Growth and inequality: Dependence on the time path of productivity increases (and other structural changes)

This paper examines the significance of the time path of a given productivity increase on growth and inequality. Whereas the time path impacts only the transitional paths of aggregate quantities, it has both transitional and permanent consequences for wealth and income distribution. Hence, the growth-inequality tradeoff generated by a given discrete increase in productivity contrasts sharply with that obtained when the same productivity increase occurs gradually. The latter can generate a Kuznets-type relationship between inequality and per-capita income. Our results suggest that economies with similar aggregate structural characteristics may have different outcomes for income and wealth inequality, depending on the nature of the productivity growth path.     

我国城镇正规就业与非正规就业工资差异的实证研究——基于分位数回归与分解的发现

本文利用2009年CHNS数据对我国城镇正规就业与非正规就业的工资差异进行实证研究,分位数回归与分解的结果表明:正规就业与非正规就业的教育回报率的差异,随工资分布由低端到高端呈现先升后降趋势,经验—工资线在正规就业与非正规就业明显不同,前者为单调递增的线性关系,后者为倒"U"形曲线关系;正规就业与非正规就业的工资差异主要是由中低端的工资差异引起的;在工资分布中低端和歧视等非市场因素是工资差异的主要原因,而在工资分布高端,工资差异主要来自于教育和经验等个人禀赋差异。     

再议因患寡而患不均:中国家庭住宅权属差异及其对内需增长的影响

住宅权属差异导致了家庭住宅财富差异,进而影响了家庭消费偏好.本文基于一个非住宅耐用品消费决策的随机最优控制模型,采用1991—2006年 CHNS 数据并运用动态面板数据模型,考察了家庭住宅权属差异对耐用品消费的影响.本文的主要发现是,同理论预期一致,自有住宅家庭的耐用品消费明显高于租住房屋家庭,而且住宅权属消费效应随着家庭脆弱性增强而下降.本文的政策含义是要通过降低家庭脆弱性、创新保障性住房分配模式来缩小居民住宅权属差异和促进消费增长     

Intra-regional Wage Inequality in Portugal

Abstract

Studies on intra-regional inequality are scarce, particularly for European countries. This paper aims at further investigating inequality by focusing on wage differences within regions. We consider the case of Portugal, which is considered one of the countries with the highest level of economic inequality. In particular, we analyse the evolution of intra-regional wage inequality between 1995 and 2005, employing a quantile-based decomposition method. Our results show that wage inequality evolution has been different across the various regions, increasing in some regions and decreasing in others. Different changes in the workforce composition explain these diverse developments.     

Does CSR contribute to the development of rural young people in cultural tourism of sub-Saharan Africa? Evidence from the Niger Delta in Nigeria

ABSTRACT

We assess the impact of a new corporate social responsibility (CSR) model of multinational oil companies on the development of rural young people (RYP) in cultural tourism in the Niger Delta of Nigeria. Six hundred RYP were sampled across the rural Niger Delta region. Using the logit model, results indicate that RYP have remained widely excluded from the General Memorandum of Understandings (GMoUs) interventions in cultural tourism projects due to the traditional beliefs that cultural affairs are prerogatives of elders, a caveat to the youths. This implies that if the traditions of the communities continue to hinder direct participation of the RYP from the GMoUs cultural tourism project interventions, achieving equality and cultural change would be limited in the region. The findings suggest that since handicrafts are key cultural products consumed in the tourism industry, GMoUs can play a role in helping to create an appropriate intervention structure that will be targeted towards youth empowerment in the area of traditional handicraft. This can be achieved if the Cluster Development Boards would focus on integrating rural young artisans into local tourism value chains, ensuring they benefit economically from the sector, and creating space for the views of RYP indigenous handicrafts knowledge.     

