Effects of Changes in Family Composition and Employment Patterns on the Distribution of Income in Australia: 1981–1982 to 1997–1998

We examine income distributions over the last two decades, presenting both non-parametric kernel density estimates and summary measures. Standard errors of summary measures are also reported to facilitate statistical inference. We find a significant increase in private income inequality, but only a modest increase in disposable income inequality, implying an increase in the inequality-reducing effects of income taxes and transfers. Using a semi-parametric procedure developed by DiNardo et al. (1996), we then examine the effects of changes in family characteristics on the distribution of private income, finding that half the increase in inequality is explained by changes in the distribution of employment.     

就业增长、投资与初次分配中的劳动报酬占比

本文通过生产函数和联立方程模型,发现在非农就业增长、投资和劳动报酬占比之间存在着密切的相互联系和影响:在劳动力从农业部门转移到现代部门的过程中,由于未能获得与其边际产出相等的工资报酬,使得劳动报酬占比下降而资本所得份额上升,资本所得份额的上升促进了投资,投资的增加保证了非农就业的持续增长。我们通常把劳动报酬占比下降和高投资率视为中国经济失衡的表现之一并给予特殊关注,但是,本文所揭示的劳动报酬占比变化的内在机制不仅反映了中国经济增长的一些典型特征,也表明高投资率和劳动报酬占比下降并不是经济失衡的表现,它们是非农就业增长的必然结果,也是保证非农就业持续增长的关键原因。劳动报酬占比的下降虽然恶化了居民之间的收入分配,却是中国经济模式所必须经历的发展阶段。     

The Role of Governments in Aligning Functional Income Distribution with Full Employment

Demand is an incentive for investment. The latter is necessary to create employment. If demand lags behind supply, then unemployment and underemployment rise. Persistent unemployment and underemployment indicate a dysfunctional price mechanism. Then, only governments can stimulate demand. They may equalize ex ante saving and investment by public investment, income redistribution, or market regulation.     

Changing wage structure and education in Vietnam, 1992–98

This paper examines the changes in relative earnings of workers with different education levels in Vietnam. Using a simple demand‐and‐supply framework developed by Katz and Murphy (1992 ), it was found that an increase in the relative demand for better‐educated male workers in particular appears to play an important role in explaining the earnings differentials between workers of different education groups. Education reform to better suit the needs of the post‐reform emerging market, on‐the‐job training for workers and equal access to education are some policy options that hold the key to reducing wage inequality between different education groups.     

Some Ethnic Dimensions of Income Distribution from Pre- to Post-reform New Zealand, 1984–1998*

Based on unit record data from four household surveys conducted by Statistics New Zealand for the years 1983/1984, 1991/1992, 1995/1996 and 1997/1998, this paper addresses some ethnic dimensions of income inequality among New Zealanders over the period of the surveys. It applies alternative techniques of decomposition of the Gini coefficient of inequality by subgroups of population. It then analyses how changes in the incomes of specific population subgroups affect the overall inequality. The results help quantify the economic distances among the different ethnic populations of New Zealand, and indicate how and why these distances have been changing over time.     

Income Growth and Earnings Variations in New Zealand, 1998–2004

This article analyses changes in the distributions of working‐age individuals' earnings and total income in New Zealand over the period 1998–2004. We find that there have been broad gains in income across the distribution, suggesting the spoils of growth have been shared widely. Mean and median earnings increased 15 and 23 per cent respectively, while mean and median income increased 12–13 per cent. Inequality, as measured by the Gini coefficient, was more stable: earnings inequality fell 4 per cent, while income inequality was unchanged. The main drivers of the changes were employment and real wage growth. We estimate that roughly one‐half of the growth in average incomes was due to employment growth, and one‐quarter each to demographic changes and wage growth. The relative employment and wage contributions varied across the income distribution: employment growth dominated gains at the lower end of the distribution, while wage gains dominated changes at the higher end.     

The Employment Effects of Gender Discrimination in Australia 1994–95

Interpreting the unexplained component of the gender wage gap as indicative of discrimination, the empirical literature to date has tended to ignore the potential impact wage discrimination may have on employment. Clearly, employment effects will arise if discrimination lowers the female offered wage and the labour supply curve is upward sloping. The empirical analysis employs the ABS Income Distribution Survey 1994–95 and finds evidence of both wage and associated employment effects. The analysis is replicated for the earlier period 1989–90. A comparison across time is of interest given the substantial deregulation of the Australian labour market over the period.     

Russian Roller Coaster: Expenditure Inequality and Instability in Russia, 1994–98

This paper uses the second phase of the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey to investigate the changes in expenditure inequality and instability in Russia between the autumn of 1994 and the autumn of 1998. The expenditure distribution is stable in spite of the economic and political turmoil Russia is going through. However, that does not imply much stability. Households experienced considerable fluctuations in their expenditure, with over 60 percent of the population's expenditure either more than doubling or falling to less than half their previous levels. Only about 6 percent of all households experienced an expenditure shock of less than 10 percent. The inquiry in expenditure mobility suggests high levels of transitory variation in the expenditure and high levels of instability.     

