Real-World Economics Review - 7 October 2014
World
Economics Association (WEA)
Special
issue on Piketty's Capital
|
IMF Staff Discussion Note SDN/14/02
Redistribution, Inequality,and Growth
Jonathan D. Ostry, Andrew Berg, and Charalambos G. Tsangarides - February 2014
Economists are increasingly focusing on the links between rising inequality, crisis risk, and
sustainable growth. Rajan (2010) underscores how inequality intensified the leverage and
financial cycle, sowing the seeds of crisis, while Stiglitz (2012) stresses the role of politicaleconomy
factors (especially the influence of the rich) in allowing financial excess to balloon
ahead of the crisis. Berg and Ostry (2011) document the multi-decade and multi-country
evidence that greater equality can help sustain growth. This work builds on a tentative
consensus in the growth literature that inequality can undermine progress in health and
education, cause investment-reducing political and economic instability, and undercut the
social consensus required to adjust in the face of major shocks, and thus that it tends to reduce
the pace and durability of growth (Persson and Tabellini, 1994; Easterly, 2007; Berg, Ostry and
Zettelmeyer, 2012).
That equality seems to drive higher and more sustainable growth does not, in itself, support
efforts to redistribute. In particular, inequality may impede growth at least in part because it
calls forth efforts to redistribute through the fiscal system, efforts that themselves may
undermine growth. In such a situation, even if inequality is bad for growth, taxes and transfers
may be precisely the wrong remedy. While the literature on this score remains controversial,
the notion of a tradeoff between redistribution and growth seems deeply embedded in
policymakers’ consciousness. The negative effect of redistributive policies is indeed the central
theme of Arthur Okun’s famous 1975 book on the tradeoffs between efficiency and equity and
on the efficiency “leaks” that efforts to reduce inequality engender.
We nonetheless see an important positive conclusion from our look at the big picture. Extreme
caution about redistribution—and thus inaction—is unlikely to be appropriate in many cases.
On average, across countries and over time, the things that governments have typically done to
redistribute do not seem to have led to bad growth outcomes, unless they were extreme. And
the resulting narrowing of inequality helped support faster and more durable growth, apart
from ethical, political, or broader social considerations.
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178 OXFAM BRIEFING PAPER – SUMMARY - 20 January 2014
Working for the few
Political capture and economic inequality
In November 2013, the World Economic Forum released its
‘Outlook on the Global Agenda 2014’
in which it ranked widening income disparities as the second greatest worldwide risk in the coming
12 to 18 months. Based on those surveyed, inequality is ‘impacting social stability within countries
and threatening security on a global scale.’ Oxfam shares its analysis, and wants to see the 2014
World Economic Forum make the commitments needed to counter the growing tide of inequality.
Some economic inequality is essential to drive growth and progress, rewarding those with talent, hard earned skills,
and the ambition to innovate and take entrepreneurial risks. However, the extreme levels of wealth concentration occurring
today threaten to exclude hundreds of millions of people from realizing the benefits of their talents and hard work.
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...
Inequality, the Great Recession, and Slow Recovery
Barry Z. Cynamon (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis) and Steven M. Fazzari (Washington University in St. Louis) - January 2014
Rising inequality reduced income growth for the bottom 95 percent of the
income distribution beginning about 1980, but that group’s consumption growth
did not fall proportionally. Instead, lower saving led to increasing balance sheet
fragility for the bottom 95 percent, eventually triggering the Great Recession. We
decompose consumption and saving across income groups. The consumption/income
ratio of the bottom 95 percent fell sharply in the recession, consistent with
tighter borrowing constraints. The top 5 percent ratio rose, consistent with
consumption smoothing. The inability of the bottom 95 percent to generate
adequate demand helps explain the slow recovery.
From the World Bank Development Research Group - December 2013
Global Income Distribution
From the Fall of the Berlin Wall to the Great Recession
By Christopher Lakner and Branko Milanovic
The paper presents a newly compiled and improved
database of national household surveys between 1988
and 2008. In 2008, the global Gini index is around 70.5
percent having declined by approximately 2 Gini points
over this twenty year period. When it is adjusted for
the likely under-reporting of top incomes in surveys by
using the gap between national accounts consumption
and survey means in combination with a Pareto-type
imputation of the upper tail, the estimate is a much
higher global Gini of almost 76 percent. With such
an adjustment the downward trend in the Gini almost
disappears. Tracking the evolution of individual countrydeciles
shows the underlying elements that drive the
changes in the global distribution: China has graduated
from the bottom ranks, modifying the overall shape
of the global income distribution in the process and
creating an important global “median” class that has
transformed a twin-peaked 1988 global distribution into
an almost single-peaked one now. The “winners” were
country-deciles that in 1988 were around the median
of the global income distribution, 90 percent of whom
in terms of population are from Asia. The “losers” were
the country-deciles that in 1988 were around the 85th
percentile of the global income distribution, almost 90
percent of whom in terms of population are from mature
economies.
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From Finance & Development - December 2013, Vol. 50, No. 4
Who Let the Gini Out?
Davide Furceri and Prakash Loungani
Fiscal policy and inequality
Capital account liberalization and fiscal consolidation confer benefits but also lead to increased inequality
Income inequality is at historic highs. The richest 10 percent took home half of U.S. income in 2012,
a division of spoils not seen in that country since the 1920s.
In countries that belong to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development,
inequality increased more in the 3 years up to 2010 than in the preceding 12.
The recent increases come on top of growing inequality for more than two decades in
many advanced economies. What explains this rise?
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By Michael Robinson - BBC World Service - 17
January 2012
The Wealth Gap -
Inequality in Numbers
With the political temperature rising,
a stream of new analysis is revealing how sharply inequality has been
growing. In October, the US Congressional Budget Office (CBO) caused a
storm by revealing how big a slice of income gains since the late 1970s
had gone to the richest 1% of households.
The message was dramatic.
Over the 28 years covered by the CBO study, US incomes had increased
overall by 62%, allowing for tax and inflation.
But the lowest paid fifth of Americans had got only a small share of
that: their incomes had grown by a modest 18%.
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From OECD - 5 December 2011
Divide we stand. Why inequality keeps rising
Concerns of growing income inequality
loom large in public debate and policy discussion. Indeed,
in most OECD countries and many emerging economies, the gap between
rich and poor has widened
over the past decades. This occurred even when countries were going
through a period of sustained
economic growth prior to the Great Recession. Today, the economic
crisis is putting additional
pressure on the distribution of incomes. Greater inequality raises
economic, political and ethical
challenges as it risks leaving a growing number of people behind in an
ever-changing economy.
The 2008 OECD report Growing Unequal? documented and analysed
the key features and
patterns of trends in income inequality in OECD countries. This
publication Divided We Stand:
Why Inequality Keeps Rising is the follow-up to this report. It
analyses the underlying forces and
key drivers of rising inequality and discusses policies which are most
promising to counter it.
Divided We Stand examines whether and how trends
in globalisation, technological change and
institutions and policies translated into wage and earnings inequality.
It analyses how inequality in
labour and capital markets translates into household income inequality,
looking also at factors such
as the impact of changing family structures and changes in other income
sources. Finally, Divided
We Stand examines the effects of tax and benefit systems as well as
public services in smoothing
market-based inequality and how these effects have changed over time.
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From The World Bank Group
The Puppet Masters
How the
corrupt use legal structures to hide stolen assets and what to do about
it.
Emile van der Does de Willebois, Emily M. Halter, Robert A. Harrison,
Ji Won Park, and
J. C. Sharman - October 2011
Research carried out for this report shows that these cases
of “grand” (that is, large scale)
corruption are not untypical. Such cases can be found around the world,
in both
industrial and developing countries, whether as the place that the
proceeds originate
from or as the place they eventually end up. A review of some 150 cases
carried out as
part of this study showed that they shared a number of common
characteristics. In the
vast majority of them,
--a corporate vehicle was misused to hide the money trail;
--the corporate vehicle in question was a company or corporation;
--the proceeds and instruments of corruption consisted of funds in a
bank account;
and
--in cases where the ownership information was available, the corporate
vehicle in
question was established or managed by a professional intermediary.
This report casts light on how corporate vehicles are misused to
conceal the proceeds of
grand corruption. It describes how providers of legal, financial and
administrative
(management) services—including banks, financial institutions, lawyers,
accountants,
and other professionals that are known as trust and company service
providers
(TCSPs)—can be employed to facilitate such schemes. While this report
focuses on
the use of front companies and the abuse of corporate opacity to
conceal corruption,
the weaknesses highlighted in this report are not specific to
corruption. There is evidence
of similar misuse of legal entities, legal arrangements as well as
charities, in the
context of other criminal and illicit behaviors, including escaping
international sanctions
and the funding of terrorist organizations.
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From WIDER working papers 2011
Growth, Inequality, and
Poverty Reduction in Developing Countries: Recent Global Evidence
Augustin Kwasi Fosu
The study presents recent global
evidence on the transformation of economic growth to
poverty reduction in developing countries, with emphasis on the role of
income
inequality. The focus is on the period since the early/mid-1990s when
growth in these
countries as a group has been relatively strong, surpassing that of the
advanced
economies. Both regional and country-specific data are analysed for the
US$1.25 and
US$2.50 level poverty headcount ratios using the most recent World Bank
data. The
study finds that on average income growth has been the major driving
force behind both
the declines and increases in poverty. The study, however, documents
substantial
regional and country differences that are masked by this ‘average’
dominant growth
story. While in the majority of countries growth was the major factor
behind falling
or increasing poverty, inequality, nevertheless, played the crucial
role in poverty
behaviour in a large number of countries. And, even in those countries
where growth
has been the main driver of poverty reduction, further progress could
have occurred
under relatively favourable income distribution. For more efficient
policy-making,
therefore, idiosyncratic attributes of countries should be emphasized.
