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。     

人工智能的财富分配效应研究*

人工智能对经济不平等的影响引起学术界的广泛重视，但是现有研究以分析其对劳动收入不平等的影响为主，关于人工智能对财富分配从而对财产性收入不平等影响的相关研究尚有欠缺。本文通过构建一个连续时间异质性个体动态一般均衡模型，将人工智能对生产技术的影响看作一揽子偏向性技术进步，研究人工智能技术对财富分配的影响。分析发现，人工智能对财富不平等的影响在短期和长期表现有所不同，短期中人工智能技术的应用会提高经济中财富分配不平等程度，而长期中其财富分配效应则取决于人工智能对不同类型技术进步的促进程度。核心机制在于，人工智能技术进步的多样性在短期和长期中对资本回报率产生不同影响，短期中各类技术进步总是会提高资本回报率，而在长期，不同类型的技术进步对资本回报率的影响出现差异。基于以上结论，本文就我国如何在应用人工智能促进增长的同时预防不平等程度扩大提出了政策建议。     

货币政策对收入不平等的作用效应:一个文献研究

各国解决收入不平等的通用政策工具是财政政策。但近年来的研究表明,运用财政政策来解决收入分配不平等具有局限性,学者们开始关注货币政策对于解决收入不平等的作用和效应。本文梳理了国内外关于货币政策对收入分配不平等影响效应的文献,发现货币政策对收入不平等的效应主要有四种:财富变动效应、金融市场效应、资本形成效应、就业效应。这些效应相互作用,并通过通货膨胀、经济增长与总产出来间接影响收入分配。     

转型背景下的居民主观收入不平等与再分配偏好——基于CGSS数据的经验分析

公平、合理的收入分配格局是构建和谐社会的基石,引起社会普遍不满和对社会稳定构成实质威胁的是居民主观层面所不认可的收入分配格局。本文尝试考察我国居民的主观收入不平等对再分配偏好的影响。在将主观收入不平等合理分解为认可的不平等和不认可的不平等基础上,利用中国综合社会调查数据(CGSS),本文进行了实证检验,研究结果显示,居民认可的收入不平等与再分配偏好显著负相关,而不认可的收入不平等与再分配偏好显著正相关。此外,公平认知对居民的主观收入不平等具有显著影响。因此,当前政府的改革应该从消除体制性障碍入手,特别是要消除行业垄断、城乡有别的户籍制度等,创造一个机会均等、公平竞争的社会环境,为形成合理的收入分配格局提供制度保障。     

住房价格不平衡对我国财富分布格局的影响研究

规范财富积累机制对我国分阶段推进共同富裕和实现经济高质量发展具有重要意义。通过分析房屋财富差异影响家庭财富不平等的典型事实，基于房价上涨、房屋财富升值与财富不平等程度加剧的理论逻辑并利用2011—2019年中国家庭金融调查（CHFS）数据的研究结果表明，住房价格不平衡将会加剧同类型家庭内部、不同类型家庭之间的财富不平等程度，严重恶化我国财富分布格局。家庭财富积累动机与房价水平的双重差异是造成同类型家庭内部财富不平等的核心因素，房价上涨的财富效应与房价水平的双重差异是导致不同类型家庭之间财富分化的关键成因。数值模拟显示，降低收入差距与城乡差距、缓解财富顶层集中、有效管控住房投资行为、切实降低消费性住房购买压力等措施，对我国规范收入分配秩序和财富积累机制、改善财富分布格局具有积极意义。     

结构性减税、财政支出扩张与中国经济波动

本文将消费税、投资补贴、劳动收入税和资本收入税引入居民预算约束,分析了我国结构性减税及投资补贴的经济效应。研究表明:减少资本收入税的作用力度最大,但可能使经济大幅波动;减少劳动收入税,可对经济起到微调作用;增加投资补贴在刺激投资的同时却抑制消费;减少消费税在刺激经济增长的同时会促进收入合理分配。本文在构建模型时还将政府支出引入了生产函数,认为其亦具有生产性,并通过财富负效应和收入正效应解释了政府支出对居民消费和投资的"挤入效应"。我们认为在当前经济形势下,进行结构性减税和财政支出扩张都是必要的,两者都可以从需求和供给两端同时发力促进经济平稳运行;而对债务或赤字的调控则应具有长期视角。     

