SIZE DISTRIBUTION OF WORKERS' HOUSEIIOLD INCOME AND MACROECONOMIC ACTIVITIES IN JAPAN: 1963–88

An attempt is made to examine empirically the relationship between the size distribution of workers' household incomes and the variables expressing macroeconomic activities. As a preliminary implementation, the income shares are first estimated by decile groups and several subdivided top income groups. Applying Blinder and Esaki's regression approach to the estimated data, the ratio of job offers to applicants, inflation rate, and the terms of trade arc found to significantly affect the distribution. Of these variables, the terms of trade should be taken into account to ascertain precisely the income distribution in Japan where foreign trade heavily affects economic conditions.     

THE SIZE DISTRIBUTION OF INCOME DURING INFLATION

This paper analyzes the effects of inflation on the size distribution of income, making use of a microsimulation model. It goes beyond earlier analyses not only in the use of microdata but also in the types of inflation modeled. Two different income concepts are used, one the money income concept of the U.S. Census Bureau and the second, called Accrued Comprehensive Income, based on the concept of income as consumption plus the change in net worth. The results of the simulation inflations are presented graphically, as the ratio of real income with inflation to real income without, by income class. The analysis concludes that the income concept chosen is crucially important. While low income households suffer modest losses and middle income households are largely unaffected, whatever income concept is used, the effects on upper income households are extremely sensitive. With a simple money income concept, the well-to-do appear to benefit from inflation but a broader concept reverses this effect. A policy to negate the distributional effect of inflation would benefit primarily the upper income households. Similarly, macroeconomic policies designed to reduce inflation at the price of slower growth and greater unemployment would not aid lower income groups to a significant degree.     

中国寿险需求实证分析

本文对国内外的寿险需求分析研究进行了简单综述，在此基础上抽取全目30省市1998—2003年的数据．采取面板数据模型就收入、通货膨胀、社会保障、银行利率、死亡率等寿险需求影响因素与保费收入相关性作了Granger因果性检验分析。     

The Equity of Alternative Policies for the Australian Homeowner*

The income-tax treatment of homeowners and renters is an important instrument of national housing policy. Major changes in the treatment of homeowners occurred in 1975 and 1976; the second change focused especially on the problems of first-buyers and was coincident with an expanded home-savings grant scheme. As a further reform several writers have advocated the taxation of the rent imputed to homeowners. This paper develops a user cost of capital approach to estimate the distribution of housing costs along the income scale and between policy alternatives. The model indicates the vital importance of accounting for inflation whenever physical housing costs are inflating but mortgage costs are fixed in nominal terms. Although inflation is increasing housing costs at all income levels, high-income homeowners appear to be suffering the greatest cost increases as the result of inflation. Furthermore, unless mortgages are indexed, the customary imputed-rent formula is regressive.     

Human capital and income inequality in India: is there a non-linear and asymmetric relationship?

The article attempts to provide empirical evidence on the relationship between human capital and income inequality in India in a non-linear and asymmetric framework. To capture both long-run and short-run asymmetries, we have employed the non-linear autoregressive distributed lag approach using the relevant data from 1970 to 2016. Findings of the article suggest that education expansion acts as a major factor in reducing prevailing high income inequality, that is an increase in average years of schooling results in more equal distribution of income. In contrast, high economic growth, inflation and trade openness create unequal distribution of income. The asymmetric causality test results indicate that there is unidirectional causality running from female human capital, economic growth and inflation to income inequality. From a policy perspective, we suggest that education expansion should be used as a powerful tool to mitigate income inequality by emphasizing the quality of education. At the same time, policies geared towards social benefits, inclusive education, training for unskilled workers and price stability should be encouraged to attain fair income distribution in India.     

Inequality and the business cycle: A consumption viewpoint

Using Consumer Expenditure Survey data, we obtain summary measures of the distributions of income and consumption for each quarter between 1980 and 1994. We find that the trends in the distribution of income and consumption and the response of these trends to changes in inflation and unemployment were similar during this period. We find that unemployment does not significantly affect the inequality measures and that inflation has a progressive effect, i.e., that a decrease in inflation is associated with an increase in inequality. Finally, we find that the relationship between inequality and macroeconomic variables during the 1990s may be similar to the relationship that existed prior to 1980. First version received: September 1996/final version received: September 1997     

Inflation,tax rules,and the prices of land and gold

Traditional theory implies that the relative price of consumer goods and of such real assets as land and gold should not be permanently affected by the rate of inflation. A change in the general rate of inflation should, in equilibrium, cause an equal change in the rate of inflation for each asset price. The experience of the past decade has been very different from the predictions of this theory: the prices of land, gold, and other such stores of value have increased by substantially more than the general price level. The present paper presents a simple theoretical model that explains the positive relation between the rate of inflation and the relative price of such real assets. More specifically, in an economy with an income tax, an increase in the expected rate of inflation causes an immediate increase in the relative price of such ‘store of value’ real assets. The behavior of real asset prices discussed in this paper is thus a further example of the non-neutral response of capital markets to inflation in an economy with income taxes.     