In general, high
initial levels of inequality limit the effectiveness of growth in
reducing poverty while
growing inequality reduces poverty directly for a given level of
growth. It would seem
judicious, therefore, to accord special attention to reducing
inequality in certain
countries where income distribution is especially unfavourable.
Unfortunately, the
present study also points to the limited effects of growth and
inequality-reducing
policies in low-income countries.
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From UNDP:
Markets, the State and the Dynamics of
Inequality
The main objective of this project is to discuss and propose specific
policies directed to reduce welfare gaps among and within different
social groups, through economic growth and efficient and equitable
market mechanisms
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From
UNU-WIDER
World Institute for Development Economics Research
World Income Inequality
Database
The UNU-WIDER World Income Inequality
Database (WIID) collects and stores information on income inequality
for developed, developing, and transition countries. The database and
its documentation are available on this website.
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Economic Policy Institute
Research and
Ideas for Shared Prosperity
The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) will publish The
State of Working America, its flagship publication since 1988, in
website form, in early January 2011. The comprehensive economic data
that has in the past been in book form will soon be available on the
website -- for the first time in a searchable and highly user-friendly
format. The data will be more accessible than ever before to academics,
policy-makers, the media, and the public. Unlike past editions, this
year's edition of The State of Working America will not be published in
book form.
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Report: The
Persistent Problem--Inequality, Difference, and the Challenge of
Development
Released on
July 10, 2008
Global levels of inequality today are at extremely high
levels even as conditions for alleviating deprivation are more
favorable than ever before. Inequities in the international
system and within developing countries threaten to halt progress toward
greater democratization and economic development for the poorest
countries in the world.
The report by the Task Force on Difference, Inequality, and Development
of the American
Political Science Association, entitled The Persistent
Problem: Inequality, Difference, and the Challenge of Development,
highlights how these problems threaten efforts to alleviate
deprivation such as the Millennium Development Goals. It shows
that in an increasingly interdependent world, international
institutions should be made more accountable to poor countries if
they are to maintain their legitimacy and effectiveness.
For democracy and capitalism to fulfill their promise of ending
deprivation in developing countries, they must be based on
institutions that reflect their distinctive histories and
cultures. Deepening democratic processes in
developing countries is essential for establishing political and
economic institutions to equitably reflect local experiences.
Effective change will be interactive, not imposed.
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World Bank Working Paper - May 2008
Global Poverty and Inequality: A Review of the Evidence
Francisco H.G. Ferreira and Martin Ravallion
Drawing on a compilation of data from
household
surveys representing 130 countries, many over a period
of 25 years, this paper reviews the evidence on levels and
recent trends in global poverty and income inequality.
It documents the negative correlations between both
poverty and inequality indices, on the one hand, and
mean income per capita on the other.
It points to the
dominant role of Asia in accounting for the bulk of the
world’s poverty reduction since 1981. The evolution of
global inequality in the last decades is also described,
with special emphasis on the different trends of
inequality within and between countries. The statistical
relationships between growth, inequality and poverty are
discussed, as is the correlation between inequality and
the growth elasticity of poverty reduction. Some of the
recent literature on the drivers of distributional change in
developing countries is also reviewed
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From International Labour Organization
Labour Shares - Technical Brief No. 01, 2007
In most regions of the world, the
share of national income that goes to labour has been declining over
the past two or three decades.
This coincides with the advent of the latest wave of globalization, and
several studies provide evidence that globalization has contributed to the
decline in labour shares.
Several aspects of globalization, and in particular financial openness and
financial crises, have a detrimental impact on labour incomes.
The downward trend indicates that either wages or employment creation
in the formal sector have not kept pace with economic growth during
globalization, or that a combination of
both occurred.
A falling labour share is thus the mirror-image of slow wage growth and
low employment elasticities. It is consistent with the finding that economic growth
does not create jobs at the rate it used to, and that income gains for workers have often not kept pace with
growth.
Moreover, a shift of incomes away from labour and towards capital has contributed to rising
inequality.
To make globalization fair, it is important to reverse the shift of factor shares and to increase the
share of national incomes that accruesto labour.
Measuring Labor's Share
- By Alan B. Krueger, 1999
Getting Income Shares Right - By
Douglas Gollin, 2002
Re-measuring Labor's Share - By Andrew T.
Young and Hernando Zuleta, 2008
Getting income shares right: a panel data investigation
for OECD countries - By Aamer S. Abu-Qarn and Suleiman
Abu-Bader, 2007
Effects of globalization on labor's share in national
income" - By A. Guscina, 2006
World of Work Report 2008
Income Inequality in the age of Financial Globalization
The ongoing global economic slowdown is affecting low-income groups
disproportionately. This development comes after a long expansionary
phase where income inequality was already on the rise in the majority
of countries.
● The recent period of economic expansion was accompanied by
substantial employment growth across most regions. Between the early
1990s and 2007, world employment grew by around 30 per cent. However,
there was considerable variation in labour market performance between
countries. In addition, not all individuals shared equally in the
employment gains. In a number of regions, women continued to represent
a disproportionate share of non-employed persons – reaching nearly 80
per cent in the Middle East, North Africa and Asia and the Pacific.
● Employment growth has also occurred alongside a redistribution of
income away from labour. In 51 out of 73 countries for which data are
available, the share of wages in total income declined over the past
two decades. Th e largest decline in the share of wages in GDP took
place in Latin America and the Caribbean (-13 points), followed by Asia
and the Pacific (-10 points) and the Advanced Economies (-9 points).
● Between 1990 and 2005, approximately two thirds of the countries
experienced an increase in income inequality (as measured by changes in
the Gini index). In other words, the incomes of richer households have
increased relative to those of poorer households. Likewise, during the
same period, the income gap between the top and bottom 10 per cent of
wage earners increased in 70 per cent of the countries for which data
are available.
● The gap in income inequality is also widening – at an increasing pace
– between the firms’ executives and the average employee. For example,
in the United States in 2007, the chief executive offi cers (CEOs) of
the 15 largest companies earned 500 times more than the average worker.
Th is is up from 360 times more in 2003. Even in Hong Kong (China) and
South Africa where executives are paid much less than their United
States’ counterparts, CEO pay still represents 160 and 104 times,
respectively, the wages of the average worker.
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Background papers prepared for World
Development Report 2006: equity and development
Claessens, Stijn
and Enrico Perotti. 2005.
The Links
between Finance and Inequality: Chanels and Evidence.
Much attention has recently been given to whether market reforms reduce
or increase inequality. Inequality often reflects unequal access to productive
opportunities and recent evidence has highlighted the presence of onerous barriers to entry,
especially in developing countries. This paper focuses on the relationships between
inequality and finance. In principle, a better financial system can help overcome
barriers, and thereby increase economic growth and reduce inequality. Indeed, a more
developed, that is deeper, financial sector has been shown to aid economic growth.
Financial reform will only reduce inequality, however, if it improves access for more
individuals with growth opportunities. Reforms thus need to broaden, not just deepen financial
systems.
At the same, as recent theoretical and empirical work has shown, ex
ante inequality can hinder welfare enhancing reforms. Concentrated economic and political
powers will likely block financial (and other) reforms, or manipulate their design
and/or implementation, so that the benefits reach fewer individuals. Also, by
design or implementation, financial reforms can lead risks to be allocated
unfairly and costs to be socialized, especially around financial crises, further worsening
inequality. Furthermore, reforms that do not provide gains for many may be followed by a
political backlash that may make even valuable financial sector reforms not sustainable.
-
Decker, Klaus, Caroline Sage and Milena Stefanova. 2005.
Law or
Justice: Building Equitable Legal Institutions.
It is now widely accepted that the ‘rule of law’ is key to sustainable
development. The different legal or rule-based systems in any given society underpin the
institutions that govern both market and non-market interactions; they determine the
distribution of economic, social and political rights and obligations affecting both
economic and non economic relationships. They shape the regulation of market practices and the
delivery of public services, and hence the opportunities people have to take part
in economic activity and generate fair returns.1 Legal institutions also provide mechanisms
to mediate conflict resolve disputes and sustain peace and order.
The belief in the importance of legal institutions is reflected in the
emergence of Justice Sector Reform (JSR) as a central concern for many development agencies.
In the past fifteen years, the World Bank has financed hundreds of legal and
judicial reform initiatives and numerous stand alone projects, and has recently
committed to scaling up these efforts. Other bi-lateral development agencies and multi-lateral
donors have committed hundreds of millions of dollars to reforming judicial
systems, with the majority of developing countries and former socialist states now
receiving assistance for some kind of justice sector reform.
Unfortunately, what is less clear in current development thinking is
how a ‘rule of law system’ is fostered or achieved and what this means for Justice Sector
reform initiatives; a belief in the need for ‘the rule of law’ tells us little about what
the rule of law actually means, how it manifests itself or how a given society can achieve it.
Despite concerted efforts, over a decade of projects have reported limited success and
brought current approaches into question.
-
Hoff, Karla. 2004.
What Can
Economists Explain by Taking into Account People's Perceptions of
Fairness? Punishing Cheats, Bargaining Impasse, and Self-Perpetuating
Inequalities.
