Level of Economic Development and Income Inequality: Evidence from the Postwar Developed World

Using a recent high-quality panel dataset on income distribution for 19 developed countries, the postwar relation between the level of economic development and income inequality is estimated in terms of several Kuznets-type specifications. Contrary to what one might expect on the basis of Kuznets's hypothesis, inequality does not decline with an increase in income even at such high levels of development, but shows an uninverted-U pattern that is characterized by an initial decline and a subsequent increase in income inequality. The estimates suggest that the position noted for the postwar United States is shared widely in the developed world.     

Which indicator of income distribution explains crime better? Evidence from China

Income distribution is perceived to affect crime (Becker 1968; Thurow 1971; Merlo 2003). Consequently, economists have been modeling crime employing inequality indicators as one of the explanatory variables, yielding mixed results. This paper argues that income polarization rather than inequality indicators should be used instead. Technically, in addition to income gaps that are measured by inequality indicators, the recently developed polarization index of Duclos, Esteban, and Ray (2004) also captures clustering, which implies social segregation and immobility, both potentially causing social tensions and conflicts. Thus, this polarization index is expected to be a better variable in explaining crime. To substantiate our arguments, provincial panel data from China are used to model the crime–income distribution relationship. Income polarization is found to be positively and significantly associated with crime. When both income polarization and inequality indicators are included in the models, the former remains a positive and significant determinant while the latter becomes insignificant.     

Income Inequality and Health: Do the Equivalence Scales Matter?

The aim of this paper is to explore the relationship between income inequality and health in the European Union countries using new data from the European Community Household Panel (ECHP). The heterogeneity of the households has been approached using different equivalence scales. A variety of different model specifications were tried using different dependent variables such as life expectancy at birth and child mortality. The results give support to the influence of income inequality on health indicators using aggregate data and panel techniques, and show the sensitivity of the Gini index to the equivalence scale considered.     

数字普惠金融的创业效应与收入不平等:数字鸿沟还是数字红利？

数字普惠金融与实体经济之间的关系受到学界广泛关注,但其究竟是普惠的数字红利还是金融领域的数字鸿沟,这是数字普惠金融快速发展中亟需回答的重要理论与现实问题。文章通过匹配宏观统计数据和微观调查数据,实证研究了数字普惠金融的发展对收入不平等的影响,并从创业效应这一渠道进行了机制分析。研究发现：数字普惠金融的发展总体上改善了收入不平等状况,而数字普惠金融的创业效应是影响收入不平等的重要渠道之一。进一步的中介效应分析表明,数字普惠金融的创业效应对收入不平等的影响存在异质性：数字普惠金融通过促进生存型创业从而改善了收入不平等,而数字普惠金融对机会型创业的促进却在一定程度上扩大了收入不平等。文章的研究结论对于理解数字普惠金融发展的正外部性以及如何缓解收入不平等提供了新的视角。     

Unequal access to education and income distribution

Summary This paper attempts a new specification of the education variable in accounting for differences in income distribution in a cross-sectional analysis of 49 countries. The specification refers to the steepness of the educational pyramid, as measured by the coefficient of variation of enrolments within a given country. This variable alone explains 23 per cent of income inequality across countries (as measured by the Gini coefficient), while in the presence of it the traditional (catch-all) per capita income variable becomes insignificant.This finding indicates the importance of the supply side in relative income determination. It is also suggestive that a policy aiming at equalisation of access to the different levels of education might help in reducing income inequality.I would like to thank Arnold Anderson, Mary Jean Bowman, Jan Tinbergen and Peter Wiles for commenting on an earlier draft of this paper.     

Decomposition of the increase in earnings inequality in urban China: A distributional approach

This study examines changes in Chinese urban income distribution from 1987 to 1996 and 1996 to 2004 using nationwide household data and investigates the causes of these changes. The Firpo, Fortin, and Lemieux (2007, 2009) method based on unconditional quantile regressions is used to decompose changes in income distribution and income inequality measures, such as variance and a 10:90 ratio. The decomposition results show that wage structure effects, such as a widening gender earnings gap, increases in returns to college education, and increases in earnings differentials between industries, company ownership types, and regions, have been the major contributors to the overall increases in income inequality. It was also found that at different points on the income distribution (e.g., the lower or upper half), the contributing factors that increase income inequality are different.     