How are we doing on poverty and hunger reduction? A new measure of country performance

The paper presents a new composite indicator – the poverty and hunger index (PHI) – to measure countries’ performance toward achieving millennium development goal No.1 (MDG1) on halving poverty and hunger by 2015. Building on the statistical structure of the human development index, the PHI combines all five official MDG1 indicators, thereby generating insights on a country’s net progress towards its own goal, as opposed to progress measured by a single yardstick. Nonparametric analysis on the PHI components provides further evidence on the nature of the relationship between poverty and hunger measures, while cross-country results show significant variance in progress between and within regions. An extension of the PHI allows for consideration of the rate of progress made by each country in its own terms; that is, based on where it needs to be to attain all 5 MDG1 targets by 2015. Countries needing priority attention are identified, as well as areas for future research and recommendations for post-2015 initiatives.     

Foreign direct investment, intellectual property rights, and wage inequality in China

This article incorporates foreign direct investment (FDI) and product differentiation in a general equilibrium trade model. The analysis shows that freer trade and FDI will upgrade China's technology, improve its skills of labor, and increase the competitiveness of local firms in the international market. At the same time, the relative wage of skilled labor to unskilled labor will rise. The size of this rise will be affected by the degree of protection for intellectual property rights. These theoretical results are consistent with empirical evidence. The analysis provides insights in coordinating policies on FDI, labor market reform, and intellectual property rights protection.     

贫富差别、城市化与经济增长——一个基于需求因素的经济学分析

贫富不均是近几年来我国经济发展相伴而来的一个重要现象。我们除了对它作价值判断,讨论公平与否之外,更加重要的是,确切地了解它对经济增长和经济效率的客观影响。本文从需求分析的角度讨论贫富差距扩大对经济增长的影响。我们引入熊彼特的观点,认为经济增长的动力来自于创新性研究,它可以提高商品质量并推动经济增长。通过构建一个基于二元结构(城市和农村)的两部门(消费者和厂商)模型,贫富差距就可以由农民的人口比例β和农民的相对贫穷程度d来衡量。由于高收入者对于优质商品有更强的支付意愿,收入分配状况影响在普通商品和优质商品之间进行的消费决策和厂商选择,进而影响为生产优质商品而进行的创新活动。结论是:在达到分离型均衡时,减少低收入者数量所引致的贫富差距缩小有利于创新,而提高低收入者收入所导致的贫富差距缩小则不利于创新。因此,推进城市化以减少农村人口比单纯增加农民收入更有利于经济的发展,是解决三农问题的根本方法。在经济发展水平和基尼系数给定的情况下,对跨国数据实证分析也支撑了我们的理论结果。     

A Schumpeterian model of equilibrium unemployment and labor turnover

This paper constructs a general equilibrium model of equilibrium unemployment by combining an endogenous growth model with a variant of equilibrium search theory. The analysis offers two explanations for the causes of widening wage gap between skilled and less-skilled labor, and rising unemployment rate among the less skilled: technological change in the form of an increase in the size of innovations or skilled labor saving technological change in R&D activity. In addition, the model identifies two distinct effects of faster technological progress on the aggregate unemployment rate. First, it increases the rate of labor turnover and therefore increases the aggregate unemployment rate – the creative destruction effect. Second, it creates R&D jobs, which offer workers complete job security, and consequently reduces the aggregate unemployment rate – the resource reallocation effect.     

贫困、经济增长与脱贫时间:基于中国城镇居民调查数据的分析

贫困指数是衡量社会总体贫困程度的指标,在众多的贫困指数中.本文选择具有良好性能的瓦特指数和由此派生出来的脱贫时间指数,分析了我国城镇上个世纪90年代以来的贫困变化趋势.研究发现,城镇贫困在1997年达到高峰,然后逐渐缓和;贫困人口的收入增长在初期能使脱贫时间迅速下降,但边际效果是递减的;贫困人口之间的收入分配不平等延长了脱贫时间:如果贫困人口的初始收入增加,会明显降低脱贫时间.