There is a standard hypothesis in economics, the rational
self-interest hypothesis, which is based on a radically simplified view
of human nature.
In this view, individuals are exclusively motivated by their material
self-interest and
unboundedly rational in the pursuit of it. This hypothesis provides
accurate predictions
for competitive markets with standardized goods. However, much economic
activity
occurs outside of such markets—in markets with a small number of
traders, within firms...
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Pinglé, Vibha. 2005.
Faith,
Equity, and Development.
Religion, as Casanova observes, went public in the 1980s and it has
exhibited a Janus face
since – “as the carrier not only of exclusive, particularist, and
primordial identities but also of
inclusive, universalist, and transcending ones.”1 It has worn this
Janus face because, I argue, religion
has for sometime been torn by the identity politics of our times,
consisting of two conceptually
distinguishable phenomena and processes: the politics of equal dignity,
and the politics of difference.
These two political dramas have used the discourse of religion and are
leading to new and not
surprisingly contradictory interpretive strands of modernity,
development, and equity.
In order to understand how religious movements are influencing the
development process and
in particular what implications they have for equity and an
anti-poverty agenda it is critical first to
explicate how religious movements may be interpreted using the lens of
identity politics.
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Ravallion, Martin. 2005
Inequality
is Bad for the Poor.
It has been argued that inequality should be of little concern in poor
countries on the grounds
that: (i) absolute poverty in terms of consumption (or income) is the
overriding issue in poor
countries, and (ii) the only thing that really matters to reducing
absolute income poverty is the rate of
economic growth. This article takes (i) as given but questions (ii). It
is argued that there are a
number of ways in which the extent of inequality in a society, and how
it evolves over time,
influences the extent of poverty today and the prospects for rapid
poverty reduction in the future.
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Chirayath, Leila, Caroline Sage and Michael Woolcock. 2005
Customary
Law and Policy Reform: Engaging with the Plurality of Justice Systems.
The importance of building effective legal and regulatory systems has
long been
recognized by development professionals, yet there have been few
programmatic
initiatives that have translated empirical evidence and political
intention into sustained
policy success. A key reason is that such efforts have too often
consisted of top-down
technocratic initiatives that have inadequately appreciated the social
and cultural
specificity of the particular context in which they operate, as well as
the complexity of
the systems they have attempted to create. Justice sector reforms have
frequently been
based on institutional transplants, wherein the putatively ‘successful’
legal codes
(constitutions, contract law, etc.) and institutions (courts, legal
services organizations,
etc.) of developed countries have this been imported almost verbatim
into developing
countries. Reforms have often lacked any clear theory about the roles
and functions of
justice systems, and have failed to consider how successful legal
systems in developed
countries were actually constructed—including how they gained authority
and
legitimacy. Local level context and the systems of justice actually
operating in many
contexts were largely ignored. As such, justice sector reformers have
failed to
acknowledge, and thus comprehend, how the systems—which, at least in
rural areas, are
predominantly customary, idiosyncratic to specific sub-regional and
cultural contexts,
and residing only in oral form—by which many people (if not most poor
people) in
developing countries order their lives function.
The following papers were prepared in collaboration
with the U. K. Department for International Development (DfID) and the
World Bank's Social Development Department (see the November 15, 2004
Seminar on Promoting Equity in Development, under Consultations).
Andersson, Martin and Christer Gunnarsson. 2004
Egalitarianism
in the Process of Modern Economic Growth: The Case of Sweden.
For some decades after WWII Sweden was time and again referred to as a
‘model’ in
terms of economic and social development. At least until the mid 1980s
Sweden was
frequently taken to represent the ‘middle way’ between capitalism and
socialism due to
its evident achievement in building up a publicly financed (tax-based)
welfare state
while at the same time preserving the conditions and dynamics of a
highly expansive
and internationally competitive free-market economy. For anyone looking
for
historical evidence in support of the feasibility of a ‘growth with
equity’ development
strategy the Swedish experience with ‘capitalism’s most advanced
welfare state’
(Freeman 1995:17), would then appear to offer an almost perfect match.
Although this
‘ideal model’ has somewhat flaked off in recent decades under the
pressures of
globalisation and deregulation it is probably true that Sweden remains
more egalitarian
than most other developed economies. Inter-sectoral and regional income
disparities
remain fairly limited and the gender income gap has been considerably
narrowed. By
and large, it appears that equality remains a fundamental trait of
society.
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Barrientos, Armando. 2004
Cash
Transfers for Older People Reduce Poverty and Inequality.
The paper discusses the poverty and inequality reduction properties of
non-contributory pension in Brazil, South Africa and Bangladesh. It
examines the development of non-contributory pension programmes in the
countries involved, and the institutional factors behind their
extension and current sustainability. It also examines the incidence of
non-contributory pension programmes on poverty and inequality.
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Black, Richard, Claudia Natali and Jessica Skinner, 2005
Migration
and Inequality.
Introduction
International migration is a powerful symbol of global inequality,
whether in terms of wages, labour market opportunities, or lifestyles.
Millions of workers and their families move each year across borders
and across continents, seeking to reduce what they see as the gap
between their own position and that of people in other, wealthier,
places. In turn, there is a growing consensus in the development field
that migration represents an important livelihood diversification
strategy for many in the world’s poorest nations. This includes not
only international migration, but also permanent, temporary and
seasonal migrations within poorer countries, a phenomenon of
considerable importance across much of Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Yet it is also clear that migration - and perhaps especially
international migration - is an activity that carries significant risks
and costs. As such, although migration is certainly rooted, at least in
part, in income and wealth inequalities between sending and receiving
areas, it does not necessarily reduce inequality in the way intended by
many migrants. Much depends on the distribution of these costs and
benefits, both within and between sending and receiving countries and
regions. Also important in terms of the aggregate impact of migration
on sending societies is the selectivity of migration itself. Clearly if
most migrants were to come from the poorest sections of society, and
they were to achieve net gains from migration, this would act to reduce
economic inequality at least, all other things being equal. But
migrants are not always the poorest, they do not always gain, and other
factors are not equal.
-
Boix, Carles. 2004
Spain:
Development, Democracy and Equity.
In the last half century Spain has undergone a dramatic and by most
counts successful political and economic transformation from relative
underdevelopment and authoritarianism to wealth and democracy. In the
immediate aftermath of World War II, which resulted in the
re-establishment of democracy in Western Europe, Spain remained a
culturally and diplomatically isolated country, governed by
authoritarian institutions. Moreover, whereas democratic Europe
experienced a period of rapid economic growth and growing trade
integration, Spain was burdened by the destruction yielded by its civil
war fought in the 1930s, the pursuit of autarkic policies and a long
history of relative poverty. Following the decision to liberalize its
economy in the late 1950s, Spain quickly transformed into a modern
manufacturing and service-based economy, experiencing unprecedented
levels of prosperity, massive urbanization and a growing middle class.
With the death of its dictator in 1975, Spain embarked in a peaceful
transition to democracy, the construction of a broad welfare state and
its integration in the European Union.
This successful transition to economic and political modernity is
particularly relevant, both theoretically and from the viewpoint of
policymakers, because Spain stands as one of the few countries that
managed to move peacefully from underdevelopment and authoritarianism
to democracy and prosperity in the last decades. Most of today’s
wealthy democracies (concentrated in Europe and North America) were
already industrialized and had liberal political regimes by the middle
of the twentieth century. With the exception of a few Asian cases and,
more recently, some small Eastern European nations, the rest of the
world, which was either underdeveloped, undemocratic or both a few
decades ago, has still a long way to catch up with the developed West.
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Moncrieffe, Joy M. 2004.
Beyond
Categories: Power, Recognition and the Conditions for Equity.
The World Development Report (WDR) 2006 will reflect some important
shifts in popular
thinking about the relationship between inequality, growth and poverty.
First, it will refute
the Kuznetsian position that inequality has an invariably positive role
and will, instead,
assert that high levels of inequality can curtail the potential
poverty-reducing impact of
growth; conversely, where there is low or falling inequality, lower
income groups will have a
larger share of any increase in national income (Naschold 2002).
Second, following Sen (1993; 1999) and others, the WDR will stress the
importance of
equity, arguing that poverty reflects deprivation in income and
consumption, as well as in
capabilities, such as health, education and civil liberties. It will
maintain that individuals
have differing levels of advantage, which, in addition to income, could
be understood as their
capability and freedom to make choices, and to convert their incomes
into well-being—by
establishing personal goals and having realistic means of attaining
them. Therefore, it will
attempt to define those policies and institutional arrangements that
will supply the assets— political, social and economic—and opportunities that people in poverty
need to transform their lives...
-
Ross, Michael. 2004.
Mineral
Wealth and Equitable Development.
In theory, new mineral wealth should offer governments a chance to
boost economic growth and reduce inequality. In practice, it often
leads to economic stagnation, civil conflict, and heightened
inequality. To avoid these problems, governments must navigate a
complex series of economic, social, and political challenges.
One of the most difficult challenges is deciding how to deal equitably
with the regional or local communities where the extraction occurs.
Both the central government and local communities typically claim
ownership of the resources, dispute the other side’s claims, and have
some ability to slow or block projects they dislike. Mineral firms are
often caught between the two sides. When these disputes can be
resolved, mineral development can proceed; when they cannot – as in
Bolivia, Sudan, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea – the result may be
political unrest and violent conflict.
