to examine the effects of macroeconomic fluctuations on the distribution on the distribution of income. A representational sample of the population of the United States is linked with equations determining the variability of various types of factor income. Each family's income experience is simulated under alternative aggregate conditions, and the income distributions arising under these conditions are compared. The main results are similar for alternative specifications of the model. The incidence of a downturn in economic activity, whether accompanied by changes in the rate of inflation or not, and measured in terms of the loss of factor income, leaves the upper middle class relatively better off than before and leaves most others relatively worse off. The very rich bear the heaviest burden.     

农民工养老保险统筹收入再分配研究

农民工养老保险统筹收入再分配集中体现着养老保险全国统筹的缩小收入差距和有利于流动人口养老金异地接转两大主要功能。本文从收入再分配入手研究农民工养老保险全国统筹的合理性及实现路径,构建了农民工养老保险统筹收入再分配系数总模型和分系数模型,提出了农民工养老保险全国统筹“两类型”和“五方案”, 并对农民工养老保险统筹给付水平、收入再分配系数进行了定量分析,最后通过生存公平和劳动公平检验确定了替代率10%的中央统筹模式为现阶段农民工养老保险全国统筹起步最优方案,进而提出了具体政策建议。     

EFFECTS OF STOCK MARKET FLUCTUATIONS ON THE ADEQUACY OF RETIREMENT WEALTH ACCUMULATION

This paper examines the relation between fluctuations in the aggregate value of equities and the adequacy of households’ saving for retirement. Using more recent data than most studies on this topic, we find that many and perhaps most households appear to be saving adequate amounts for retirement, and that there is almost no link between aggregate equity values and the adequacy of retirement saving. A simulated 40 percent decline in stocks has little effect on the adequacy of saving. The substantial growth in equity values and ownership in the 1980s and 1990s did not lead to a surge in the adequacy of retirement saving provisions. The results occur because equity holdings are concentrated among households with significant amounts of other wealth.     

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CONSUMPTION, INCOME AND WEALTH IN HONG KONG

Abstract. This paper estimates a consumption function for Hong Kong along the lines of the standard life‐cycle model. I find a stable relationship between consumption, labour income and wealth with plausible long‐run estimates of the implied marginal propensity to consume out of income and wealth. The marginal propensity to consume out of housing wealth is estimated to be lower than in other industrialized economies, which is consistent with a relatively uneven distribution of wealth in Hong Kong. Arithmetically, the decline in housing wealth in Hong Kong since 1997 can more than account for the weakness of consumption since then.     

REDISTRIBUTIVE OUTCOMES OF SICKNESS INSURANCE ON INCOME: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF SOCIAL INSURANCE INSTITUTIONS

We analyzed the redistributive outcomes of sickness benefits using a typology of social insurance institutions, including four different systems, after adjusting for sickness risk factors. The aim is to empirically observe if the expected redistributive pattern of the typology could be verified whether or not considering the variations in sickness risk across the countries. Data on household earnings and sickness benefits in ten countries and for different years were taken from the Luxembourg Income Study. We also used data on labor force demography and educational attainment. Gini coefficients were used for measuring earnings inequality. Relative changes in earnings inequality for sickness benefits were predicted by social insurance institutional dummies using multiple regression analyses. Among the four different schemes, the encompassing system is found to be most redistributive, followed by basic security and targeting systems. The corporatist system has shown no significant difference from the encompassing system in redistributive outcomes.     

THE INCOME DISTRIBUTION EFFECTS OF A NATURAL GAS PRICE INCREASE

Deregulation of wellhead natural gas prices will affect individuals as consumers and resource owners. It is shown that higher natural gas prices will be roughly progressive with respect to household and general consumers. The effects on the distribution of resource earnings will be ambiguous because although the oil and gas industry is highly capital intensive, natural gas price deregulation will likely cause reduced spending on other capital-intensive activities, including deep drilling for high cost gas, gas utility distribution, and exports. Overall, no clear case can be made that gas wellhead price deregulation will be regressive     

INCOME AND WEALTH OVER THE LIFE CYCLE EVIDENCE FROM PANEL DATA

In this paper we examine household wealth and income in the Netherlands using data from the Socio Economic Panel (SEP) in the period 1987–89. We provide an evaluation of the quality of the data and some simple statistics which describe the behavior of wealth, saving, and income over the life cycle. We find there is substantial heterogeneity in the behavior of households, and wealth holdings vary substantially even among the same age group. By exploiting the panel feature of the SEP, we derive saving from first differencing wealth. We find that a sizeable fraction of households do not dissave when old and we find some evidence in favor of the bequest motive.     

新古典模型中收入和财富分配持续不平等的动态演化

本文讨论了当个人劳动能力和偏好存在差异的情况下,资本收入和劳动收入分配的差异如何通过遗产机制影响收入和财富分配的持续性不平等程度。论文分析表明:在偏好、个人劳动能力和个人收入的随机冲击的影响下,如果市场是完善的,整个经济系统存在收入和财富分配的稳定不平等状态,而且,这种稳定的不平等状态与初始的财富分配的不平等和一次性的产权配置都是无关的。最后,本文分析了资本收入税和劳动收入税对持续不平等程度的影响,通过分析指出:从长期来看,在劳动能力和初始财富存在差异而偏好没有差异的情况下,征收劳动收入税比征收资本收入税更有利于改善由于能力差异所造成的持续不平等。