The Link Between Income, Income Inequality, and Prosocial Behavior Around the World

2021 ◽  
Vol 52 (6) ◽  
pp. 375-386
Author(s):  
Lucía Macchia ◽  
Ashley V. Whillans
Keyword(s):  
Income Inequality ◽  
Prosocial Behavior ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Statistical Models ◽  
Representative Sample ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
High Income ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Large Scale Dataset ◽  
The World

Abstract. The questions of whether high-income individuals are more prosocial than low-income individuals and whether income inequality moderates this effect have received extensive attention. We shed new light on this topic by analyzing a large-scale dataset with a representative sample of respondents from 133 countries ( N = 948,837). We conduct a multiverse analysis with 30 statistical models: 15 models predicting the likelihood of donating money to charity and 15 models predicting the likelihood of volunteering time to an organization. Across all model specifications, high-income individuals were more likely to donate their money and volunteer their time than low-income individuals. High-income individuals were more likely to engage in prosocial behavior under high (vs. low) income inequality. Avenues for future research and potential mechanisms are discussed.

scholarly journals Socioeconomic Disparities in Foods/Beverages and Nutrients Consumed by U.S. Adolescents When Snacking: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2005–2018

Nutrients ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 2530
Author(s):  
Navika Gangrade ◽  
Janet Figueroa ◽  
Tashara M. Leak
Keyword(s):  
National Health ◽  
Low Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Low Income ◽  
High Income ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Nutrition Examination Survey ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Low Socioeconomic ◽  
Health And Nutrition ◽  
Income Ratio

Snacking contributes a significant portion of adolescents’ daily energy intake and is associated with poor overall diet and increased body mass index. Adolescents from low socioeconomic status (SES) households have poorer snacking behaviors than their higher-SES counterparts. However, it is unclear if the types of food/beverages and nutrients consumed during snacking differ by SES among adolescents. Therefore, this study examines SES disparities in the aforementioned snacking characteristics by analyzing the data of 7132 adolescents (12–19 years) from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2005–2018. Results reveal that adolescents from low-income households (poverty-to-income ratio (PIR) ≤ 1.3) have lower odds of consuming the food/beverage categories “Milk and Dairy” (aOR: 0.74; 95% CI: 0.58-0.95; p = 0.007) and “Fruits” (aOR: 0.62, 95% CI: 0.50–0.78; p = 0.001) as snacks and higher odds of consuming “Beverages” (aOR: 1.45; 95% CI: 1.19-1.76; p = 0.001) compared to those from high-income households (PIR > 3.5). Additionally, adolescents from low- and middle-income (PIR > 1.3–3.5) households consume more added sugar (7.98 and 7.78 g vs. 6.66 g; p = 0.012, p = 0.026) and less fiber (0.78 and 0.77 g vs. 0.84 g; p = 0.044, p = 0.019) from snacks compared to their high-income counterparts. Future research is necessary to understand factors that influence snacking among adolescents, and interventions are needed, especially for adolescents from low-SES communities.

scholarly journals Income Inequality Affects the Psychological Health of Only the People Facing Scarcity

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (12) ◽  
pp. 1911-1921 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolas Sommet ◽  
Davide Morselli ◽  
Dario Spini
Keyword(s):  
Income Inequality ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Psychological Health ◽  
National Income ◽  
World Values Survey ◽  
Psychological Consequences ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
The People ◽  
The World ◽  
The Status

Following the status-anxiety hypothesis, the psychological consequences of income inequality should be particularly severe for economically vulnerable individuals. Oddly, however, income inequality is often found to affect vulnerable low-income and advantaged high-income groups equally. We argue that economic vulnerability is better captured by a financial-scarcity measure and hypothesize that income inequality primarily impairs the psychological health of people facing scarcity. First, repeated cross-sectional international data (from the World Values Survey: 146,034 participants; 105 country waves) revealed that the within-country effect of national income inequality on feelings of unhappiness was limited to individuals facing scarcity (≈25% of the World Values Survey population). Second, longitudinal national data (Swiss Household Panel: 14,790 participants; 15,595 municipality years) revealed that the within-life-course effect of local income inequality on psychological health problems was also limited to these individuals (< 10% of the Swiss population). Income inequality by itself may not be a problem for psychological health but, rather, may be a catalyst for the consequences of financial scarcity.