This paper explores the problems and opportunities that governments,
firms, and local communities face when they must divide the costs and
benefits of a mineral development project. It makes four central
arguments:
-
Sabates-Wheeler, Rachel. 2005
Asset
Inequality and Agricultural Growth: How Are Patterns of Asset
Inequality Established and Reproduced?
The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between distributions of asset inequality, how
these distributions are created and maintained, and agricultural growth. We intend to investigate what
policies and institutions tend to promote equally shared growth. The motivating question that guides our
study is: How does differential access to productive assets in the agricultural sector, at various levels
(regional, community and household), effect inequalities in agricultural outcomes in terms of productivity
and poverty? The dominant discourse on agricultural productivity and distribution has been largely
technocratic, focusing on input-output relationships, defined and measured with a yardstick specific to the
discipline of economics. We review certain strands of this literature in depth. A less well-known strand
of literature emphasises the social and political constructions and reproductions of a variety of
inequalities. While this is a relatively small literature we use it to broaden our understanding of the
processes and institutions that link inequality and productivity.
Furthermore, we use Ethiopian agriculture as a case study to highlight the persistent nature of
inequality as causally related to historical choices and path dependency. Rather than unidirectional causalities,
what we observe is a complex system whereby inequality affects growth which in turn reinforces
processes that exacerbate and reproduce inequalities.
|
From Columbia University
The world distribution of income: falling poverty and ... convergence, period
By Xavier Sala-i-Martin - 2005
We estimate the WDI by integrating individual income distributions for 138 countries between
1970 and 2000. Country distributions are constructed by combining national accounts GDP per capita to
anchor the mean with survey data to pin down the dispersion.
Poverty rates and headcounts are reported for four specific poverty lines. Rates in 2000 were
between one-third and one-half of what they were in 1970 for all four lines. There were between 250 and
500 million fewer poor in 2000 than in 1970. We estimate eight indexes of income inequality implied by
our world distribution of income. All of them show reductions in global inequality during the 1980s and
1990s.
(*)
|
From Human Development Report 2005
Trends in global income distribution, 1970-2000, and Scenarios for 2015
By Y. Dikhanov - 2005
The paper builds on the author’s prior research in areas of evolution of the global
income distribution and of the “quasi-exact” polynomial interpolation of density functions.
The 1970-2000 estimates are augmented with two 2015 scenarios: (a) distribution-neural
growth (national distributions kept constant) and (b) pro-poor growth (the poor’s income
grows at twice the average rate until 2015). The scenarios are based on historical 1990-2002
trends in GDP growth and UN population projections for 2015. Compared to 2000, the
distribution-neutral growth scenario for 2015 shows a decline in the Gini – 0.300, Theil 1
and 2 – 0.114 and 0.082, respectively, and a decline in absolute poverty from 1,172 mln. in
2000 to 689 mln. in 2015. These changes are explained to a large degree by the projected
fast growth in India and China. The pro-poor growth scenario resulted in additional 253
mln. people rescued from poverty. Two more simulations are presented: (1) transfers being
made to the poor in 2000, and (2) distribution-neutral growth occurring during 1970-2000.
An annex discusses advantages of the “quasi-exact” polynomial interpolation of income
distributions.
|
Competing Concepts of Inequality in the
Globalization Debate
Martin Ravallion - World Bank - 2004
Differences in the value judgments made in measuring
inequality underlie the
conflicting factual claims often heard about how much poor people have
shared
in the economic gains from globalization. Opponents in the debate
differ in:
(i)
whether they weight people or countries equally in assessing the extent
of
inequality;
(ii) the weight they give to vertical inequalities versus horizontal
inequalities and
(iii) the extent to which they care about relative inequality versus
absolute inequality.
The value judgments on these issues made by both sides need
greater scrutiny if the globalization debate is to move forward.
|
From Journal
of World Systems Research, Vol 12 N. 1 2006
A. Heshmati
The
World Distribution of Income and Income Inequality: A
Review of the Economics Literature
This review covers a range of measures and methods
frequently employed in the empirical analysis
of global income inequality and global income
distribution. Different determinant factors
along with the quantification of their impacts
and empirical results from different case
studies are presented. A number of issues crucial
to the study of global income inequality are
also addressed. These are the concepts, measurement
and decomposition of inequality, the
world distribution of income and inequality measured
at different levels of aggregation:
global, international and
intra-national. We analyze
income at each of these levels, discuss the
benefits and limitations of each approach and present empirical results
found in
the literature and
compare them with those based on
the World Income Inequality Database. Research
on world income inequality supports increased awareness of the problem,
its
measurement and
quantification, the identification of
causal factors and policy measures that
affect global income inequality.
----------------------------- |
United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs
Report on the World Social Situation 2005:
The
Inequality Predicament
Focusing exclusively
on economic growth and income generation as a development strategy is
perilous as it leads to the accumulation of wealth by a few and deepens
the poverty of many.
The global commitment to overcoming inequality, or redressing the
imbalance
between the wealthy and the poor, as clearly outlined at the 1995
World Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen and endorsed in the
United Nations Millennium Declaration, is fading. Eighty per cent of
the
world’s gross domestic product belongs to the 1 billion people living
in the
developed world; the remaining 20 per cent is shared by the 5 billion
people
living in developing countries. Failure to address this inequality
predicament
will ensure that social justice and better living conditions for all
people
remain elusive, and that communities, countries and regions remain
vulnerable
to social, political and economic upheaval.
The present Report on the World Social Situation traces trends and
patterns
in economic and non-economic aspects of inequality and examines
their causes and consequences. It focuses on the traditional aspects of
inequality,
such as the distribution of income and wealth, as well as inequalities
in health, education, and opportunities for social and political
participation.
The Report also analyses the impact of structural adjustment, market
reforms, globalization and privatization on economic and social
indicators.
|
From Finance and Development - December 2005
The
inequality trap
F.H.G. Ferreira and M. Walton
Market failures, inequalities, and investment
inefficiency. In a world in which markets worked perfectly,
investment decisions would have little to do with the income, wealth,
or social status of the decision maker. However, for various
reasons—mainly economic, but also political—markets are not perfect.
A girl born to a lower-caste family of nine in the slums of Dhaka has
vastly different opportunities from a boy born to well-educated and
affluent parents in the well-heeled neighborhoods. An AIDS orphan in
rural Zimbabwe is almost certain to have fewer chances and choices in
life than a compatriot born to healthy and well-educated parents in
Harare. Those differences are even greater across borders: an average
Swiss, American, or Japanese child born at the same instant as one in a
poor, rural area of South Africa will have incomparably superior life
chances.
|
R. Jolly - 2005
Global
inequality in historical perspective
Many of us
have been astounded at the increases in inequality over the
very long run – the increases in inequalities among households or
individuals over most of the last two centuries within countries of
most
regions and between the groups of richer and poorer countries.
Notwithstanding the improvements in some indicators of global
inequality in the last two decades due to the impressive expansion of
China and India, indicators of inequalities in recent years are all
much
higher than they appeared a hundred or two hundred years ago. All these
trends are indicated by the rise in gini coefficients between 1820 and
the
1990s and by the increases in the gaps in per capita income between the
highest and lowest income groups. |
M. Jantti and S. Sandstrom - 2005
Trends in income inequaliy: a critical examination of the evidence in
WIID2
This paper examines changes across time in within-country inequality
using the most recent, and
we would argue, the most appropriate data at hand, the updated World
Income Inequality Database
(WIID2). We attempt to find whether it is possible to find robust
evidence on inequality trends.
Our empirical approach is to use so-called mixed-effects models with
quintile groups means as the
dependent variable, observed covariates as explanatory variables and
allow for (at the most detailed
level) country-specific intercepts and trends. This statistical
framework allows us to assess in a
structured fashion the actual patterns of inequality change across the
world and to start to examine
if these changes can be accounted for by readily observable economic
and demographic factors.
|
From The Institute for the Study of Labor, Bonn
The World
Distribution of Income and Income inequality
A. Heshmati,
August 2004
"...world inequality has declined due to the faster growth in India
and China than the world economy but at the cost of an increased
within-country
inequality. The total inequality is driven by a rise in inequality
between countries
affecting the evolution of world income inequality. Considering the
global trends in
income inequality results based on the WIID database shows that
inequality is volatile
prior to 1970 and more stable and increasing post 1986..."
------ |
From The Institute for the Study of Labor, Bonn
Continental
and sub-continental income inequality
A. Heshmati,
August 2004
The regions
based on available studies include Eastern Europe and former USSR,
Scandinavian,
Western Europe, OECD countries, small and medium sized developing
countries, sub-
Saharan Africa, Latin America, East Asia, South Asia, South-East Asia
and Pacific.
---------- |
From The Institute for the Study of Labor, Bonn
Regional
income inequality in selected large countries
A Heshmati,
September 2004
The countries considered here cover transition (China
and Russia), developing (India) and industrialised (USA) countries.
Empirical results
from the literature is further complemented and compared with those
obtained from the
WIID data covering post 1950s.
--------- |
Jean-Ives Duclos and Q. Wodon
What is
"pro-poor"?
Université Laval,
Quebec - 2004
Assessing whether distributional changes are « pro-poor » has become
increasingly
widespread in academic and policy circles. Starting from relatively
general ethical
axioms, this paper proposes simple graphical methods to test whether
distributional
changes are indeed pro-poor. Pro-poor standards are first defined. An
important
issue is whether these standards should be absolute or relative.