Household Characteristics and the Distribution of Income In Italy: An Application of Social Distance Measures

The Lorenz criterion of preferable distributions fails to distinguish adequately between convergence to the global mean and clustering around local means. This concern has motivated independent work by Wolfson, and Esteban and Ray on the notion of polarization. In this paper I build on this recent work by providing a new method that characterizes changes in the entire distribution, rather than focussing only on dispersion. In particular, the approach proposed offers a new decomposition method of within- and between-group components that differs from the classical method of additively decomposable inequality indices. The new method can monitor which factors modified the entire distribution, where precisely on the distribution these factors had an effect, and what determined the variation in the level of social distance between groups or geographic areas. Summary statistics of the observed movements and of distance between and divergence among the estimated and the counterfactual distributions are provided as well as a new index of social distance. The new method is then applied to Italian data on income distribution between 1987 and 1995.     

Deficits, Money Growth and Inflation in Italy: 1875–1994

In this paper, we examine econometrically the "fiscal dominance" model of the Monetary History of Italy proposed by Spinelli and Fratianni (1996). We test the proposition that monetary policy is endogenous to fiscal policy, and that such an endogeneity creates a specificity in the process generating Italian inflation. We perform our econometric tests by estimating a small structural linear econometric model, addressing carefully the issues of data-congruency of the specification, non-stationarity, cointegration, and credibility of the over-identifying restrictions. Our econometric investigation is based on a sample of annual observations from 1875–1994 and exploits the structural break which occurred in 1975, when Baffi became Governor of the Bank of Italy and the lack of independence of the central bank was first perceived as a problem. Baffi started the slow evolution process leading to the independence of the central bank, which was institutionally ratified by his successor Ciampi, when, in 1981, the Bank of Italy interrupted his commitment to buy all the government bonds left unsold in the public tenders (the "divorce"). Our empirical analysis over the sample 1875–1975 confirms the existence of a link between government deficit and money growth, and of a long-run relationship between the quantity of money and the price level; the evidence also stresses the relevance of supply side factors in the determination of inflation. When the model estimated for the sample 1875–1975 is applied to the period 1975–1994, a clear structural break in the relation between government deficits and money growth emerges. (J.E.L.: E5, E6).     

Stock Market Fluctuations and Money Demand in Italy, 1913–2003

This paper examines the impact of stock market fluctuations on money demand in Italy from a long‐run perspective. The money demand function estimated by Muscatelli and Spinelli (2000) for a long time span is utilized as a benchmark, adding to the specification information on share prices from the Milan Stock Exchange Reform of 1913 to recent years. For a shorter time period (1938–2003), annual observations on stock market capitalization and turnover velocity are also considered. The empirical findings suggest that stock market fluctuations help to explain temporary movements in liquidity preference, rather than its secular patterns. Overall, a positive association emerges between an index of stock market prices that includes dividends and real money balances; however, the estimated long‐run relationship is unstable. In a dynamic, short‐term specification of money demand, the estimated coefficient of deflated stock prices is positive, and therefore compatible with a wealth effect, in the years 1913–1980, while in the last two decades a substitution effect has prevailed and the correlation between money and share prices has been negative. This is likely to reflect a change in financial structure and the increasing role of opportunity costs defined over a wider range of assets. These results are confirmed by data on stock market capitalization. Moreover, in the recent period, stock market turnover and money growth are positively correlated .     

A Comparison of Income and Expenditure Inequality Estimates: The Australian Evidence, 1975–76 to 1993–94

Using Australian unit record data this paper compares income and expenditure inequalities over the period 1975–76 to 1993–94. The study finds inconsistencies between the two inequality movements over much of this period. We also observe differences in the nature of income and consumption disparities. Both approaches show that the 'within group' inequality dominates the 'between group' component when the population is divided into household types. The inequality estimates are sensitive to the equivalence scale used as the household size deflator but not to the cost of living index used as the price deflator.     

The Impact of Sector-Specific and Economy-Wide Policy Reforms on the Agricultural Sector in Brazil: 1980–98

This article analyzes the impact of policy reforms and changing macroeconomic conditions on the Brazilian agricultural sector. It stresses four issues: events outside of agriculture were central to the performance of the sector and to the timing and sequence of policy reform; reform involved far more than trade liberalization; the impact of reform on input markets and productivity was key for understanding the period; and policy reform had a highly differentiated impact on the sector. As a result of the reforms, agriculture became the most dynamic sector of the Brazilian economy in the 1990s. Policies still in need of reform are identified. (JEL O13 , Q18 )     

Publication Performance of Economists and Economics Departments in Turkey (1999–2003)

This is the first study evaluating the publication performances of economists and economics departments in Turkey. The international (article) publication performance of Turkish economic departments in general is found to be rather poor. There is a wide gap in particular between the top five universities and the economists affiliated to them and those outside the top five. The paper also provides evidence in favour of private higher education. The publication patterns of economists in Turkey are shown to be similar to those of their counterparts in the rest of the world.     

Lost Exceptionalism? Comparative Income and Productivity in Australia and the UK, 1861–1948*

Australia had one of the highest per capita incomes in the world in the late nineteenth century, although this exceptional position subsequently eroded over time. This paper compares national income and sectoral labour productivity in Australia and the UK between 1861 and 1948 to uncover the underlying sources of Australia's high income and the reasons for its subsequent relative decline. We find that the country's higher per capita income was due primarily to higher labour productivity, because labour force participation, although higher in Australia than in the USA, was lower than in the UK. Australia had a substantial labour productivity lead in agriculture throughout the period, due to the importance of high value-added, non-arable farming, and a smaller lead in industry before World War I. The early productivity lead in industry was largely based on the importance of mining, and disappeared as manufacturing became more important. There was little productivity difference in services. These results reaffirm the importance of Australia's successful exploitation of its natural resource endowments in explaining the country's high initial income.