Virtual special issue on urban development

This virtual special issue of Spatial Economic Analysis marks the keynote lecture at the 47th Annual Conference of the Regional Science Association International – British and Irish Section in Harrogate by Professor Bob Stimson of the University of Queensland, Australia. With over half the world’s population now living in urban areas, which according to the United Nations is expected rise to 66% by 2050, the theme of Professor Stimson’s lecture – urban development – is of critical importance. Cities provide significant opportunities for economic growth and development as long as urban design models are not only effective but also sustainable, inclusive and equitable. This virtual special issue draws together 10 articles from earlier issues of the journal, which inform a successful urban design agenda.     

Workplace heterogeneity and wage inequality in Denmark

Wage inequality is on the rise in most developed economies, and this phenomenon has fostered a growing body of research on its potential drivers. Using German data over the period 1985–2009, Card et al. (The Quarterly Journal of Economics 2013, 128(3), 967-1015) argue that rising workplace heterogeneity has contributed substantially to the rise in wage inequality. I revisit their findings in two ways. First, because the generalization of their findings remains an open question, I apply their methodological approach to Danish register data and test whether rising workplace heterogeneity explains a significant share of the rise in wage inequality in Denmark. I find that, contrary to Germany, workplace heterogeneity remained practically stable over time, and this pattern contributed slightly negatively to the rise in wage inequality. Second, I complement Card et al.'s (2013) methods with the variance decomposition exercise proposed by Song et al. (2019) to identify more precisely the sources of the rise in wage inequality in Denmark. Although the rise in wage inequality is partly a between-establishment phenomenon, I show that the strengthening of assortative matching patterns and the rising heterogeneity of workers within establishments are the main drivers of growing inequality.     

Corruption, economic growth, and income inequality in Africa

This paper uses panel data from African countries and a dynamic panel estimator to investigate the effects of corruption on economic growth and income distribution. I find that corruption decreases economic growth directly and indirectly through decreased investment in physical capital. A unit increase in corruption reduces the growth rates of GDP and per capita income by between 0.75 and 0.9 percentage points and between 0.39 and 0.41 percentage points per year respectively. The results also indicate that increased corruption is positively correlated with income inequality. The combined effects of decreased income growth and increased inequality suggests that corruption hurts the poor more than the rich in African countries. Received: March 19, 2001 / Accepted: December 14, 2001 RID="*" ID="*" An earlier version of this paper was presented at the first AmFiTan International Conference on Development Ethics in February 2000, Dar er Salaam, Tanzania. I thank two anonymous referees of this Journal for helpful suggestions. I am, however, solely responsible for any remaining errors.     

农民的工资性收入问题探析

当前工资性收入的不断快速增长成为农民收入增长的一个重要渠道。农民工资性收入增长同时受到劳动力素质的制约,存在就业困难的现象,所以工资性收入的水平也就较低,并且增长的速度也较为缓慢等。怎样可以增加农民工资性的收入问题,就要优化调整农村整体的经济结构,促进发展农民的密集型产业,分配好剩余价值以及调整与工资之间的关系,从而提高农民的工资收入,此外,还应逐步的加强完善和改革农民的就业制度以及农民的文化教育等方面,为就业创造出更多的条件。     

产业转型、就业结构调整与收入分配

本文通过对比中国非农就业的行业分布和收入增长1995—2013年期间四个时间点上的情况,用布朗分解方法分析了收入增长的原因,重点考察了行业分布变化所代表的产业结构调整对收入增长的贡献作用。研究结果表明,中国劳动收入增长的主要原因是市场化改革所带来的收入机制的完善,低技能劳动力的大量供给使中国产业结构向低技能低收入的方向倾斜发展,这不利于整体收入的增长和分配。近年来产业转型对收入增长的贡献作用开始加强,这会成为新时期中国劳动收入的新增长点。     

ESTIMATION OF PROBABILITY MODELS FROM INCOME CLASS DATA

Abstract. Many household surveys report income by a limited number of classes only. In Engel curve analyses of such data, income is usually equated to the class midpoint. We argue that it is better to specify a continuous income distribution over the entire range, and to estimate its parameters jointly with the Engel curve coefficients; the position of the dependent variable within income classes is sufficiently informative about the income distribution parameters. The method is illustrated for a simple logit model of automobile ownership. The effect on estimation is perceptible, but not impressive; further analysis suggests that the standard method is acceptable provided some care is taken over the income class limits at the lower end of the range.     