Another issue is
whether pro-poor judgements should put relatively more emphasis on the
impact of
growth upon the poorer of the poor. Having formalized the treatment of
these issues,
the paper describes various ways for checking whether broad classes of
ethical
judgements will declare a distributional change to be pro-poor.
|
Hong-Ghi Min
Inequality,
the Price of Nontradables, and the Real Exchange Rate:
Theory and Cross-Country Evidence
Poverty Reduction
Group - World Bank - 2002
This paper provides theoretical and empirical evidence of a negative
association between
income inequality and real exchange rates. First, we build a
theoretical model showing the
transmission mechanism from inequality to real exchange rates. Second,
we demonstrate
that the theoretical argument have empirical support using
cross-country data. The
magnitude of association is large, significant, and robust to
alternative specifications of the
reduced form model and estimation methodologies. Those findings provide
empirical
support for PRSP since this study indicates that “equity-based growth”
and “export-drive”
are compatible policies. However, the robustly negative relationship
between real exchange
rates and inequality does not imply that dramatic redistributive
policies will automatically
bring real depreciation of the domestic currency, improve the external
balance, and
accelerate economic growth.
------------ |
H. Kempf and S. Rossignol
Is
Inequality Harmful
for the Environment
in a Growing Economy?
Université
Paris-1 Panthéon Sorbonne - 2005
In this paper we investigate the relationship between inequality and
the environment in
a growing economy from a political economy perspective. We consider an
endogenous
growth economy, where growth generates pollution and a deterioration of
the
environment. Public expenditures may either be devoted to supporting
growth or
abating pollution. The decision over the public programs is done in a
direct democracy,
with simple majority rule. We prove that the median voter is decisive
and show that
inequality is harmful for the environment: the poorer the median voter
relative to the
average individual, the less she will tax and devote resources to the
environment,
preferring to support growth.
--------------
|
M. Lübker
Globalization
and perceptions of social inequality
International
Labour Office - 2004
Past decades have coincided with increasing inequality within a
majority
countries, and at the same time nation states have been under
increasing pressure to
reduce government interventions, a trend that has reduced their ability
to apply
redistributive policies. In addition many of the poorest countries have
not gained from the
potential benefits of globalization and fallen back further, increasing
the gap between the
poorest and the richest nations
---------------- |
H. Jeong and R. M. Townsend
Growth and
Inequality: Model Evaluation Based on an
Estimation-Calibration Strategy
University of
Southern California - 2003
This paper evaluates two well-known models of growth with inequality
that have explicit micro underpinnings
related to household choice. With incomplete markets or transactions
costs, wealth can constrain
investment in business and the choice of occupation and also constrain
the timing of entry into the formal
financial sector. Using the Thai Socio-Economic Survey, we estimate the
distribution of wealth and the
key parameters that best fit cross-sectional data on household choices
and wealth. We then simulate the
model economies for two decades at the estimated initial wealth
distribution and analyze whether the model
economies at those micro-fit parameter estimates can explain the
observed macro and sectoral aspects of
income growth and inequality change. Both models capture important
features of Thai reality. Anomalies
and comparisons across the two distinct models yield specific
suggestions for improved research on the micro
foundations of growth and inequality.
|
R. Bénabou and J. Tirole
Belief in a
Just World and Redistributive Politics
Princeton
University and MIT - 2004
International surveys reveal wide differences between the views held in
different countries
concerning the causes of wealth or poverty and the extent to which
people are responsible for
their own fate. At the same time, social ethnographies and experiments
by psychologists demonstrate
individuals’ recurrent struggle with cognitive dissonance as they seek
to maintain, and
pass on to their children, a view of the world where effort ultimately
pays off and everyone
gets their just deserts. This paper offers a model that helps explain:
i) why most people feel
such a need to believe in a “just world”; ii) why this need, and
therefore the prevalence of the
belief, varies considerably across countries; iii) the implications of
this phenomenon for international
differences in political ideology, levels of redistribution, labor
supply, aggregate income,
and popular perceptions of the poor. The model shows in particular how
complementarities
arise endogenously between individuals’ desired beliefs or ideological
choices, resulting in two
equilibria. A first, “American” equilibrium is characterized by a high
prevalence of just-world
beliefs among the population and relatively laissez-faire policies. The
other, “European” equilibrium
is characterized by more pessimism about the role of effort in economic
outcomes and
a more extensive welfare state. More generally, the paper develops a
theory of collective beliefs
and motivated cognitions, including those concerning “money”
(consumption) and happiness,
as well as religion.
|
H. Rapoport and F. Docquier
The Economics of
Migrants’ Remittances
From The
Institute for the Study of Labor, Bonn - 2005
This chapter reviews the recent theoretical and empirical economic
literature on migrants'
remittances. It is divided between a microeconomic section on the
determinants of
remittances and a macroeconomic section on their growth effects. At the
micro level we first
present in a fully harmonized framework the various motivations to
remit described so far in
the literature. We show that models based on different motives share
many common
predictions, making it difficult to implement truly discriminative
tests in the absence of
sufficiently detailed data on migrants and receiving households'
characteristics and on the
timing of remittances. The results from selected empirical studies show
that a mixture of
individualistic and familial motives explains the likelihood and size
of remittances. At the
macro level we first briefly review the standard (Keynesian) and the
trade-theoretic literature
on the short-run impact of remittances. We then use an endogenous
growth framework to
describe the growth potential of remittances and present the evidence
for different growth
channels. We then explore the relationship between remittances and
inequality. This
relationship appears to be non-monotonic. This is consistent with
different theoretical
arguments regarding the role of migration networks and/or the dynamics
of wealth
transmission between successive generations.
|
Anton
Korinek, Johan A. Mistiaen, and Martin Ravallion
Survey
Nonresponse and the Distribution of Income
World Bank
Research Papers - 2005 |
Branko Milanovic and Lyn Squire
Does tariff
liberalization increase wage inequality?
Some empirical evidence
World Bank Policy
Research Working Papers - 2005 |
Moses Shayo
Nation,
Class and Redistribution:
Applying Social Identity Research to Political Economy.
Princeton
University - 2005
People often conceive themselves, and behave, as members of social
groups.
Drawing on a vast empirical literature, this paper offers a definition
of social identification and an equilibrium concept where social
identities are endogenously determined. We apply this framework to the
political economy of redistribution in democracies, focusing on class
and national identities. We present new empirical evidence that
supports the main implications of the model, namely: (a) that
identifying with ones nation is more likely among the poor than among
the rich; (b) that controlling for income, national identification
reduces support for redistribution; and (c) that across democracies
there is a strong negative relationship between the prevalence of
national identification and an equilibrium concept where social
identities are endogenously
determined. We apply this framework to the political economy of
redistribution
in democracies, focusing on class and national identities. We present
new empirical evidence that supports the main implications
|
Alberto Alesina and George-Marios Angeletos
Corruption,
Inequality and Fairness
Massachusetts
Institute of Technology - 2005 |
D. Checchi and C. Garcia-Penalosa
Labour
Market Institutions and the
Personal Distribution of Income in the
OECD
Università degli
Studi di Milano - IZA - CNRS - 2005 |
Diego Winkelried
Income
Distribution and the Size of
the Informal Sector.
This paper
studies the role of income distribution as a determinant of the size of
the
informal sector in an economy by relying on a channel whereby
inequality affects the
behaviour of aggregate demand and thus influences the incentives a firm
has to become
informal. It is further postulated that income distribution affects the
response of the
informal sector to different fiscal policies, either demand or
supply-orientated. The main
findings are that high inequality leads to a large informal sector, and
that redistribution
towards the middle class decreases the size of the informal sector and
increases the
capacity of fiscal instruments to reduce informality. Empirical
evidence for Mexican cities
is provided.
St John’s
College, University of Cambridge - 2005 |
Keiji Saito
A fallacy
of wage differentials:
wage ratio in distribution
Graduate School
of Economics, The University of Tokyo - 2005 |
Santiago Budría and Pedro Telhado Pereira
Educational
Qualifications and Wage Inequality:
Evidence for Europe
From The
Institute for the Study of Labor, Bonn - 2005 |
Herwig Immervoll, Horacio Levy, Christine Lietz, Daniela
Mantovani, Cathal O‘Donoghue, Holly Sutherland and Gerlinde Verbist
Household
Incomes and Redistribution in the
European Union:
Quantifying the Equalising
Properties of Taxes and Benefits
From the
Institute for the Study of Labor, Bonn - 2005 |
A B Atkinson and Andrew Leigh
The
Distribution of Top Incomes in New Zealand
The Australian
National University - 2005 |
Branco Milanovic
Global
income inequality: what it is and why it matters?
World Bank papers - 2005
Global inequality is a relatively recent topic. The first calculations
of inequality
across world citizens were done in the early 1980s.2 This is because in
order to calculate
global inequality, one needs to have data on (within-)national income
distributions for
most of the countries in the world, or at least for most of the
populous and rich countries.
But it is only from the early- to mid-1980s that such data became
available for China, 3
Soviet Union and its constituent republics and large parts of Africa.
Before we move to
an analysis of global inequality, however it is useful to set the stage
by delineating what
topics we shall be concerned with and what not...
|
Ales Bulir
Income
Inequality: Does Inflation Matter?
IMF Staff Papers
- 2001 |
J. Humberto Lopez and Luis Servén
The World Bank
A Normal
Relationship?
Poverty, Growth, and Inequality
The World Bank -
2006 |
Era Dabla-Norris and Paul Wade
Rent
seeking and endogeneous economic inequality
IMF working paper
- 2001 |
E.F. Fama and K. R. French
Value
versus growth: the international evidence
Draft August 1997 |
J.