物质资本、人力资本、政治资本与农村居民收入不平等——基于全国31个省份2852份农户问卷调查的数据分析

本文利用中国31个省2 852份农户问卷调查数据,对农村居民收入不平等现状进行了统计测算;对Mincer收入模型与Shorrocks回归分解法进行扩展,从物质资本、人力资本和政治资本等方面对我国农村居民收入不平等的影响因素及其贡献率进行实证分析。研究结果显示:我国农村居民收入不平等程度较大,基尼系数已超过警戒线;农村居民收入与收入不平等因物质资本、人力资本、政治资本、农户基本特征、地理环境与地区差异等方面而存在较大差异;三大资本对农户人均年收入具有显著的正向影响,农户基本特征、地理环境与地区差异对农村居民收入不平等的贡献率较大,三大资本对农村居民收入不平等的贡献率相对较小;在三大资本中,人力资本对农村居民收入不平等的贡献率较大,物质资本次之,政治资本的贡献率最小。     

中国劳动和资本税收负担及分配效应

正确处理劳动和资本的分配关系，实现共富裕，是中国式现代化的重要特征。税收是调节劳动和资本收入分配的重要制度。各项税收最终被劳动和资本负担，并影响收入分配。本文基于一般均衡税收归宿理论和模型，全面测算了我国2002—2018年间各项税收对劳动和资本形成的税收负担及对我国要素收入分配的影响，结果显示：我国资本税负一直高于劳动税负，2008年国际金融危机后，资本税负上升，劳动税负下降。其中，劳动的间接税负担持续下降，劳动的直接税负担持续上升，劳动总税负呈下降趋势；资本的直接税负担远低于资本的间接税负担；在各项间接税中，企业所得税最有利于降低劳动税负、增加资本税负。税收的要素分配结果显示：间接税具有提高劳动收入份额、降低资本收入份额的作用，直接税则相反，综合来看，税收总体上有利于劳动收入份额提高；企业所得税对提高劳动收入份额贡献率最大，年平均贡献率达到66.22%。     

股市发展与收入分配不平等分析

股市发展与收入分配的关系研究已经在世界金融理论界及业界引起重视,本文主要对股市发展和自由化改革两者对收入分配不平等程度的影响进行分析。研究得出一国的股市规模扩大,受到门槛效应影响,其收入的分配状况也会趋于恶化,而流动性提升则会改善国人的收入分配不平等的状态;国家股市发展对不同的收入阶层也会产生不同影响;自由化改革后,股市流动性提升会进一步改善国内收入分配不平等的状况,同时在股市自由化后,股市规模扩大及股市流动性提升都会改善国家收入分配不平等的现象。     

资本积累与最优银行规模

本文回顾了近半个多世纪以来有关收入和财富分配持续性不平等的原因及其动态演化方面的理论,包括收入和财富分布的随机过程模型、新古典框架下不平等的动态演化理论、人力资本投资对持续性不平等的影响、不完全资本市场下持续性不平等的动态演化、经济增长中持续性不平等的动态演化以及其他各种机制对不平等动态演化的影响等。论文还对有关持续性不平等理论的发展脉络和内在演化逻辑进行了梳理,并在此基础上对现有文献进行了总体评述,并对今后研究的发展方向作了简单讨论。     

Wage Inequality,Increased Competition,and Trade Liberalization: Short Run vs Long Run

This paper examines the impact of increased competition and trade liberalization on skilled–unskilled wage inequality in the short run as well as the long run. It is shown that an increase in the number of firms in the producer services sector increases wage inequality in the short run even if the income shares of capital in the industrial and agricultural sectors were identical. A decrease in the services sector's fixed cost decreases wage inequality in the short run if the income share of capital in the agricultural sector is relatively large. Owing to the presence of external economies, a decrease in the services sector's fixed cost increases wage inequality in the long run. A decrease in import duty on the agricultural good increases wage inequality in the short as well as the long run but its effect in the long run is stronger due to the presence of external economies in the industrial sector.     

Tax reform in a two-class growth model

This paper analyzes the welfare and distributional effects of tax reforms in a two-class model with exogenous labour supply. It extends the empirically calibrated, standard life-cycle model to include both pure life-cycle savers and households with an altruistic bequest motive. The tax reform simulations cover the move from an income to a wage and a consumption tax, respectively. The role of borrowing constraints is studied and a dynamic analysis of tax reforms using a static expectation approach is performed. The simulation results indicate that the two tax reforms have different impacts on the welfare of the two classes: while the pure life-cycle savers are better off with the consumption tax, the altruistically motivated households gain more under a wage tax. The results further show that while the introduction of a consumption tax is distributionally neutral, the move to a wage tax substantially increases income and wealth inequality.     