scholarly journals Assessing the Equity and Redistributive Effects of Taxation Reforms in Nigeria

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henry C. Edeh
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Value Added ◽  
High Income ◽  
Living Standard ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Variable Part ◽  
Lump Sum ◽  
Redistributive Effects ◽  
Income Taxpayers

Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of poverty and inequality reduction through redistribution have indeed become critical concerns in many low- and middle-income countries, including Nigeria. Although redistribution results from the effect of tax revenue collections, micro household-level empirical analyses of the distributional effect of personal income tax (PIT) and value added tax (VAT) reforms in Nigeria have been scarcely carried out. This study for the first time quantitatively assessed both the equity and redistributive effects of PIT and VAT across different reform scenarios in Nigeria. Data used in this study was mainly drawn from the most recent large scale nationally representative Nigeria Living Standard Survey, conducted in 2018/2019. The Kakwani Index was used to calculate and compare the progressivity of PIT and VAT reforms. A simple static micro-simulation model was employed in assessing the redistributive effect of PIT and VAT reforms in the country. After informality has been accounted for, the PIT was found to be progressive in the pre- 2011 tax scheme, but turned regressive in the post-2011 tax scheme. It was also discovered that the newly introduced lump sum relief allowance in the post-2011 PIT scheme accrues more to the high-income than to the low-income taxpayers – confirming the regressivity of the current PIT scheme. However, the study further shows (through counterfactual simulations) that excluding the relatively high-income taxpayers from sharing in the variable part of the lump sum relief allowance makes PIT progressive in the post-2011 scheme. The VAT was uncovered to be regressive both in the pre-2020 scheme, and in the current VAT reform scheme. Further, after putting informality into consideration, the PIT was found to marginally reduce inequality but increase poverty in the pre-2011 scheme. The post-2011 PIT scheme reduced inequality and increased poverty, but by a smaller proportion – confirming a limited redistribution mainly resulting from the concentration of the lump sum relief allowance at the top of the distribution. However, if the variable part of the lump sum relief allowance is provided for ‘only’ the low-income taxpayers below a predefined income threshold, the post-2011 PIT scheme becomes largely redistributive. VAT was uncovered to marginally increase inequality and poverty in the pre-2020 scheme. Though the current VAT scheme slightly increased inequality, it considerably increased poverty in the country. It is therefore suggested that a better tax reform, with well-regulated relief allowance and differentiated VAT rates, will help to enhance the equity and redistribution capacity of the Nigeria tax system.

Contrasting tactical and strategic dynamics on a Clausewitz landscape

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-153
Author(s):  
Rodrick Wallace
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Models ◽  
Limit Theorems ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Evolutionary Process ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Local Resources ◽  
Human Organization ◽  
The World ◽  
Short Time

Statistical models based on the asymptotic limit theorems of control and information theories allow formal examination of the essential differences between short-time “tactical” confrontations and a long-term “strategic” conflict dominated by evolutionary process. The world of extended coevolutionary conflict is not the world of sequential “muddling through.” The existential strategic challenge is to take cognitive control of a long-term dynamic in which one may, in fact, be “losing” most short-term confrontations. Winning individual battles can be a relatively direct, if not simple or easy, matter of sufficient local resources, training, and resolve. Winning extended conflicts is not direct, and requires management of subtle coevolutionary phenomena subject to a dismaying punctuated equilibrium more familiar from evolutionary theory than military doctrine. Directed evolution has given us the agricultural base needed for large-scale human organization. Directed coevolution of the inevitable conflicts between the various segments of that organization may be needed for its long-term persistence.

