Why do China and India burn 60% of the world’s coal? A decomposition analysis from a global perspective

Abstract The basic story of global inequality in the last three decades has been an overall decline, but one which is composed of quite intricate patterns. There has been a decline in between-country inequality as China and India have grown relative to the US and other rich countries. This has been accompanied by an increase in within-country inequality, but this is itself composed of rising inequality in some countries such as China, India, and the US, and declining inequality in other countries, including large economies in Latin America. Section II of the paper reviews these patterns, highlighting country diversity to make the central point that policy matters. Section III addresses a normative question—what relative weight should be given to within-country and between-country inequality in making an overall global assessment? This section brings on board recent philosophical discourse, including on inequality of opportunity in a global frame. Section IV returns to the ‘policy matters’ theme and takes up global constraints on national redistribution policy in a globalized world: for example, a race to the bottom on taxation to attract and keep capital and talent, and possible global institutional responses to alleviate these constraints.

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Rethinking Representation: Representative Claims in Global Perspective

Politics and Governance ◽

10.17645/pag.v7i3.2464 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 7 (3) ◽

pp. 93-97 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Petra Guasti ◽

Brigitte Geissel

Keyword(s):

Comparative Study ◽

Empirical Research ◽

Political Representation ◽

Global Perspective ◽

Western Countries ◽

China And India ◽

The World ◽

Fundamental Transformation ◽

Multiple Accounts ◽

The Comparative Study

The established notion of political representation is challenged on multiple accounts—theoretically, conceptually, and empirically. The contributions to this thematic issue explore the constructivist turn as the means for rethinking political representation today around the world. The articles included here seek to reconsider representation by theoretically and empirically reassessing how representation is conceptualized, claimed and performed—in Western and non-Western contexts. In recognition that democratic representation in Western countries is in a process of fundamental transformation and that non-Western countries no longer aim at replicating established Western models, we look for representation around the world—specifically in: Belgium, Brazil, France, Germany, China, and India. This enables us to advance the study of representative democracy from a global perspective. We show the limits and gaps in the constructivist literature and the benefits of theory-driven empirical research. Finally, we provide conceptual tools and frameworks for the (comparative) study of claims of representation.

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Drivers of global nitrogen emissions

Environmental Research Letters ◽

10.1088/1748-9326/ac413c ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Arunima Malik ◽

Azusa Oita ◽

Emily Shaw ◽

Mengyu Li ◽

Panittra Ninpanit ◽

...

Keyword(s):

International Trade ◽

Decomposition Analysis ◽

Final Demand ◽

Global Perspective ◽

Nitrogen Efficiency ◽

Structural Decomposition Analysis ◽

Nitrogen Emissions ◽

Country Level ◽

Quality Of Water ◽

Time Period

Abstract Nitrogen is crucial for sustaining life. However, excessive reactive nitrogen (Nr) in the form of ammonia, nitrates, nitrogen oxides or nitrous oxides affects the quality of water, air and soil, resulting in human health risks. This study aims to assess the drivers of Nr emissions by analysing six determinants: nitrogen efficiency (Nr emissions per unit of production), production recipe (inter-sectoral dependencies), final demand composition (consumption baskets of households), final demand destination (consumption vs. investment balance), affluence (final consumption per capita) and population. To this end, we construct a detailed multi-regional input-output database featuring data on international trade between 186 countries to undertake a global structural decomposition analysis of a change in global Nr emissions from 1997-2017. Our analysis shows that nitrogen efficiency has improved over the assessed time-period, however affluence, final demand destination and population growth have resulted in an overall increase in Nr emissions. We provide a global perspective of the drivers of nitrogen emissions at a detailed country level, and breakdown the change in emissions into contribution from domestic footprint and rest-of-world footprint. We highlight that food production coupled with growing international trade is increasing Nr emissions worldwide.

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Book Reviews

Journal of Economic Literature ◽

10.1257/jel.49.1.129.r3 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 49 (1) ◽

pp. 136-138

Keyword(s):

Income Inequality ◽

Global Perspective ◽

Income Taxation ◽

China And India ◽

Top Incomes ◽

Boston University ◽

English Speaking ◽

Progressive Income Taxation ◽

Income Concentration

Robert A. Margo of Boston University and NBER reviews “Top Incomes: A Global Perspective” edited by A. B. Atkinson and T. Piketty. The EconLit Abstract of the reviewed work begins, “Thirteen papers examine top incomes in ten OECD countries and focus on the contrast between continental Europe and English-speaking countries. Papers discuss top Indian incomes, 1922-2000; income inequality and progressive income taxation in China and India, 1986-2015; the evolution of income concentration….”

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