Testing neoclassical convergence in regional incomes and earnings

The time-series properties of per capita income and per capita earnings in the regions of the United States are tested for consistency with the neoclassical growth model's prediction of convergence. We find evidence for per capita income convergence for U.S. regions during the 1929–1990 period after allowing for a trend break in 1946. These findings support the neoclassical model's prediction of convergence. The evidence for per capita earnings convergence is, however, less conclusive. Shocks to per capita earnings are found to be more persistent than shocks to per capita income. This implies that the regional distribution of transfer payments tends to smooth the effects of deviation on relative regional per capita earnings and reinforce trends in per capita income convergence.     

金融发展对收入分配的影响渠道分析

文章从金融发展方面入手,首先剖析了金融发展对收入分配可能的作用机制,指出主要有三种路径:经济增长路径,金融服务路径和金融危机路径;文章最后提出我国金融发展中的相关问题及建议。     

The negative impact of barriers to entry on income inequality

Barriers to entry such as fees, licensing, or educational requirements make it more difficult to start businesses. Problematically, many barriers to entry are due to regulatory capture and serve only to benefit incumbent firms. These regulations, which are created by government, often make it exceedingly difficult for low-income individuals to start new businesses, denying individuals access to higher-paying occupations. I estimate two models and find that barriers to entry increase income inequality. A one-point decrease in the World Bank's ease of starting a business score equates to a 0.15–1.25-point increase in the Gini coefficient.     

A new continuous distribution and two new families of distributions based on the exponential

Recent work on social status led to derivation of a new continuous distribution based on the exponential. The new variate, termed the ring(2)-exponential, in turn leads to derivation of two closely related new families of continuous distributions, the mirror-exponential and the ring-exponential. Both the standard exponential and the ring(2)-exponential are special cases of both the new families. In this paper, we first focus on the ring(2)-exponential, describing its derivation and examining its properties, and next introduce the two new families, describing their derivation and initiating exploration of their properties. The mirror-exponential arises naturally in the study of status; the ring-exponential arises from the mathematical structure of the ring(2)-exponential. Both have the potential for broad application in diverse contexts across science and engineering. Within sociobehavioral contexts, the new mirror-exponential may have application to the problem of approximating the form and inequality of the wage distribution.     

Does Evidence on Regional Economic Convergence Depend on the Estimation Strategy? Outcomes from Analysis of a Set of NUTS2 EU Regions

Abstract

The regional economic convergence/divergence issue has been discussed extensively recently, but results obtained are not always interpretable unequivocally as a consequence of the different estimation strategies used. As it is widely recognized, the most common theoretical framework applied to measure the speed of economic convergence among countries or regions remains the β-convergence approach, linked to the neoclassical Solow model. There have been many attempts to consider variations of the basic cross-sectional specification ranging from panel data models to Bayesian spatial econometric techniques. The application of spatial econometric methodologies is an essential tool for proper statistical inference on regional data. In this context, the aim of this paper is to connect the different results obtained in the literature. More specifically, we address whether or not evidence on convergence depends upon the estimation strategy, by taking the same set of data and systematically comparing the results obtained from different estimation strategies. The results from a set of NUTS2 EU regions conclude that both the model implied by the cross-sectional analysis and the one referring to the space-time dynamics incorporated in the panel specification point to convergence. The concept of convergence implied is, however, quite different, as demonstrated throughout the paper.     

贸易自由化与城乡收入差距关系的实证分析

贸易开放后,因贸易开放而扩张的部门所密集使用的生产要素将得到更多的收益,因贸易开放而收缩的部门所密集使用的生产要素收益将会减少,收入差距因此而发生变化。然而,贸易自由化对城乡收入差距产生的影响并不确定。文章选取1995年-2007年的数据为样本,分析贸易自由化对城乡收入差距影响,以实证方法得出贸易自由化是城乡收入差距扩大的原因。     