Flemming and J. Micklewright, 1999
Income
Distribution, Economic Systems and Transition
We consider the differences in income distribution between market and
planned economies in two ways. First, using benchmarks from the OECD
area we review evidence from the countries of Central and Eastern
Europe
and the former Soviet Union during the socialist period. Second, we
look at
the transitions currently being made by the latter. In each case we
review
available data and the problems they present before considering in turn
(i) the
distribution of earnings of full-time employees, (ii) the distribution
of
individuals’ per capita household incomes, and (iii) the ways in which
the
picture is altered by non-wage benefits from work, price subsidies and
social
incomes in kind. For the socialist period we are able to consider long
series
of data, often covering several decades, and we can thus show the
changes in
the picture of distribution under the socialist system. We also
emphasize the
diversity across the countries concerned. For the period of transition,
itself
incomplete, the series are inevitably shorter but we are able to avoid
basing
conclusions on evidence drawn from single years. The picture during
transition, like that under socialism, is varied. Russia has
experienced very
sharp increases in measured inequality to well above the top of the
OECD
range. The Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland have seen more modest
rises. We note the lack of a satisfactory analytic framework in the
literature
that encompasses enough features of the transition, a framework which
would help interpretation of the evidence.
|
International Monetary Fund
Fiscal Affairs Department - December 1998
Fundamental determinants
of inequality and the role of the government
By V. Tanzi
This paper discusses the fundamental determinants of inequality. These
are identified as world or market forces, social norms, ownership of
real and human capital, and the role of government. The change in the
relative role of these factors in determining inequality during
economic development is analyzed.
Inequality is much influenced by systemic factors such as social norms
and attitudes, broad
economic changes, and governmental activity. In closed and traditional
societies, where public
sector intervention is limited, social norms and attitudes are very
important in determining
inequality. In more open and more developed societies, the role of
government and the impact
of broad economic forces progressively become more important. This
paper analyzes some of
these aspects stressing in particular the role of social norms. It
argues that in traditional or
poorer societies the interconnection of real wealth with existing norms
goes a long way to
determine the extent of economic inequality. The opening of markets and
the broad economic
changes brought about by structural reforms and globalization have
powerful effects on social
norms.
When these trends lead to economic development, the result will be a
weakening of the impact
of these norms and a progressive replacement of tangible wealth with
human capital as the
main determinant of income. Thus, progressively, the distribution of
human capital becomes
more important than the distribution of real assets in determining
inequality. The role of
government in this process is discussed. That role is carried out
through the traditional tools
available to the government, namely taxes, government spending, and
regulations. It is
concluded that the role that the government plays in creating human
capital may be the most
important impact that the government can have on income distribution.
|
Goodman, Alissa. 2005.
The Links between
Income Distribution and Poverty Reduction in Britain
The 1980s was a period of rapidly increasing income inequality in
Britain, accompanied
by growing numbers of individuals falling into relative income poverty.
While child
poverty rates - in at least the two previous decades - had been very
similar to those of the
rest of the population, it was over this same period that a pronounced
gap began to
emerge: overall poverty rates were rising but child poverty rates were
increasing by an
even greater amount.
Throughout the early 1990s when the growth in inequality halted, the
relative position of
families in the income distribution did improve, although by the time
Labour came to
power in 1997, child poverty still remained significantly higher than
for many other
population groups, and than that experienced throughout the 1960s and
1970s.
Samman, Emma. 2005a.
Openness and Growth:
An Empirical Investigation
In a recent and influential study, Trade, growth and poverty, Dollar
and Kraay (2001)
advance the argument that trade liberalization improves the growth
prospects of poor
countries. They demonstrate this point principally using multiple
regression analysis with
data for 100 countries, through which the share of trade in an economy
is shown to have had
a statistically significant positive effect on income growth in the
1980s and 1990s. On the
basis of this analysis, they assert that developing countries should
enact more liberal trade
policies to foster growth and reduce poverty.
This paper finds several errors in the conceptual logic and methodology
underlying the DK
study. First, it argues that the authors employ selective evidence in
support of their view
while overlooking their data that is open to alternative
interpretations. Next, it argues that
their reliance on the share of trade in GDP as an indicator of trade
liberalization is highly
misleading. Third, the failure to carefully consider selection bias in
the descriptive analysis
further distorts the results. Finally, the regression analysis contains
several problems relating
to the data used and specification.
———. 2005c.
Wealth for the Few,
Poverty for the Many: The Resource Curse—Examples of Poor
Governance/Corporate Mismanagement Wasting Natural Resource Wealth.
The Grasberg mine – Irian Jaya
U.S company Freeport McMoran hit the headlines in the mid 1990s accused
of serious human rights and
environmental violations in its Grasberg mine in Irian Jaya. In its
annual report, Freeport acknowledges
responsibility for dumping over 125,000 tons of potentially toxic
tailings into the rivers of Irian Jaya every
day. The mine was the world’s largest gold mine and the third largest
copper mine in the world valued
between $50 and %60 billion. According to reports by the BBC the mine
has been responsible for the deaths
of hundreds of people since the mine began operations in 1972 turning a
blind eye while the Indonesian
military killed and tortured dozens of native people in the area around
the mining concession.
Sridhar, Devi. 2005.
Inequality in the United
States Healthcare System
Although the United States (US) has been rated highly in the United
Nations Human
Development Index, the shining health indicators of the general
population do not reflect
the great disparity in the health of certain subpopulations. Absolute
health indicators
often make the suffering of the vulnerable, especially those living in
the wealthiest
nation, invisible to the world.
In this paper, I will demonstrate why the US private-public healthcare
system should not
be used as a model for other countries as it exacerbates the inequality
in access to care
and health status between the haves and the have-nots.
|
From the Joseph Rowntree Foundation - 30
April 2007
Poverty twice as likely for
minority ethnic groups: education fails to close the gap
The poverty rate for Britain’s minority ethnic groups stands at 40%, double the 20% found
amongst white British people, according to new research published today
(30 April) by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF). Minority ethnic
groups are also being overlooked for jobs and are being paid lower
wages, despite improvements in education and qualifications.
The research highlights the differences between minority ethnic groups
with 65% of Bangladeshis living in poverty compared to 55% of
Pakistanis, 45% of Black Africans and 30% of Indians and Black
Caribbeans. Over half of Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Black African
children in the UK are growing up in poverty with a staggering 70% of
Bangladeshi children growing up poor.
|
UNU-WIDER - December 2006
Pioneering Study Shows
Richest Two Percent Own Half World Wealth
The richest 2% of adults in the world own more than half of global
household wealth according to a path-breaking study released today by
the Helsinki-based World Institute for Development Economics Research
of the United Nations University (UNU-WIDER).
The most comprehensive study of personal wealth ever undertaken also
reports that the richest 1% of adults alone owned 40% of global assets
in the year 2000, and that the richest 10% of adults accounted for 85%
of the world total. In contrast, the bottom half of the world adult
population owned barely 1% of global wealth.
|
E. M. Uslaner - 2005
The
inequality trap
Successful (or “well-ordered”) democracies are marked by high levels of
trust in other
people and in government, low levels of economic inequality, and
honesty and fairness in the
public sphere. Trust in people, as the literature on social capital has
shown, is essential for
forming bonds among diverse groups in society... Trust in government is
essential for political stability and compliance with the law.
Corruption robs the economy of
funds and leads to less faith in government (perhaps also to less faith
in fellow citizens) and thus
lower compliance with the law. And institutions seen as biased (unfair)
cannot secure compliance
and may exacerbate inequalities in society.
|
Jordi Estivill - 2003
Concepts
and strategies for combating social exclusion. An overview
Social exclusion is a phenomenon of both the past and the present, and
if nothing is done, it will also be one of the future. It affects
millions of persons who struggle to survive in the hardest living and
working conditions. Throughout history, the forms taken by exclusion
have evolved, both with regard to their characteristics and the
attitudes adopted towards them. Exclusion currently takes on different
appearances on the various continents, and even within them, at the
regional and national levels. But it affects everyone. Programmes and
measures addressing its various aspects have also changed and are not
the same in all four corners of the world. The actors involved do not
play the same role in their desire to reduce and eradicate exclusion.
|
The Christian Science Monitor - August 03, 2006
New Treasury
head eyes rising inequality
In his first
major speech Monday, Henry Paulson pushed America's wide income gap
onto the agenda.
By Mark Trumbull - Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
The wide gap between the richest and poorest Americans has not often
been the topic of choice for the Bush administration's two previous
Treasury secretaries. So it was notable this week that Henry Paulson,
the president's latest Treasury head, chose to put that issue on his
short list - as one of the nation's four prominent, long-term economic
challenges. Mr. Paulson's head-on approach during one of his first
public appearances as secretary differs from his predecessors'
strategies, some analysts say.
The wealth gap is hardly new, but income inequality has been growing in
America over the past quarter century. Even as average worker
productivity has surged, average hourly earnings have stagnated.
Meanwhile, the nation's economic elites have prospered. |
René Morissette, Xuelin Zhang and Marie Drolet
The Evolution of
Wealth Inequality
in Canada, 1984-1999
November 2003
|
From the Official UK Statistics:
Social
and Economic inequalities in the United Kingdom
2006 |
From
The Economist - 10 August 2006
Class: But
did they buy their own furniture?
Class is no longer a
reliable guide to anything in Britain. But it still matters
WHEN George Orwell wrote in 1941 that England was “the most
class-ridden country under the sun”, he was only partly right.