Consumption,income, and wealth inequality in Canada

In this paper, we document some features of the distribution of income, consumption and wealth in Canada using survey data from many different sources. We find that wage and income inequality have increased substantially over the last 30 years, but that much of this rise was offset by the tax and transfer system. As a result, the rise in consumption inequality has been relatively mild. We also document that wealth inequality has remained fairly stable since 1999. Using both confidential data and publicly available data, we are able to gauge the extent to which the publicly available data conceals aspects of inequality that confidential data reveals.     

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.     

Corporate profit tax,firm entry with unemployment,and income inequality

In this paper, we provide a general equilibrium analysis of corporate profit tax on income distribution, unemployment, and wage inequality. With firm dynamics in industrial sector, we identify a new channel through which profit tax affects income and wage inequality: profit tax cut will widen not only the wage gap between skilled and unskilled labor, but also exacerbate the wage inequality of unskilled labor among different sectors. The welfare effect of profit tax cut depends on unemployment deepening (labor-distortion effect) and more manufacturing firms enter the market (business-creation effect), eroding the market share of incumbent firms (business-stealing effect).     

Macroeconomic determinants of wealth inequality dynamics

The evolution of wealth inequality over the long run depends on income growth, inflation, and interest rates. In this paper, we examine, in a dynamic setting, the effect of these three macroeconomic variables on wealth inequality in the United States over the periods 1929–2009 and 1962–2009. The results show that these macroeconomic factors explain a significant amount of the changes in wealth inequality. The results indicate that increases in inflation and income growth contribute positively to net wealth shares of adults in the bottom 50% and middle 40% of the wealth distribution, leading to decreases in overall wealth inequality. Interestingly, the results show increases in interest rates contribute to lower wealth inequality in the U.S. although this result does not hold across all the inequality measures.     

THE 2005 LAWRENCE R. KLEIN LECTURE: EMERGENT CLASS STRUCTURE*

This article presents a model of the emergent class structure, in which a society inhabited by inherently identical households may be endogenously split into the rich bourgeoisie and the poor proletariat. For some parameter values, the model has no steady state where all households remain equally wealthy. In this case, the model predicts emergent class structure or the rise of class societies. Even if every household starts with the same amount of wealth, the society will experience “symmetry‐breaking” and will be polarized into two classes in steady state, where the rich maintain a high level of wealth partly due to the presence of the poor, who have no choice but to work for the rich at a wage rate strictly lower than the “fair” value of labor. The nonexistence of the equal steady state means that a one‐shot redistribution of wealth would not be effective, as wealth inequality and the class structure would always reemerge. Thus, the class structure is an inevitable feature of capitalism. For other parameter values, on the other hand, the model has the unique steady state, which is characterized by perfect equality. In this case, the model predicts dissipating class structure or the fall of class societies. Even if the society starts with significant wealth inequality, labor demand by the rich employers pushes up the wage rate so much that workers will escape from the poverty and eventually catch up with the rich, eliminating wealth inequality and the class structure in the long run. In an extension, we introduce self‐employment, which not only provides the poor with an alternative to working for the rich, but also provides the rich with an alternative to investment that creates jobs. Due to this dual nature of self‐employment, the effects of self‐employment turn out to be quite subtle. Yet, within the present framework, it is possible to offer a complete characterization of the steady states even in the presence of self‐employment.     

Why has Income Inequality in Germany Increased From 2002 to 2011? A Behavioral Microsimulation Decomposition

This paper proposes a method to decompose changes in income inequality into the contributions of policy changes, wage rate changes, and population changes while considering labor supply reactions. Using data from the Socio‐Economic Panel (SOEP), this method is applied to decompose the increase in income inequality in Germany from 2002 to 2011, a period that saw tax reductions and a controversial overhaul of the transfer system. The simulations show that tax and transfer reforms have had an inequality‐reducing effect as measured by the mean log deviation and the Gini coefficient. For the Gini, these effects are offset by labor supply reactions. In contrast, policy changes explain part of the increase in the ratio between the 90th and the 50th income percentiles. Changes in wage rates have led to a decrease in income inequality. Thus, the increase in inequality was due to changes in the population.