Economic Inequality and Social Entrepreneurship

2017 ◽  
Vol 57 (6) ◽  
pp. 1150-1190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saurav Pathak ◽  
Etayankara Muralidharan
Keyword(s):  
Income Inequality ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Social Entrepreneurship ◽  
Economic Inequality ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Income Mobility ◽  
Global Competitiveness ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Country Level ◽  
Level Data

This article explores the extent to which income inequality and income mobility—both considered indicators of economic inequality and conditions of formal regulatory institutions (government activism)—facilitate or constrain the emergence of social entrepreneurship. Using 77,983 individual-level responses obtained from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) survey of 26 countries, and supplementing with country-level data obtained from the Global Competitiveness Report of the World Economic Forum, our results from multilevel analyses demonstrate that country-level income inequality increases the likelihood of individual-level engagement in social entrepreneurship, while income mobility decreases this likelihood. Further, income mobility negatively moderates the influence of income inequality on social entrepreneurship, such that the condition of low income mobility and high income inequality is a stronger predictor of social entrepreneurship. We discuss implications and limitations of our study, and we suggest avenues for future research.

scholarly journals Assessing large-scale weekly cycles in meteorological variables: a review

2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (13) ◽  
pp. 5755-5771 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Sanchez-Lorenzo ◽  
P. Laux ◽  
H.-J. Hendricks Franssen ◽  
J. Calbó ◽  
S. Vogl ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Methods ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Anthropogenic Activities ◽  
Statistical Significance ◽  
Meteorological Variables ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Scientific Debate ◽  
The Us ◽  
The World ◽  
Weekly Cycles

Abstract. Several studies have claimed to have found significant weekly cycles of meteorological variables appearing over large domains, which can hardly be related to urban effects exclusively. Nevertheless, there is still an ongoing scientific debate whether these large-scale weekly cycles exist or not, and some other studies fail to reproduce them with statistical significance. In addition to the lack of the positive proof for the existence of these cycles, their possible physical explanations have been controversially discussed during the last years. In this work we review the main results about this topic published during the recent two decades, including a summary of the existence or non-existence of significant weekly weather cycles across different regions of the world, mainly over the US, Europe and Asia. In addition, some shortcomings of common statistical methods for analyzing weekly cycles are listed. Finally, a brief summary of supposed causes of the weekly cycles, focusing on the aerosol-cloud-radiation interactions and their impact on meteorological variables as a result of the weekly cycles of anthropogenic activities, and possible directions for future research, is presented.

scholarly journals Localising democracy on an uneven playing field: the roles of ward councillors in the City of Cape Town

2021 ◽  
pp. 40-59
Author(s):  
Vinothan Naidoo
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Cape Town ◽  
High Income ◽  
Local Democracy ◽  
Playing Field ◽  
Complex Process ◽  
Stratified Sample ◽  
Service Broker ◽  
The City

The democratic transition in South Africa was accompanied by large-scale institutional re-engineering at all levels of government. This was an extremely complex process in local government, where a racially fragmented system of municipalities underwent extensive reorganisation. Despite this, historical patterns of settlement based on race have entrenched socio-economic inequalities and highly uneven experiences of local democracy. Against this backdrop, this paper investigates the differing roles of ward councillors. It examines a stratified sample of low-, mixed- and high-income wards in the City of Cape Town, and finds general yet qualified support for a view that ward councillor roles are conditioned by the socio-economic character of the areas they represent. In broad terms, councillors in low-income wards play a service broker and conflict mitigator role; councillors in mixed-income wards act as reconcilers and integrators; and councillors in high-income wards perform a placeholder and maintainer role.