关于我国当前收入分配差距扩大的分析及其影响

中国的经济经过二十多年的改革开放,得到令世界瞩目的成绩的同时,也出现了收入分配差距扩大,贫富分化的令人不安的现象。在经济发展的同时,城乡之间,地区之间,城镇居民之间的收入差距迅速进一步拉大,这显然不利于实现"十六大"全面小康共同富裕的目标,也妨碍了经济的发展潜力。要解决这一问题,必须调整现有的分配格局,配合税收主业等相关政策。     

中国现阶段收入分配差距扩大化的问题探讨和对策研究

收入分配是民生之源,事关老百姓的切身利益;合理的收入分配局面是国家长治久安的保证,也是社会和谐稳定的基础。本文在详细分析了我国收入分配差距的现状和影响的基础上,抽象概括出了收入分配差距扩大的原因,并对如何解决我国收入分配差距问题提出了几点建议。     

湖北省收入分配差距的实证分析

本文以湖北省数据为基础,对全体居民收入分配的基尼系数进行测算;然后通过回归分析得出影响全体居民收入差距的主要因素,并对这些因素进行分析,得出结论:要缩小全省居民的收入差距,应该从缩小城乡居民收入差距和扩大农村居民非农产业收入这两个方面入手。     

The effect of minimum wage hikes on employment: Evidence from regional panel data from Romania

Minimum wage hikes aim to increase the income of low-wage workers and improve their labour market participation. However, there are concerns that large increases may reduce employment, especially in countries where minimum wages increased quickly and whose competitiveness depends, at least partly, on low production costs. This study examines the employment effect of large increases in the minimum wage in Romania between 2008 and 2016. It uses regional (NUTS III) data and dynamic panel methods. The results do not support the hypothesis that minimum wage hikes reduce employment. They are robust to the use of different econometric methods, plausible variations of the specification and definitions of the key variables. Moreover, the results suggest insignificant effects even for low wage, less developed or high unemployment regions.     

精力分配视角下婚姻和生育对性别工资差别的影响研究

本文基于中国综合社会调查2008年微观数据,考察“高学历”群体中婚姻、生育对性别收入差异的影响。研究发现,婚姻使性别工资差异的系数扩大了44％;生育对性别工资差异的贡献度达到12．3％;男性仍具有人力资本投资优势,主要表现在工作时间和工龄上。这表明改变传统的家庭精力分配模式,增加女性在劳动力市场中的精力和实践,才能真正改变劳动力市场中性别差异。     

国有部门与非国有部门的工资差异及影响因素研究

基于CGSS数据,利用Heckman样本选择模型对中国国有部门与非国有部门的工资差异和影响因素进行系统研究。回归结果显示,国有部门员工的教育收益率高于非国有部门,教育收益率与学历水平呈现正相关关系,与非国有部门相比,国有部门中大学本科及以上学历员工的教育收益率更高。工资差异分解结果表明,两部门全样本工资差异中市场歧视占比高于特征差异占比,与全样本相比,大学本科及以上学历员工的工资总差异和特征差异占比更高,系数差异占比更低,说明高学历群体中部门间工资差异更为明显,而且两部门中仍存在较严重的劳动力市场分割和就业歧视问题。因此,政府应努力消除劳动力的流动性障碍,深化国有部门市场化改革,制定更为合理的工资机制,以促进中国经济的持续健康稳定增长。     

论中国社会分配领域的收入差距问题

改革开放以来,中国的经济获得了前所未有的发展,人民的生活水平日益提高。但是,在高速发展的经济下,中国当前社会分配领域的收入的差距也越来越大,出现了贫富分化的趋势,中国的基尼系数近些年来一直在0.4之上。文中分析了中国社会分配领域收入差距的现状,及中国收入差距产生的原因;认为处理中国社会分配领域的收入差距问题,既要考虑市场经济的分配原则,也要考虑社会主义的分配原则,不断完善中国的分配制度和再分配制度。     

连锁经营企业构建虚拟配送中心的探讨

在连锁经营企业中,物流配送是其能够保持正常运作的核心.本文分析了配送中心在连锁经营企业中的作用,探讨了目前我国连锁经营企业多个配送中心并存情况下引发的问题,在此基础上提出了虚拟配送中心的概念,并具体分析了虚拟配送中心在连锁经营配送中的优点,进而得出虚拟配送中心是连锁经营企业配送中心未来的发展趋势.