Decomposing inequality under alternative concepts of resources: Greece 1988

The structure of inequality in Greece is analyzed using the information of a survey which contains both consumption and income data. Due to life-cycle factors and measurement errors, the correlation between the two variables is not very high and, hence, an approximation of the “permanent income” of the population members is attempted. Although the level of inequality of the new distribution is substantially lower than the levels of inequality of either the distribution of consumption expenditure or the distribution of disposable income, the structure of inequality in Greece is only slightly affected by the choice of distribution.     

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.     

Gender inequality in asset ownership and women's food security in sub-Saharan Africa

Unequal asset rights remain an important driver of gender inequality and food insecurity in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Using cross-sectional data from 31 SSA countries, this study examines the effect of gender inequality in asset ownership on women's food security in the region. The seemingly unrelated (SUR) bivariate probit framework has been adopted in analysing the data. This approach is used for addressing the possible endogeneity bias that occurs when the dependent variable and regressor are both endogenous and binary. The major finding of this study reveals that gender inequality in asset ownership increases women's risk of facing food insecurity. The aforementioned is more pronounced for women who are undereducated, live in rural areas, and suffer various forms of discrimination. It is therefore important that more egalitarian laws on asset ownership and inheritance be adopted in all SSA countries. This will significantly increase women's specific food security and thus contribute to improving inclusiveness in these countries.     

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 %.

     

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.     

CHILD LABOR AND SCHOOL ENROLLMENT IN RURAL INDIA: WHOSE EDUCATION MATTERS?

This paper empirically analyzes the determinants of child labor and school enrollment in rural Andhra Pradesh, India. A village fixed‐effect logit model for each child is estimated with the incidence of child labor or school enrollment as the dependent variable, in order to investigate individual and household characteristics associated with the incidence. Among the determinants, this paper focuses on whose education matters most in deciding the status of each child, an issue not previously investigated in the context of the joint family system. The regression results show that the education of the child's mother is more important in reducing child labor and in increasing school enrollment than that of the child's father, the household head, or the spouse of the head. The effect of the child's mother is similar on boys and girls while that of the child's father is more favorable on boys.     

Home Schooling: An Alternative School Choice

There is a fairly large, evolving literature on school choice. This literature addresses the factors that influence the choice between schools in the public and private sectors. Overlooked by this literature, however, is the growing segment of school enrollment in home schools. This article empirically examines the decision to educate children at home. The empirical results suggest that the decision to home school depends on the expected quality of schooling the home unit can produce relative to that available from alternatives. More specifically, our results indicate that women's educational attainment helps explain home school enrollment, that greater heterogeneity of income within a public school district increases home enrollment, and that stricter regulations decrease home school enrollment.     

Household appliance ownership and income inequality: Evidence from micro data in China

As the residential sector is becoming increasingly important in the total energy consumption and appliance ownership is a significant but under-examined driver, this study investigates the relationship between income inequality and appliance ownership using panel data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS). We find that income inequality has negative impacts on appliance penetration rate across specifications, except for the initial development stage. On average, households start adopting air conditioners at a threshold of over 60,000 (2011 RMB) based on annual income, much higher than TV, fridge and washer (8500–9000 RMB). The empirical results validate the S-shape curve of appliance established in the literature. To understand the magnitude of the impact and policy implications, we further simulate the impact of poverty alleviation and the penetration paths under inclusive versus exclusive income growth. Our results demonstrate that current poverty line is too low to achieve appliance adoption – a signal for modern life-styles. In addition, a more inclusive growth path could lead to much higher penetration for regions that have relatively low growth rate.     

Decomposing the rich dad effect on income inequality using instrumental variable quantile regression

In this paper we evaluate the relative importance of the two main channels, namely the composition effect and the income structure effect, through which the paternal income affects children's income inequality. Using data on 2677 pairs of father and children from China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS), we construct the counterfactual income of children from poor families if they had the same characteristics as children from rich families. We propose an instrumental variable quantile regression-based method to solve the endogeneity problem and decompose the rich dad effect on income inequality into the composition effect and the income structure effect. We find that the composition effect explains at least 80% of the income difference at any quantile, and it explains all the income difference at the top four deciles. Income structure effect has a significant impact only at quantiles between 20% and 40%, where it explains about 20% of the income difference.     

