Has Labor Income Become More Volatile? Evidence from International Industry‐Level Data

Changes in labor market institutions and the increasing integration of the world economy may affect the volatility of capital and labor incomes. This article documents and analyzes changes in income volatility using data for 11 industrialized countries, 22 industries and 35 years (1970–2004). The article has four main findings. First, the unconditional volatility of labor income has declined in parallel to the decline in macroeconomic volatility. Second, the industry‐specific, idiosyncratic component of labor income volatility has hardly changed. Third, cross‐sectional heterogeneity is substantial. If anything, the labor incomes of high‐ and low‐skilled workers have become more volatile relative to the volatility of capital incomes. Fourth, the volatility of labor income relative to the volatility of capital income declines in the labor share. Trade openness has no clear‐cut impact.     

A CGE model of 'Dutch disease' economics in Taiwan

A computable general equilibrium (CGE) model of Dutch disease economics in Taiwan's economy is established in order to examine the impacts of the imbalanced growth in output, endogenous learning effects from imports and exports and the import tariff reduction. Twenty-nine industry sectors and five quintiles of households are taken to measure the changes in industry structure and functional distribution of income. An imbalanced growth, either from output or exports, contributes to the reduction in the share of manufacturing industry, but the deterioration in the functional distribution of income only happens to an imbalanced growth in intersectoral output. A widespread trade liberalization policy helps to mitigate the Dutch disease phenomenon in the sense that de-industrialization and deterioration of the distribution of income by an imbalanced growth in manufacturing industry are not so severe.     

A Spatial Modelling Framework for Income Estimation

Abstract

The main aim of this paper is to provide a spatial modelling framework for income estimation through the application of a contemporary spatial analysis technique. The application refers to the modelling of mean recorded household income in the area covered by the postcodes of the municipality of Athens in 2001. The main findings suggest that there is a very strong relationship between the proportion of people with a postgraduate qualification (namely, a Master's degree or PhD) and mean household income. Furthermore, there is evidence that this relationship is not stationary across space. This finding allows a better understanding as well as modelling of the main determinants of income in Athens.     

Labor supply in urban China

Using labor supply responses from 10,560 urban Chinese workers, two-stage least squares estimations identify positive compensated wage effects and negative income effects that are, for the most part, statistically significant. The gross wage effects are mostly positive but they indicate relatively low uncompensated labor supply elasticities. The compensated wage effects are much larger; these may be important in assessing the labor market consequences of reform policies that monetize non-pecuniary benefits. The significance of labor supply responses depends on individual responsibilities within the family; the effects are largest for women and non-household heads. Journal of Comparative Economics 31 (4) (2003) 795–817.     

Fuzzy measurement of income inequality: Some possibility results on the fuzzification of the lorenz ordering

Summary This paper starts from the premise that the concept of income inequality is ill-defined, and hence, it studies the measurement of income inequality from a fuzzy set theoretical point of view. It is argued that the standard (fuzzy) transitivity concepts are not compatible with fuzzy inequality orderings which respect Lorenz ordering. For instance, we show that there does not exist a max-min transitive fuzzy relation on a given income distribution space which ranks distributions unambiguously according to the Lorenz criterion whenever they can actually be ranked by it. Weakening the imposed transitivity concept, it is possible to escape from the noted impossibility theorems. We introduce some alternative transitivity concepts for fuzzy relations, and subsequently, construct a class of fuzzy orderings which preserve Lorenz ordering and satisfy these alternative transitivities. It is also shown that fuzzy measurement can be used to construct confidence intervals for the crisp conclusions of inequality indices.I wish to thank Ashish Banerjee, Kaushik Basu, Larry Blume, Gary Fields, Semih Koray, Tapan Mitra, Antony Shorrocks, Sinan Unur and two anonymous referees of this journal for insighthul comments and suggestions. I am also grateful to the participants of the 1993 Midwest Mathematical Economics Conference held in University of Wisconsin at Madison and the 2nd International Meeting of the Society for Social Choice and Welfare held in University of Rochester.     

基于收入分布的收入差距扩大成因的分解

本文采用核平滑化的半参方法估计了1987年、1996年、2004年我国城市居民收入分布曲线,并且基于收入分布又进一步分解了导致城市居民收入差距扩大的主要原因。收入差距扩大的成因可以分为两类:一是劳动者的劳动力特点的普遍变化,如劳动者教育水平的提高,行业、职业分布的变化;二是对劳动力特点回报率的变化,如教育回报率的提高,各行业、职业回报率差异的扩大等。本文发现后者是导致收入差距扩大的主要原因。     

How 'modern' is the modern apprenticeship?

Despite the fact that some sectors of industry are facing major skills shortages, the Scottish labour market continues to be characterised by occupational segregation and a large disparity between the wages of women and men. The concentration of individuals in occupations and training based on their gender effectively restricts the pool of potential recruits to industry and is unlikely to make the best use of human capital. Moreover, it obstructs the pursuit of gender equality by reinforcing the gender pay gap and restricting individual career choices. This paper reports on the government's flagship training policy, the Modern Apprenticeship programme, from a gender perspective. It concludes that, ten years on from its introduction, the scheme represents something of a 'missed opportunity' to tackle occupational segregation and its deleterious effects in the wider economy and in society at large. It is recommended that the government and organisations involved in the development and delivery of Modern Apprenticeships adopt a more conscious and cohesive approach to promoting non-traditional choices at the vocational level.     

Trade raises income: a precise and robust result

Does international trade promote income? Earlier studies could not provide conclusive evidence. This paper re-examines this question. Following previous work, we treat trade as endogenous and use geography to instrument for trade. We use a richer data set that allows us to estimate the impact of trade on income with much greater precision. We also show that geographical controls must enter the income equation to avoid bias. We find that countries that trade more reach higher levels of income. This result is remarkably robust to a wide array of geographical and institutional controls.     

经济增长与收入再分配对湖北省农村贫困变动的影响

本文通过对湖北省否受益并相关结论贫困变动由人均收入水平和收入分配不平等程度两个因素共同决定。贫困变动的增长再分配分解，考察1997—2003年间如上两个因素村贫困变动的影响方向和程度，进而分析在经济增长过程中穷人是算和比较基尼系数，考察在此期间农村居民的收入分配状况，得出对农测。     

规范收入分配秩序 推进收入分配改革

改革开放三十多年来,中国居民收入大幅增长,但分配失衡的问题也日益凸显。收入分配秩序是否合理直接关系到收入分配的结果是否公平,关系到经济增长的好处能否有效地惠及各个阶层。因此,本文认为推进收入分配改革,首先应规范收入分配秩序。本文采用对比分析和实证分析的方法,总结出当前我国收入分配秩序中存在的主要问题:垄断行业工资过高、公务员工资制度不合理,灰色收入多,农民工工资低且拖欠现象严重,税收调节力度不够。最终提出了规范当前收入分配秩序的政策建议。