ECONOMIC MODELLING OF SUICIDE UNDER INCOME UNCERTAINTY: FOR BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF MIDDLE‐AGED SUICIDE*

This paper formalises an individual's decision about suicide within a framework of lifetime utility maximisation models. This is in line with the literature on economic modelling of suicide. The novelty of the paper is to take into account income uncertainty. Income uncertainty reduces a risk‐averse individual's expected utility, making them more likely to commit suicide. On the other hand, income uncertainty creates a value to postponing suicide even when their income gets sufficiently low. This is because income uncertainty means that if things go well, they will get higher income in the future. Thus, income uncertainty has two opposite effects on suicidal behaviour. The main objective of this paper is to construct an economic model of suicide for investigating net impacts of income uncertainty on suicidal behaviour. For this purpose, it is assumed that the wage evolves according to a stochastic process. Then, the threshold wage, below which an individual commits suicide, is derived as a function of the parameters of the stochastic process assumed for the wage evolution. Impacts of changes in these parameters on the threshold wage are calculated. With the result, the paper shows how income uncertainty affects suicidal behaviour.     

Impact of unemployment on happiness in the United States

This study considers the level of demonstrated happiness and unhappiness, the latter measured by the conditional probability of committing suicide within groups that are facing a higher unemployment rate and those that are not. Using individual-level US data from 1989 to 2004, our findings indicate that individuals have lower rates of suicide or are ‘happy’ when they live in a state that has lower unemployment rate.     

间接税负担对收入分配的影响分析

本文利用城市住户调查资料考察了中国增值税、消费税和营业税这三项主要的间接税在不同收入群体的负担情况。我们的研究表明 ,低收入家庭收入中负担增值税和消费税的比例大于高收入家庭 ,但高收入家庭收入中负担营业税的比例大于低收入家庭。整个间接税是接近成比例负担的。间接税恶化了收入分配 ,但并不显著     

“PAY IT FORWARD” AND HIGHER EDUCATION SUBSIDIES: A MEDIAN VOTER MODEL

Since 2012, at least 24 states have considered legislation on Pay It Forward (PIF) models of higher education finance (which enable students to pay the price of college upon departure from an institution, as opposed to paying upfront tuition). This paper proposes a theoretical model of PIF policies within a framework in which voters belonging to different income groups vote over the level of subsidies to higher education. We analyze the impact of two types of potential PIF policies—a deferred tuition approach and an income share approach—on college access and on voting equilibria over subsidy levels. The results show that college access is enhanced by PIF policies. The equilibrium level of subsidies depends crucially on the pattern of income distribution, in particular on the relationship between mean income and the income of the median income group, and on whether higher education widens or narrows the distribution of income. We show that the equilibrium level of subsidies to higher education will not necessarily decline under PIF, and may increase in some circumstances due to changes in college access for low‐income groups. (JEL I22, I23)     

A fair share: Burden-sharing preferences in the United States and China

Using a sequential discrete choice experiment, we investigate preferences for distributing the economic burden of reducing CO₂ emissions in the two largest CO₂-emitting countries: the United States and China. We asked respondents about their preferences for four burden-sharing rules to reduce CO₂ emissions according to their country's relative (1) historical emissions, (2) income level, (3) emissions per capita, and (4) current emissions. We found that respondents overall favored the rule that was least costly for their country. In addition, the willingness to pay was much higher in China, suggesting that how mitigation costs are shared across countries is more important for Chinese than for Americans. To some extent the willingness to pay varies with socioeconomic characteristics and attitudes. For example, university-educated respondents in the United States are willing to pay more for the rule that is the least costly for their own country, compared with those with a lower education level. At the same time, the ranking of the two most preferred rules are generally robust across all socioeconomic groups within each country.     

机器人应用对企业内部薪酬差距的影响——基于多时点DID的实证

本文基于中国A股制造业上市公司数据,采用基于倾向得分匹配的多期双重差分法(PSM-DID)考察机器人应用对企业内部薪酬差距的影响及作用机制。结果发现,机器人应用能够显著缩小企业内部薪酬差距,在更换解释变量等一系列稳健性检验后结果依然稳健。机器人应用可通过促进企业创新及抑制盈余管理行为缩小企业内部薪酬差距,异质性检验结果表明机器人应用对企业内部薪酬差距的影响在规模更大、资本密集度更高的企业中更显著。进一步研究发现,机器人应用对企业内部薪酬差距的缩小显著表现为降低高管超额薪酬进而缩小企业内超额薪酬差距。本文研究为探索企业内部薪酬差距的治理机制提供了新视角,为我国在推动制造业转型升级的同时实现收入公平提供了重要参考。     

