scholarly journals Distributional effects of technological regime changes: hysteresis, concentration and inequality dynamics

Author(s):  
Herbert Dawid ◽  
Jasper Hepp

AbstractIn this paper, we study the effect of different types of technological regime changes on the evolution of industry concentration and wage inequality. Using a calibrated agent-based macroeconomic framework, the Eurace@Unibi model, we consider scenarios where the new regime is characterized by a finite time period of more frequent respectively more substantial changes in the frontier technology compared to the old regime. We show that under both scenarios, the regime change leads to an increase in the heterogeneity of productivity in the firm population and to increased market concentration, where effects are much less pronounced if the new regime differs from the old one with respect to the frequency of innovations. If the new regime is characterized by an increase of the size of the frontier jumps along the technological trajectory, the evolution of the wage inequality has an inverted U-shape with a large fraction of workers profiting in the very long run from high wages offered by dominant high-tech firms. Finally, it is shown that (observable) heterogeneity of worker skills plays an important role in generating these dynamic effects of technological regime changes.

2009 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-253 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth Scheve ◽  
David Stasavage

It has been widely suggested by political scientists and economists, based on empirical evidence for the period since 1970, that the institution of centralized wage bargaining and the presence of a government of the left are associated with lower levels of income inequality. The authors make use of new data on top income shares as well as long-run series on wage inequality to examine the effects of partisanship and wage bargaining over a much longer time period, nearly the entire twentieth century. Their empirical results provide little support for the idea that either of these two factors is correlated with income inequality over this period. They then show that a closer look at the introduction of centralized wage bargaining in individual countries during the middle part of the twentieth century reveals that in countries that moved to centralize wage bargaining, income inequality had already been trending downward well before the institutional change, that the move to centralized bargaining did not alter this trend, and that these changes in income inequality were also observed in countries that did not adopt centralized wage bargaining at this time. The results suggest that there were alternative institutional paths to reduced income inequality during most of the twentieth century. This raises the possibility that either structural economic changes or commonly shared economic and political events, such as world wars and economic crises, may ultimately be more important for understanding the evolution of income inequality than are the institutional or partisan characteristics commonly considered to be decisive by political scientists.


Author(s):  
Amerigo Caruso ◽  
Linda Hammann

AbstractProspero Balbo, the head of a leading Piedmontese noble family, followed a career path similar to that of the versatile French statesman Talleyrand. In the aftermath of 1789, Balbo served under four different regimes: the Old Regime monarchy, the Russian provisional administration of Piedmont in 1799, the Napoleonic empire, and the restored Savoy monarchy. After the short-lived revolutionary movement of 1821 in Sardinia-Piedmont, Prospero lost his job as interior minister and his son, Cesare, was forced into exile. The revolutionary waves of 1820–1821 were the most recent of numerous disruptive events and regime changes that jeopardized Europe and the Atlantic world between the late 1770 s and the early 1820 s. These five decades of revolutionary upheavals, wars, and persistent insecurity forced the traditional elites to mobilize their material, cultural, and social resources to preserve their prestige and power. Based on extensive archival research, this article examines the resilience-strengthening resources and strategies implemented by members of the Balbo family during periods of political turmoil. In doing so, the article aims to develop an analytical and conceptual framework to describe historical processes in terms of resilience and vulnerability. This new approach enables us to look afresh at elite transformations and at the dynamics of political change and continuity in early nineteenth-century Europe.


2012 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan Czasonis ◽  
Michael Quinn

One of the motivations for a country to join the European Union is the belief that this will boost short- and long-run incomes. Researchers have tested the hypothesis of income convergence in different settings using either regression or unit root analysis, with mixed results. In this paper, we use both methods on the same samples over a significant time period. This allows us to judge differences in results across varied time-frames and methodologies. The focus of these tests is on convergence to German and EMU average incomes by Eastern European countries and those within the Euro-zone from 1971–2007. The evidence for convergence is mixed. Among the Euro-zone countries, there is more evidence of convergence in the 1970s and 1980s than recently. There is significant evidence that Eastern Europe experienced convergence and that capital formation was one of the root causes. While the results do not support the hypothesis that joining the EU increases convergence, reforms undertaken in the 1990s by Eastern European countries in preparation for joining may have helped them to “catch up”, even if the act of joining the EU did not directly impact convergence.