Societies have always had their hierarchies, with some group—Boston's
Brahmins, France's énarques, the Communist Party of
China—perched at the top. In the Indian state of Bihar the Ranveer
Sena, an upper-caste private army, even killed to stay there.
By that measure class in Britain hardly seems entrenched. But in
another way Orwell was right, and continues to be. As a new YouGov poll
for The Economist shows, Britons are surprisingly alert to
class—both their own and that of others.
|
From The Institute for the Study of Labor, Bonn
Poverty
persistence in Sweden
J. Hamsem and R. Wahlberg, July
2004 |
Jesper Roine and Daniel Waldenström
Top Incomes
in Sweden over the Twentieth Century
Stockholm
School of Economics - 2005 |
United Nations University
World Institute for
Development Economic Research:
DP2003/08
Stefan Dercon and John Hoddinott:
Health,
Shocks and Poverty Persistence
In this paper we review the evidence on the impact of large shocks,
such as drought, on
child and adult health, with particular emphasis on Zimbabwe and
Ethiopia. Our focus
is on the impact of shocks on long-term outcomes, and we ask whether
there are
intrahousehold differences in these effects. The evidence suggests
substantial
fluctuations in body weight and growth retardation in response to
shocks. While there
appears to be no differential impact between boys and girls, adult
women are often
worse affected by these shocks. For children, there is no full recovery
from these losses,
affecting adult health and education outcomes, as well as lifetime
earnings. For adults,
there is no evidence of persistent effects from transitory shocks in
our data.
DP2003/25
Kym Anderson:
Trade
Liberalization, Agriculture, and Poverty in Low-income Countries
This paper offers an economic assessment of the opportunities and
challenges provided by the
WTO’s Doha Development Agenda, particularly through agricultural trade
liberalization, for
low-income countries seeking to trade their way out of poverty. After
discussing links between
poverty, economic growth and trade, it reports modelling results
showing that farm product
markets remain the most costly of all goods market distortions in world
trade. It focuses on what
such reform might mean for countries of South Asia and sub-Saharan
Africa in particular, both
without and with their involvement in the MTN reform process. What
becomes clear is that if
those countries want to maximize their benefits from the Doha round,
they need also to free up
their own domestic product and factor markets so their farmers are
better able to take advantage
of new market-opening opportunities abroad. Other concerns of
low-income countries about
farm trade reform also are addressed: whether there would be losses
associated with tariff
preference erosion, whether food-importing countries would suffer from
higher food prices in
international markets, whether China’s WTO accession will provide an
example of trade reform
aggravating poverty via cuts to prices received by Chinese farmers, and
the impact on food
security and poverty alleviation. The paper concludes with lessons of
relevance for low-income
countries for their own domestic and trade policies.
-
DP2003/28
Giovanni Andrea Cornia and Tony Addison with Sampsa Kiiski:
Income
Distribution Changes and their Impact in the Post-World War II Period
This paper analyses the trends in within-country
inequality during the post-World War II
period, with particular attention to the last 20 years. This is done on
the basis of a review
of the relevant literature and of an econometric analysis of inequality
trends in
73 countries, which account for 80 per cent of the world’s population
and 91 per cent of
world GDP-PPP. The paper suggests that the last two decades have been
characterized by
a surge in within-country inequality in about two-thirds of the
developing, developed and
transitional nations analysed. It also suggests that in those countries
where the upsurge in
inequality was sizeable or where inequality rose from already high
levels, growth and
poverty alleviation slowed down perceptibly. While this trend towards
higher inequality
differs substantially across countries in its extent, timing and
specific causes, it marks a
clear departure from the pattern observed during the first 30 years of
the post-World War
II period during which a widespread move towards greater egalitarianism
was noted in the
majority of the socialist, developing and industrialized economies,
with the exception of
Latin America and parts of Sub-Saharan Africa.
DP2003/36
Kræn Blume, Björn Gustafsson, Peder J. Pedersen and Mette Verner:
A
Tale of Two Countries: Poverty among Immigrants in Denmark and Sweden
since 1984
The paper focuses on the problems of low income among immigrants,
analysed by using
comparable panel datasets for two Scandinavian welfare states. After a
brief survey of a
few earlier studies on immigrant poverty, we present Denmark and Sweden
as
interesting cases for comparative research. Cyclical profiles have been
very different
since the 1980s and both countries have experienced considerable
differences with
regard to the number and composition of immigrants from the less
developed countries.
Poverty rates, analysed relative to different background factors, are
fairly high, in
particular when considering the welfare state background of Denmark and
Sweden. A
number of differences are found in spite of the institutional
similarities between the two
countries.
DP2003/52
Chris Elbers, Peter Lanjouw, Johan Mistiaen, Berk Özler and Ken
Simler:**
Are
Neighbours Equal? Estimating Local Inequality in Three Developing
Countries (PDF 340KB)
DP2003/67
Ruslan Yemtsov:**
Quo Vadis? Inequality
and Poverty Dynamics across Russian Regions (PDF
439KB)
DP2003/65
Michael Forster, David Jesuit and Timothy Smeeding:**
Regional
Poverty and Income Inequality in Central and Eastern Europe: Evidence
from the
Luxembourg Income Study
(PDF 251KB)
DP2003/69
Almas Heshmati:
Measurement
of a Multidimentional Index of Globalization and its Impact on Income
Inequality
In recent years, theoretical research on the link between globalization
and world
inequality has been intense. However, analysis of the link at the
empirical level is
scarce. The causal connections between globalization and inequality in
developing
nations are best understood by building on what we have learned about
inequality
change during the pre-globalization phase. Extensive empirical research
points to two
stylized facts. First, there is no structural relationship between
growth and inequality.
Second, income inequality levels in the pre-globalization phase were
generally
immobile and trendless.
-
DP2003/74
Stanislav Kolenikov and Anthony Shorrocks:**
A Decomposition
Analysis of Regional Poverty in Russia (PDF
326KB)
DP2004/02
Bart Capéau and André Decoster:**
The
Rise or Fall of World Inequality: A Spurious Controversy? (PDF
233KB)
DP2004/01
Anthony Shorrocks and Guanghua Wan:**
Spatial
Decomposition of Inequality (PDF 200KB)
DP2004/04
Erik Thorbecke:**
Conceptual
and Measurement Issues in Poverty Analysis (PDF
211KB)
RP2004/01
Anthony Shorrocks:**
Inequality
and Welfare Evaluation of Heterogeneous Income Distributions (PDF
457KB)
RP2004/12
S. Subramanian:**
Poverty
Measures and Anti-Poverty Policy with an Egalitarian Constraint (PDF
217KB)
RP2004/11
S. Subramanian:**
Some
Simple Analytics of Poverty Redress through Direct Income Transfers and
Wage
Employment Programmes: A Review and Commentary (PDF
231KB)
RP2004/10
S. Subramanian:**
A
Re-scaled Version of the Foster-Greer-Thorbecke Poverty Indices based
on an
Association with the Minkowski Distance Function (PDF
167KB)
RP2004/26
Ann Harding, Rachel Lloyd, Anthea Bill, and Anthony King**
Assessing
Poverty and Inequality at a Detailed Regional Level: New Advances in
Spatial
Microsimulation
(PDF 624KB)
RP2004/25
S. Subramanian:**
Indicators
of Inequality and Poverty (PDF 272KB)
RP2004/33
Susan Harkness:**
Social
and Political Indicators of Human Well-being (PDF
254KB)
RP2004/31
Douglas A. Hicks:
Inequalities, Agency,
and Well-being: Conceptual Linkages and Measurement Challenges in
Development - (PDF 177KB)
The capabilities approach has emphasized that
inequalities can be analyzed in various
dimensions of human functioning. Indicators of these inequalities can
be incorporated
into assessments of well-being. The capabilities approach also
highlights the intrinsic
importance of agency and demonstrates empirically that agency is
instrumentally
valuable for achieving various functionings. This paper draws together
these discussions
to delineate the relationships among inequalities, agency, and
well-being of
disadvantaged persons. A person’s relative deprivation (e.g., being
illiterate or being in
ill-health) negatively affects her well-being and contributes to her
lack of agency.
Conversely, some (but not all) expressions of agency by disadvantaged
persons can help
reduce inequalities. This model provides a complex understanding of the
dynamics of
deprivation—and its alleviation. The paper closes by considering ways
agency and
inequalities could be incorporated alongside well-being into indicators
of development.
RP2004/30
Andrew Sumner:**
Economic
Well-being and Non-economic Well-being: A Review of the Meaning and
Measurement
of Poverty (PDF 227KB)
RP2004/29
Mariano Rojas:**
Well-being
and the Complexity of Poverty: A Subjective Well-being Approach
(PDF
243KB)
RP2004/41
Sara Lelli:**
What
Money Can’t Buy: The Relevance of Income Redistribution for Functioning
Levels (PDF 353KB)
RP2004/40
Oleksiy Ivaschenko:**
Longevity
in Russia’s Regions: Do Poverty and Low Public Health Spending Kill?
(PDF 630KB)
RP2004/38
Nicholas Minot and Bob Baulch:**
Poverty
Mapping with Aggregate Census Data: What is the Loss in Precision?