Job satisfaction and co-worker pay in Canadian firms

One reason to be concerned about income inequality is the idea that people care about not only their own absolute income but also their income relative to various reference groups (co-workers, friends, neighbours, relatives, etc.). We use Canadian linked employer–employee data to estimate the casual effect of co-worker pay on a worker's reported job and pay satisfaction. Since worker satisfaction can affect the worker's productivity, organizational commitment, turnover, creativity and innovation as well as the firm's productivity and profitability, this is an issue that requires more attention and careful examination. In models that control for a rich set of workplace characteristics, we find that co-worker pay has a large positive and significant effect on both pay and job satisfaction. In our preferred models with establishment-level fixed effects, the effect of co-worker pay on pay satisfaction is half as large and the effect on job satisfaction completely disappears, suggesting that part (all) of what previous studies attribute to the effect of co-worker pay on worker pay (job) satisfaction is driven by unobserved heterogeneity across firms or establishments. Our results also suggest that the effect of co-worker pay on worker satisfaction is much stronger for workers who leave their job during the following year. Finally, we find that while co-worker pay has a positive effect on pay satisfaction among Canadian-born whites, it has a negative effect among immigrants and Canadian-born visible minorities.     

农户对新农合的需求研究:一个分析框架

对农民新农合的需求作了框架性研究。运用线形扩展支出模型定量分析了农民的支付能力。农村贫困人群确实存在支付能力问题。政府应对贫困人群的合作医疗筹资给予更大的支持力度。对于绝大数农民, 关键不在于支付能力, 而在于支付意愿。对农民的支付意愿构建了国家、社区、家庭和个人的四维解释框架。在国家层面, 影响因素主要是对政府的信任程度、政府的"机构能力"以及补贴的力度大小;在社区层面, 社会资本在社区健康融资中发挥着重要作用;家庭对合作医疗的支付意愿主要取决于其对参与的成本和收益的比较, 同时, 家庭成员内部风险分担机制和家庭之间风险分担机制也会对家庭的支付意愿产生影响。支付意愿还和农民的个人特征相关。     

Impact of Taxes and Benefits on Inequality among Groups of Income Units

This paper analyzes the redistributive impact of the fiscal system and simultaneously explains how each tax and benefit instrument satisfies the principles of vertical and horizontal equity within and across different groups of income units. The decompositions of the redistributive effect are based on new axioms concerning the vertical and horizontal equity of the overall fiscal system, including taxes and benefits. The method is based on pairwise comparisons of income units and the “micro” concepts of income supremacy change, deprivation from reranking, and income distance change. The decomposition results provide more detailed insights into the income redistribution process than is typical in the literature. This is illustrated by an empirical application of the method to the Croatian scheme of personal income taxes and non‐pension social benefits, in which households are divided into two groups, those with and those without children.     

Corporate responsibility for less income inequality

This article explores corporate responsibility for less income inequality within the boundaries of the organization and with regard to society at large. Instead of examining the entire range of income distribution, the focus is on the lower and upper ends. The ‘floor’ is defined as a living wage, supported by strong economic and ethical arguments and proposed as a minimal income standard that can – and thus should – be implemented by companies. As for the ethically acceptable ‘ceiling’ of executive compensation, its identification and justification are more complicated. However, strong economic and ethical arguments can be made in favor of a drastic reduction of executive pay. Corporate responsibility for less income inequality in society means, first, to ‘walk the talk’ and set an example and, second, to being ‘a good corporate citizen’ by supporting legislation for a living wage and an ethically acceptable ceiling of executive pay.     

A Finite‐Time‐Horizon Model of Suicide When a Person's Income is at Risk: A Research Note

The risk of income fluctuations affects the suicidal behaviour. First, an increase in this risk makes risk‐averse individuals more likely to commit suicide by reducing their expected utility. Second, the increased risk makes them less likely to commit suicide by creating a value to waiting for the economic conditions to improve. I lay out a theoretical model of suicide to assess the net impact of income fluctuations on suicidal behaviour by taking into account an individual's ability to delay the action. I also address the question of whether there are generational differences in the suicidal behaviour.     

Harassment, corruption and tax policy: a comment on Marjit, Mukherjee and Mukherjee [Eur. J. Political Economy 16 (2000) 75–94]

This comment on Marjit, Mukherjee and Mukherjee [Eur. J. Political Economy 16 (2000) 75–94] shows that their basic model can be simplified by an alternative formulation. A corrupt auditor gives two choices to a taxpayer: pay bribe and evade tax or be overtaxed. Although harassment can be redressed through court, the taxpayer chooses to pay bribe. However, as this note discovers, the bribe–income ratio will critically depend on whether the taxpayer can afford the court fees. This may lead different income groups to have different preferences for corruption.     