2010 ◽  
Vol 13 (06) ◽  
pp. 931-957 ◽  
Author(s):  
MICHAEL J. KLASS ◽  
KRZYSZTOF NOWICKI

Consider any discrete time sequence of investment fortunes Fn which has a finite long-run growth rate [Formula: see text] when subject to the present value capital drawdown constraint Fne-rn ≥ λ* max 0≤k≤nFke-rk, where 0 ≤ λ* < 1, in the presence of a riskless asset affording a return of er dollars per time period per dollar invested. We show that money can be withdrawn for consumption from the invested capital without either reducing the long-run growth rate of such capital or violating the drawdown constraint for our capital sequence, while simultaneously increasing the amount of capital withdrawn for consumption at the identical long-term rate of V(r, λ*). We extend this result to an exponentially increasing number of consumption categories and discuss how additional yearly contributions can temporarily augment the total capital under management. In addition, we assess the short-term practicality of creating such an endowment/consumption/distribution program.


2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 1069-1075 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylvain Petit

This study investigates the impact of the international openness in tourism services trade on wage inequality between highly skilled, semi-skilled, and unskilled workers in the tourism industry. The sample covers 10 developed countries and expands over 15 years. A cointegrated panel data model and an error correction model were used to distinguish between the short- and long-run effects. The results are compared to those of openness of business services and manufactured goods. The findings point out that tourism increases wage inequality at the expense of the least skilled workers in the long run and the short run.


Author(s):  
Tamara Makukh ◽  

The article analyses the main trends in the world economy through the prism of the current global financial and credit system. Various forecasts for the development of the world economy were assessed and noted that they do not correspond to real trends and patterns. These forecasts cannot assess the conceptual principles of the structure of the financial and credit base of the economy. Such forecasting is carried out on the principles of the achieved indicators and the developed methods of estimation of disturbances in the financial markets. The specificity of the state of the debt market is indicated, which allows to develop the economy only by increasing the total debt obligations, which leads to a complete loss of profitability of debt securities. It is proved that no defaults and debt write-offs do not renew the economy; these instruments only restart the mechanism of holding the debt market. Such development is a direct consequence of liberal regulation and a departure from the full functions of money, which leads to a conceptual change in the paradigm of the financial system. The limitations of the dominant concept of the financial and credit system, which was based on the basic foundations of the Bretton Woods Conference, were revealed. Criteria for financial regulation of a market economy have been identified and substantiated, which have exhausted their effectiveness and do not guarantee an early effect, but are only immediate. It is noted that the global pandemic and financial infusions to overcome it are a tool for accumulating total debt in the long run. The primary measures for debt restructuring are indicated, namely the support of low-debt fundamental companies that will meet the objective basic needs of innovative companies. Factors of economic development are explained: growth of economic productivity, short-term and long-term credit cycles and political component. It is indicated that productivity determines the priority of society's development in the long run, and the element of its implementation is knowledge in the absence of political dictate, which will form a new financial and credit mechanism. High-tech knowledge is needed to ensure productivity development, so investing in education and knowledge without different dogmas can bring the world economy to a new level of efficiency.


Author(s):  
Muhammad Usman

The goal of this study is to explore the impact of high tech exports on economic growth of Pakistan. To examine this relationship, data are collected from World Bank database, State Bank of Pakistan data source and Statistical Bureau of Pakistan. Time span of study is consisting of 20 years from 1995 to 2014. By using ordinary least square (OLS) with robust standard error, results confirm that there is a positive and statistically significant impact of high tech exports on economic growth. Although Pakistan is an agriculture country and its economic growth is largely depend upon farming, but for long run economic growth, Pakistan has to increase its high tech exports.


Author(s):  
Takrima Sayeda

The purpose of the paper is to see if there is any relationship exist between free floating exchange rate and export performance of Bangladesh. It inspects the monthly data of exchange rate and export value for the time period between year 2000 and 2017. It utilized the Johansen [1] cointegration approach to identify the extent of long run and short run relationship between them. The study could not establish neither any long term trend nor any short term dynamics between the variables. Respective variables are significantly related to their own immediate past values. Distant past values do not have any implications. This study suggests that short run macroeconomic policy would be beneficial to influence the foreign exchange market and eventually the performance of export of Bangladesh.


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