高校扩招与教育回报率的城乡差异——基于断点回归的设计

文章基于中国家庭收入调查项目数据（2007年与2013年）,在断点回归设计的框架下分析1999年实施的高校扩招政策对城乡居民受教育年限、收入及教育回报率的影响。结果表明：第一,高校扩招政策的实施使农村居民的平均受教育年限提高了0.59年左右,使城镇居民的平均受教育年限提高了0.85年左右。第二,在断点回归的设计下,农村居民的教育回报率大约为11%,城镇居民的教育回报率大约为8%,高于OLS的估计。虽然实证结果显示教育回报并不存在城乡间的马太效应,但并不意味者城乡间教育发展与收入差距缩小。第三,高校扩招政策一方面显著促进了城镇居民低收入群体教育回报的提升,有效抑制了城镇居民中可能出现的收入差异扩大的"马太效应"。另一方面,高校扩招政策使得农村居民高收入群体教育回报高于低收入群体,在一定程度上导致了农村居民收入差异扩大的"马太效应"。     

我国税收政策影响初次分配的实证分析

近年来,在我国经济保持持续高速增长的同时,我国居民的收入分配不平等现象也在加剧。税收政策历来都是各国调节收入分配的重要政策杠杆。根据1994～2009年我国的基尼系数、税收收入占GDP比重的时间序列数据,所建立的多元线性回归模型表明,我国现行的以间接税为主体的税制结构,整体上拉大了不同阶层的收入差距。增值税、营业税等税种与基尼系数呈正相关,个人所得税、财产税等直接税也由于征收规模过小、征管存在漏洞等原因,没有充分发挥出直接税应有的收入调节作用。     

Community poverty and inequality in western China: A tale of three villages in Guizhou Province

Using a census survey of households in Guizhou Province, this paper examines the patterns of village poverty and inequality and their major correlates. The results show that poverty incidences vary greatly among villages and inequality is relatively high within villages in these impoverished areas. Although agriculture is still the major source of livelihood in this inland western region, income from local nonfarm jobs and remittance is more unevenly distributed and accounts for the largest share of overall income inequality. Surprisingly, blood donation is another major source of cash income. On the expenditure side, health care was found to be one of the most important sources of inequality. The paper also found that the distribution of assets, particularly land holdings, contributes to overall income inequality.     

Income Distribution in East Asian Developing Countries: recent trends

This paper updates estimates of the trends in income distribution in the eight countries of the developing East and Southeast Asian region. In the last update by Krongkaew (1994 ), inequality was found to be increasing in the newly industrialising economies of Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan, while in the ASEAN−4 (with the exception of Thailand) it was declining. Since then, the region has undergone the East Asian financial crisis of 1997–98. Recent data indicate that income distribution in Hong Kong and Taiwan continues to improve. Income inequality in South Korea declined until 1993 but began to increase slowly until the crisis sharply widened the disparity. The evidence for Singapore is mixed, with one set of estimates showing a dip in inequality while another indicates a widening of income disparity during the crisis. The crisis had the immediate impact of improving income distribution in all the ASEAN–4 countries, mainly because of reductions in the income shares of the top income groups. Later data show that inequality has since risen in all of them, except for Malaysia (for which no recent data are available).     

Towards a better measure of income inequality in Indonesia

Indonesia has experienced significant economic growth in recent years (on average, 5% in 2000–08), but many people are still living in poverty. Income inequality, as measured by the official Gini coefficient, has also increased. This paper evaluates household income and income inequality in Indonesia, assessing both market and non-market income to reach a more accurate measure of how actual income affects living standards. We find that if household income considers non-market income, income distribution is significantly more balanced, the coefficient of income inequality falls from 0.41 to 0.21 and the income share of the population's poorest deciles increases more than fivefold. The results suggest that market income alone is a misleading measure of income distribution in Indonesia.