THE EFFECTS OF MACROECONOMIC FLUCTUATIONS ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF INCOME*

This study develops a microanalytic simulation model to examine the effects of macroeconomic fluctuations on the distribution on the distribution of income. A representational sample of the population of the United States is linked with equations determining the variability of various types of factor income. Each family's income experience is simulated under alternative aggregate conditions, and the income distributions arising under these conditions are compared. The main results are similar for alternative specifications of the model. The incidence of a downturn in economic activity, whether accompanied by changes in the rate of inflation or not, and measured in terms of the loss of factor income, leaves the upper middle class relatively better off than before and leaves most others relatively worse off. The very rich bear the heaviest burden.     

A Note on the Taxation of International Capital Income Flows

Seemingly persuasive arguments can be made to suggest that income from foreign-owned capital should be taxed by a small open economy and that it should not be taxed I show that the case for taxing foreign capital income as part of an 'optimal' tax scheme rests on the assumption that tax rates on other forms of income are not set optimally. In particular, if economic profit is not fully taxed, a tax on foreign capital income is desirable. If all tax rates are set optimally, foreign capital income should not be taxed by the capital-importing country.     

Inflation and income distribution in Central America,Mexico, Panama,and the Dominican Republic

Analyses of the impact of inflation on income distribution typically only consider the general inflation rate. However, when the consumption structure of households is shaped by its income level and inflation varies across goods and services, they are affected differently by inflation. The aim of this study is to contribute to the analysis of this effect in Central American countries (Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica), Panama, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic (CAPMDR) for the period 2007–2018. According to our findings, there have been significant differences in the inflation rates faced by different income groups. By employing these percentile‐specific inflation rates, we have computed an “inflation‐corrected Gini index.” This adjustment is important because although inequality has been decreasing during past years in the countries in our sample, on average, about half of the gains observed using the standard Gini index are lost once the Gini indices are corrected for inflation, a clearly nonnegligible magnitude.     

通货膨胀时期的税收效应解析

通货膨胀是一种经济现象,一旦通货膨胀发生,它会对经济生活产生多方面的消极影响,对政府税收产生多重效应,使政府的所得课税、产品课税、储蓄课税等,都会产生通货膨胀效应,导致税收分配格局的改变.当通货膨胀发生时,政府必须调整相应的税收政策,消除通货膨胀对税收的影响,这是建设和谐社会的客观要求.     

通货膨胀预期与通货膨胀加速的关系及治理对策

将预期引入通货膨胀理论研究,是现代通货膨胀理论的一个重大贡献。通货膨胀预期作为一种主观心理要素已成为客观通货膨胀的"助推剂"与"加速器"。稳定并消除通货膨胀预期,遏止通货膨胀加速,不仅要从生产、流通、分配、消费四个领域加大力度,还要使通货膨胀预期收益不断降低。不断提高劳动者的工资收入,使之指数化、法制化则是遏止通货膨胀的根本之策。     

The Well-Being Cost of Inflation Inequalities

In terms of well-being, how costly is inflation? To answer this question, empirical evaluations have typically studied average inflation rates at the national level, thus disregarding the role of inflation inequalities within a country. In this article, we relax the assumptions that heterogeneous consumers face homogeneous inflation rates, and study the correlation between price changes and self-reported satisfaction with living standards. We use newly available data from France and adopt two approaches. First, we focus on individually perceived inflation and use the internationally harmonized Opinion Price Index as a proxy for experienced inflation. Variations in perceived inflation help predict well-being differences among consumers, even when controlling for relevant sociodemographic factors, personality traits, and common method variance. We estimate their marginal impact to be higher than equivalent variations in nominal income. Second, we compare groups of consumers over time and find that changes in the price of a good disproportionately affect the relative well-being of those who consume it. The study shows that the well-being cost of the inflation crisis would be underestimated if looking at aggregate figures only.     

The convergence of inflation rates in the EU-12 area: A distribution dynamics approach

This paper provides an assessment of Euro area inflation dynamics based on the distribution dynamics approach. It is found that raw series and trends have converged, although the convergence process has not been constant over time. Inflation cycles still lack of synchronization over short time horizons. In search for an economic explanation for cyclical inflation dynamics, the paper suggests that country-specific labor market institutions are likely to affect inflation outcomes above all in high inflation countries. Moreover, the cyclical inflation divergence arises from output fluctuations.     