Financing Terrorism

2019 ◽  
pp. 477-493
Author(s):  
Harold Trinkunas
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Terrorist Attacks ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Washington Dc ◽  
The World ◽  
Terrorism Financing ◽  
Late Twentieth ◽  
Developed World ◽  
State Responses

This chapter reviews the fundamentals of terrorism financing and identifies what has been learned from the successes and failures of state responses to this phenomenon. The globalization of the world economy during the late twentieth century created new opportunities for terrorist organizations to move resources acquired from wealthy individuals, popular support, state sponsors, or participation in illicit economies across international borders and use these funds to support terrorist attacks. State responses following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, DC, created a new international counterterrorism financing regime that led to the relative “hardening” of the developed world against terrorist financing. This altered terrorist incentives and contributed to shifting large-scale financial operations towards lower risk jurisdictions in the rest of the world. The chapter concludes by identifying key theoretical and policy issues that remain to be addressed by future research into terrorism financing.

Group Incomes and Preferences for Redistribution

2021 ◽  
pp. 113-132
Author(s):  
Michael J. Donnelly
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
Low Income ◽  
High Income ◽  
British Household Panel Survey ◽  
Panel Survey ◽  
Preferences For Redistribution ◽  
The World ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Global Data

In this chapter, I examine the relationship between group incomes and individual attitudes toward redistribution. One major implication of heuristic theory is that individuals who are members of relatively high income ethnic groups or live in high income regions should oppose redistribution more than those in relatively low income ethnic groups or regions. To test this, I present global data from the World Values Survey, UK data from the British Household Panel Survey, and Czech and Slovak data from the Central and Eastern Eurobarometer. I show that the predicted pattern holds in all three settings across a range of approaches, and close by discussing the methodological lessons from these analyses.

Smokers’ perceptions of incentivised smoking cessation programmes: Examining how payment thresholds change with income

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel J Breen ◽  
Stuart G Ferguson ◽  
Matthew A Palmer
Keyword(s):  
Smoking Cessation ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Financial Incentive ◽  
Growth Models ◽  
Income Group ◽  
High Income ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Quadratic Trend ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Low And Middle Income

Abstract Introduction Studies demonstrate that financial incentive programmes increase smoking cessation. However, there is little guidance on which incentive magnitudes will ensure optimal enrolment and motivation levels. This study investigates current smokers’ perceptions of varying incentive magnitudes to identify whether there is evidence for optimal amount(s), and whether perceptions differ by income group. Methods Studies 1 (N = 56) and 2 (N = 147) were conducted online via Prolific.co. Current smokers were randomly shown multiple hypothetical incentive programmes which differed only in the incentive amount offered. For each programme, smokers rated its appeal, their likelihood of enrolling, and predicted their motivation to quit if enrolled. Growth models were used to investigate the relationship between perspectives and the incentive amount. Results An increasing quadratic trend in smokers’ perceptions of programmes as the incentive amount increased was identified. Incentive amounts beyond approximately £50-75/week (£500 to £750 total) did not significantly alter perceptions of programmes. In Study 2, high-income smokers found programmes significantly less appealing and motivating than low-income smokers, although no significant between-group differences were observed in the likelihood of enrolment. No significant differences were observed between low- and middle-income smokers. Conclusions Increasing the incentive amount increased smoker’s perceptions of programmes. This relationship was curvilinear, meaning there may be a point beyond which further increasing the amount will not improve enrolment or motivation levels. Incentives appear equally appealing to low- and middle-income smokers; the population among whom smoking is most prevalent. Future research could explore other elements of programme design, and whether findings hold under real-world conditions. Implications While acknowledging that they work, policymakers frequently request information about the monetary amount needed for incentive programmes to be effective, and if this differs by income level. We investigated these questions using smokers’ perceptions of hypothetical cessation programmes which differed in the amount offered. An increasing quadratic trend in perceptions of programmes by the amount and potential cut-points were observed, suggesting a point may exist beyond which increasing the incentive will not improve perceptions of programmes or enrolment levels. High-income smokers may not perceive incentives to be as appealing as other income groups, but appear equally willing to enrol.

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