(PDF
476KB)
RP2004/37
Mozaffar Qizilbash:**
On
the Arbitrariness and Robustness of Multi-Dimensional Poverty Rankings
(PDF 228KB)
RP2004/57
Sarah White and Jethro Pettit:**
Participatory
Approaches and the Measurement of Human Well-being
(PDF
165KB)
RP2004/59
S. Subramanian:**
Social
Groups and Economic Poverty: A Problem in Measurement
(PDF
148KB)
RP2004/63
Mark McGillivray and Farhad Noorbakhsh:**
Composite
Indices of Human Well-being: Past, Present, and Future
(PDF
167KB)
DP2004/07
Ruut Veenhoven:**
Subjective
Measures of Well-being(PDF 250KB)
DP2004/06
Des Gasper:**
Human
Well-being: Concepts and Conceptualizations (PDF
291KB)
DP2004/05
Stephan Klasen:**
Gender-Related
Indicators of Well-Being (PDF 253KB)
RP2005/46
Indranil Dutta and Ajit Mishra:**
Inequality,
Corruption, and Competition in the Presence of Market Imperfections
(PDF 247KB)
RP2005/57
Ethan Ligon:**
Poverty
and the Welfare Costs of Risk Associated with Globalization
(PDF
213KB)
RP2005/59
S. Subramanian:**
Reckoning
Inter-group Poverty Differentials in the Measurement of Aggregate
Poverty (PDF 264KB)
RP2005/64
Bram Thuysbaert and Ricardas Zitikis:**
Consistent
Testing for Poverty Dominance (PDF 237KB)
RP2005/63
Rafael E. De Hoyos**
The
Microeconomics of Inequality, Poverty and Market Liberalizing Reforms
(PDF 472KB)
This paper illustrates how the use of microeconometric techniques can
be used to
uncover the micro dynamics behind macro shocks. Using Mexican micro
data we find
out that—controlling for everything else—between 1994 and 1998 returns
to personal
characteristics in the tradable sector increased particularly those of
skilled labourers. By
the year 2000 the positive shock upon the tradeable sector vanishes
with returns to
personal characteristics converging to the levels observed in the
non-tradable sector. We
use our model’s results to simulate a scenario where the Mexican
economy experienced the negative shock of the peso crises in the
absence of trade liberalization (NAFTA) and
find out that under such a scenario the poverty headcount ratio would
have increased
more than 2 percentage points above the one observed in 1996. The
simulated secondorder
effect of these changes shows that the skill mixed changed in a way
that favoured
relatively skilled men and relatively unskilled women. These changes in
labour
participation and occupation had an overall positive income effect
though adverse in
distributive terms.
RP2005/62
S. Subramanian:**
Poverty
Measurement and Theories of Beneficence (PDF
151KB)
RP2005/75
George Mavrotas and S. Mansoob Murshed:**
The
Poverty Macroeconomic Policy Nexus: Some Short-run Analytics
(PDF
203KB)
RP2005/40
Rhys Jenkins:**
Globalization,
Production and Poverty (PDF 128KB)
RP2005/02
Alain Chateauneuf and Patrick Moyes:**
Measuring
Inequality Without the Pigou–Dalton Condition
(PDF 363KB)
DP2005/03
Rehman Sobhan:**
A
Macro Policy for Poverty Eradication through Structural Change
(PDF
84KB)
DP2005/08
Machiko Nissanke and Erik Thorbecke:**
Channels
and Policy Debate in the Globalization-Inequality-Poverty Nexus
(PDF 219KB)
RP2005/41
Jinhua Zhao:**
The
Role of Information in Technology Adoption under Poverty
(PDF 166KB)
RP2005/37
Almas Heshmati:**
The
Relationship between Income Inequality, Poverty, and Globalization
(PDF
194KB)
RP2005/36
Adriaan Kalwij and Arjan Verschoor:**
A
Decomposition of Poverty Trends across Regions: The Role of Variation
in the
Income and Inequality Elasticities of Poverty (PDF
751KB)
RP2005/34
Indranil Dutta and Ajit Mishra:**
Does
Inequality lead to Conflict? (PDF
273KB)
RP2005/33
Carol Graham:**
Globalization,
Poverty, Inequality, and Insecurity: Some Insights from the Economics
of
Happiness (PDF 184KB)
RP2005/32
Kaushik Basu:**
Globalization,
Poverty and Inequality: What Is the Relationship? What Can Be Done?
(PDF 111KB)
RP2005/30
Pranab Bardhan:**
Globalization
and Rural Poverty (PDF 94KB)
RP2005/29
Martin Ravallion:**
Looking
Beyond Averages in the Trade and Poverty Debate
(PDF 252KB)
RP2005/28
Rimjhim M. Aggarwal:**
Globalization,
Local Ecosystems, and the Rural Poor
(PDF
103KB)
RP2005/27
Gregory Graff, David Roland-Holst, and David Zilberman:**
Biotechnology
and Poverty Reduction in Developing Countries
(PDF
133KB)
RP2005/22
Matthew Clarke:**
Assessing
Well-being Using Hierarchical Needs(PDF
119KB)
RP2005/21
Daniel T. Haile:
Wealth
Distribution, Lobbying and Economic Growth: Theory and Evidence
This paper presents a model allowing one to analyze the joint
determination of
inequality, taxes, human capital and growth. We consider the political
economy of
redistribution between three income groups in a dynamic economy. The
paper seeks to
explain the effect of corruptibility (exemptions) and lobby group size
on policy
outcomes. Theoretically, this paper provides a linkage between lobbying
activities,
wealth distribution and growth. By endogenizing the weights the social
planner gives to
their constituents, our analysis explains why the relationship between
redistribution and
inequality is non-monotonic. In particular, the theory predicts a
non-monotonic relation
between the level of education, taxation and growth. Our empirical
results, moreover,
confirm the conjectured effect that in economies with a higher degree
of corruption and
inequality, we observe a lower tax/GDP ratio, leading to a lower
development of human
capital and thus lower growth.
DP2006/06
Markus Jäntti, Juho Saari, and Juhana Vartiainen:**
Growth and
Equity in Finland (PDF 273KB)
RP2006/64
Lars Osberg and Kuan Xu:**
How
Should We Measure Global Poverty in a Changing World?
(PDF
246KB)
RP2006/45
M. S. Qureshi:**
Trade
Liberalization, Environment and Poverty: A Developing Country
Perspective (PDF 369KB)
RP2006/38
Melanie Grosse, Kenneth Harttgen, and Stephan Klasen:**
Measuring
Pro-Poor Progress towards the Non-Income Millennium Development Goals
(PDF 346KB)
RP2006/34
Eric M. Uslaner:
Corruption
and Inequality
Economic inequality provides a fertile breeding ground for corruption
and, in turn, leads
to further inequalities. Most corruption models focus on the
institutional determinants of
government dishonesty. However, such accounts are problematic.
Corruption is
remarkably sticky over time. There is a very powerful correlation
between cross
national
measures corruption in 1980 and in 2004. In contrast, measures of
democracy
such as the Freedom House scores are not so strongly correlated over
time, and changes
in corruption are unrelated to changes in institutional design. On the
other hand,
inequality and trust-like corruption are also sticky over time. The
connection between
inequality and the quality of government is not necessarily so simple.
The aggregate
relationships between inequality and corruption are not strong. The
path from inequality
to corruption may be indirect, through generalized trust, but the
connection is key to
understanding why some societies are more corrupt than others. This
study estimates a
simultaneous equation model of trust, corruption, perceptions of
inequality, confidence in
government, and demands for redistribution in Romania, and shows that
perceptions of
rising inequality and corruption lead to lower levels of trust and
demands for
redistribution.
RP2006/32
Richard Jolly:
Inequality
in Historical Perspective
Adam Smith, Tom Paine, John Stuart Mill and Karl Marx were all bold and
outspoken
about the injustices of extreme inequality, nationally and
internationally. Yet by almost
every standard, global inequality has grown substantially since they
were writing, and
national income inequality also over the last two or three decades.
There is a case today
for more outspokenness about the extremes of inequality, both about the
causes and how
these causes are linked to extreme injustices in the past.
-
RP2006/15
Farhad Noorbakhsh:
International
Convergence or Higher Inequality in Human Development? Evidence for
1975 to 2002
The concept of convergence is extended to the human development index.
Evidence of
weak absolute convergence is found over 1975-2002. The results are
robust and verified
by various conditional β-convergence models and also supported by the
evidence of
weak σ-convergence. Population weighted analyses provide support for
polarization in
the human development index amongst developing countries but a slight
reduction in
world inequality. The dynamics of regional analysis reveal a movement
of sub-Saharan
Africa towards the low band of human development with Asia and Latin
America
making progress. High immobility of the early part of the period is
followed by
considerable upward and downward mobility in the latter part indicating
a possible case
of the ‘twin peaks’ type of polarization.
RP2006/10
Giovanni Andrea Cornia and Leonardo Menchini:
Health
Improvements and Health Inequality during the Last 40 Years
This paper juxtaposes changes over the last forty years in income
growth and
distribution with the mortality changes recorded at the aggregate level
in about 170
countries and at the individual level in 26 countries with at least two
demographic and
health surveys covering the last twenty years. Over the 1980s and
1990s, the infant
mortality rate, under-5 mortality rate, and life expectancy at birth
mostly continued the
favourable trends that characterized the 1960s and 1970s. Yet,
especially in the 1990s,
the pace of health improvement was slower than that recorded during the
prior decades.
In addition, the distribution between countries of aggregate health
improvements
became markedly more skewed. These trends are in part explained by the
negative
changes recorded in sub-Saharan Africa and Eastern Europe, but are
robust to the
removal of the two regions from the sample. This tendency is observed
also at the
intraregional level, with the exception of Western Europe. Thirdly,
demographic and …/
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