Income inequality and inflation: the cross-country evidence

Different strands of the political economy approach to macroeconomic policy imply a link between income inequality and inflation. This article tests this proposition using a newly assembled data set on income distribution. The results show that income inequality is associated with higher inflation. This association, although not economically large, holds for democracies as well as nondemocracies. Sensitivity analysis suggests that the results are not due to measurement error, reverse causation, or omitted variables.     

Aggregate demand, conflict and capacity in the inflationary process

This paper focuses on an alternative perspective on inflationto that of the non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment(NAIRU). It indicates that there are no automatic forces leadingto a level of aggregate demand consistent with constant inflation.Inflationary pressures arise from conflict over income shares,and from cost elements, with the price of raw materials, especiallyoil, being the most important. There are supply-side factorsimpinging on the inflationary process, which arise from thelevel of productive capacity (relative to aggregate demand).The supply-side constraints are viewed as arising from capacityconstraints, rather than from the operation of the labour market.     

Gross national happiness as an answer to the Easterlin Paradox?

The Easterlin Paradox refers to the fact that happiness data are typically stationary in spite of considerable increases in income. This amounts to a rejection of the hypothesis that current income is the only argument in the utility function. We find that the happiness responses of around 350,000 people living in the OECD between 1975 and 1997 are positively correlated with the level of income, the welfare state and (weakly) with life expectancy; they are negatively correlated with the average number of hours worked, environmental degradation (measured by SOx emissions), crime, openness to trade, inflation and unemployment; all controlling for country and year dummies. These effects separate across groups in a pattern that appears broadly plausible (e.g., the rich suffer environmental degradation more than the poor). Based on actual changes from 1975 to 1997, small contributions to happiness can be attributed to the increase in income in our sample. Interestingly, the actual changes in several of the ‘omitted variables’ such as life expectancy, hours worked, inflation and unemployment also contribute to happiness over this time period since life expectancy has risen and the others have, on average, fallen. Consequently the unexplained trend in happiness is even bigger than would be predicted if income was the only argument in the utility function. In other words, introducing omitted variables worsens the income-without-happiness paradox.     

技术创新的中等收入分配效应:原创还是引进再创新

文章从理论与实证两个层面分析技术原创及技术引进再创新对中等收入群体的影响,以全面探究技术创新的收入分配效应.研究发现:技术原创改善了收入分配状况,即技术原创促使技术进步偏向于劳动,以提高劳动收入份额与扩大中等收入群体,能有效地发挥技术原创的收入分配效应;长期内,技术引进不利于改善收入分配状况,即技术引进的收入分配效应相当有限,且不显著;而技术引进再创新会恶化收入分配状况,即技术引进再创新使技术进步偏向于资本,资本逆转与逆向溢出较为严重,这会抑制中等收入群体的扩大,造成技术引进再创新对收入分配的效应失效.文章为创新驱动发展模式下技术创新的收入分配效应分析提供了参考,也为技术原创还是引进再创新对收入分配的影响提供了明确的政策含义.     

国内外隐性收入比较研究及范式创新

隐性收入是商品经济发展的产物,是世界各国共同存在的问题。当前我国社会中存在大量的非公开隐性收入,但无法反映在调查数据中,结果是显著扩大了收入差距,扭曲了国民收入分配。巨额隐性收入的"灰色效应"包括经济失衡效应、社会矛盾效应、政治风险效应、学术失真效应。必须坚决治理隐性收入、调节社会分配差距,才能消除上述"灰色效应"。因此,构建一个较系统、全面的隐性收入分析框架,具有重要的理论和现实意义。博弈论是分析人与人之间的关系和行为的理论,而隐性收入亦是由不同利益关系的个人和群体的交易行为所产生。博弈论可以作为分析社会隐性收入的分析工具。因此,可以构建交叉学科研究的新范式,运用经济博弈论来剖析隐性收入成因,建立系统的隐性收入分析框架,为治理隐性收入提供理论参考。     

Minidevaluations and indexed wages: The Brazilian experience in the seventies

This paper examines how financing a deficit in the trade balance permitted Brazil to increase her productive capacity during the last decade. The model presented brings into the center of the argument the question of the division of output between the classes of society stressing the political element in economic development. It incorporates indexed wages and their interplay with minidevaluations together with the effects these policies had on growth, inflation and the functional distribution of income, during the last decade. The persistent surplus of imports has led to debt payments that already put a burden on the balance of payments. Policies available for adjusting the Brazil foreign accounts are discussed.