关于分配的若干有争议问题的看法

在研究我国现阶段分配问题时应该重视研究劳动所得,不应把重点放在非劳动收入上,劳动所得可以通过按劳分配获得,也可以通过按要素分配获得。生产要素按贡献参与分配的原则不等于按生产要素分配,生产要素按贡献参与分配原则中的“贡献”是指对使用价值生产的贡献,不能用分配工作的具体形式的某些共同性模糊不同分配方式的根本区别。     

Who would pay more for a fragrance-free laundry detergent? How health information affects valuation

Fragrance allergy is a lifelong condition, and the probability of being affected increases with frequent exposure to fragrance. Currently, fragrance-free laundry detergents are not common in supermarkets. We used a contingent valuation among Austrian consumers in a within-respondent treatment to estimate how willingness to pay is influenced by health information. We found that higher income groups have a higher willingness to pay for fragrance-free detergents. Informing consumers about health impacts substantially increases this difference. Our simulation shows that lower-income groups benefit from health information only if low-priced fragrance-free detergents are available on the market.     

INCOME TAXES AND THE COMPOSITION OF PAY: EVIDENCE FROM THE BRITISH HOUSEHOLD PANEL SURVEY

According to the standard principal‐agent model, the optimal composition of pay should balance the provision of incentives with the individual demand for insurance. Do income taxes alter this balance? We show that the relative share of Performance‐related pay (PRP), on total pay is reduced by higher average and marginal income taxes. Empirical evidence based on the British Household Panel Survey is consistent with the theoretical predictions of the tax–augmented principal‐agent model. Our estimates suggest that a 10% reduction in the marginal income tax rate, holding the average tax rate constant, increases the share of PRP in total pay by 2.25–3.02%, depending on the empirical specification. Similarly, a 10% reduction in the average income tax rate, holding the marginal tax rate constant, increases the share of PRP in total pay by 5.10–5.27%.     

Household willingness to pay and income pooling: A comment

We demonstrate some problems with Munro 2005 (“Household willingness to pay equals individual willingness to pay if and only if the household income pools”, Economics Letters 88, 227-230). Furthermore, we reconsider income pooling in a slightly changed framework and prove: Income pooling implies that household willingness to pay is equal to minimal individual willingness to pay. The converse is not true.     

Decomposing World Income Distribution: Does The World Have A Middle Class?

Using the national income/expenditure distribution data from 111 countries, we decompose total inequality between the individuals in the world, by continents and regions. We use Yitzhaki's Gini decomposition which allows for an exact breakdown of the Gini. We find that Asia is the most heterogeneous continent; between-country inequality is much more important than inequality in incomes within countries. At the other extreme is Latin America where differences between the countries are small, but inequalities within the countries are large. Western Europe/North America is fairly homogeneous both in terms of countries' mean incomes and income differences between individuals. If we divide the world population into three groups: the rich (those with incomes greater than Italy's mean income), the poor (those with incomes less than Western countries' poverty line), and the middle class, we find that there are only 11 percent of people who are "world middle class"; 78 percent are poor, and 11 percent are rich.     

对我国结构性减税问题的思考

本文认为,结构性减税就是要在税收总规模不变甚至适当增加的前提下，削减一些特定纳税人或特定税收项目的税负，其中最主要的是要削减中低收入者缴纳或负担的税收；在减税的方案上，主要是降低对人民衣食住行课征的增值税和营业税并全面推开“营改增”，适时调减企业所得税税率，并在工薪个人所得税制度中加进个性化的费用扣除标准。上述降税的收入损失可以通过提高消费税和个人所得税最高税率的办法加以弥补。     

The Institutionalist Perspective on Recent Theories of Direct Foreign Investment: A Comment on McClintock

This article holistically addresses the effective (relative) income tax contribution of a given income (or, wealth) group. The widely acclaimed standard in public policy is the absolute benefaction of a given income group in filling up the fiscal coffers. Instead, we focus on the ratio of the average income tax rate of an income group divided by the percentage of national income (or wealth) appropriated by the same income group. In turn, we develop the Fiscal Inequality Coefficient which compares the effective percentage income tax payments of pairs of income (or wealth) groups. Using data for the United States, we concentrate on pairs such as the Bottom 90% versus Top 10%, Bottom 99% versus Top 1%, and Bottom 99.9% versus Top 0.1%. We conclude that policy makers with a strong social conscience should re-evaluate the progressivity of the income tax system and make the richest echelons of the income and wealth distributions pay a fairer and higher tax.     

人工智能技术创新缩小了性别收入差距吗？——基于中国家庭追踪调查的经验分析

人工智能技术创新在提高制造业生产效率的同时,也在重塑行业内劳动力市场中不同群体的“技能-技术”匹配关系和收入分配。本文基于中国家庭追踪调查(CFPS)数据考察人工智能技术创新对制造业性别收入差距的影响,并从理论上探讨其内在影响机理。研究发现：(1)技术进步扩大了行业中的性别工资差距,但使整体工资水平趋于上升；(2)技术进步使低技能群体的性别收入差距缩小,但却扩大了高技能群体的性别收入差距；(3)制造业中人工智能技术创新主要通过教育程度、行业内性别偏好、女性精细化能力优势以及低技能工作对体力技能需求下降的方式影响性别工资差距。