Median Household Income and GDP

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Nolan ◽  
Max Roser ◽  
Stefan Thewissen
Keyword(s):  
Household Income ◽  
National Income ◽  
Real Income ◽  
Living Standards ◽  
Income Growth ◽  
Median Household Income ◽  
Macroeconomic Performance ◽  
Potential Explanation ◽  
Over Time

This chapter investigates the extent to which real income growth for households around the middle is seen to diverge from growth in national income per head—the most widely-used metric for assessing overall macroeconomic performance. While the concentration of income gains at the top of the distribution examined in Chapter 3 is one potential explanation, it is by no means the only one. A range of distinct factors that may contribute are described and their importance assessed across countries and over time. The implications are brought out both for understanding what drives ordinary living standards and for how they are best monitored and assessed.

Sources of Household Income Growth in Rich Countries

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Nolan ◽  
Stefan Thewissen ◽  
Alice Lazzati
Keyword(s):  
Household Income ◽  
Social Insurance ◽  
Real Income ◽  
Income Growth ◽  
Social Transfers ◽  
Household Members ◽  
Key Features ◽  
Rich Countries ◽  
Different Sources ◽  
Over Time

This chapter seeks to capture what underpins patterns of real income growth versus stagnation for those around and below the middle by distinguishing the different sources of income they receive—in terms of the earnings of different household members, investment income, pensions, and social transfers, as well as the direct taxes and social insurance contributions deducted. The role each of these sources play in household income and its growth over time across countries is explored, bringing out both the key features of incomes around the middle versus towards the top and bottom of the distribution, and which sources have been key to sustained growth for those households.

Understanding Rising Income Inequality and Stagnating Ordinary Living Standards in Germany

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerhard Bosch ◽  
Thorsten Kalina
Keyword(s):  
Income Inequality ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Household Income ◽  
Wage Bargaining ◽  
Living Standards ◽  
Social Model ◽  
Real Wages ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Over Time

This chapter describes how inequality and real incomes have evolved in Germany through the period from the 1980s, through reunification, up to the economic Crisis and its aftermath. It brings out how reunification was associated with a prolonged stagnation in real wages. It emphasizes how the distinctive German structures for wage bargaining were eroded over time, and the labour market and tax/transfer reforms of the late 1990s-early/mid-2000s led to increasing dualization in the labour market. The consequence was a marked increase in household income inequality, which went together with wage stagnation for much of the 1990s and subsequently. Coordination between government, employers, and unions still sufficed to avoid the impact the economic Crisis had on unemployment elsewhere, but the German social model has been altered fundamentally over the period

scholarly journals Sustaining Rice Productivity, Soil Fertility, and Income from Prawn-Rice Joint Culture in the Gher System in Banglade

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 43-62
Author(s):  
Basanta Kumar Barmon ◽  
◽  
Sanzidur Rahman ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Fertility ◽  
Household Income ◽  
Farming System ◽  
Real Income ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Soil Quality Index ◽  
Rice Productivity ◽  
Agricultural Income ◽  
Commercial Feeds ◽  
Over Time

This paper examines the long-term impacts of the joint prawn-rice gher farming system on agricultural and household incomes, soil fertility, and productivity of modern variety (MV) rice in southwestern Bangladesh, based on socioeconomic data of the gher farmers and soil fertility data of their gher plots. In 2005, 20 farmers operating on 30 plots were randomly selected from the Bilpabla village of Khulna from whom prawn and MV rice production data were collected using a questionnaire; soil samples were also collected and tested. In 2011 and 2017, the sustainability of the gher system over time was assessed through another survey of farmers following the same methodology. Results revealed that although the nominal income from gher farming increased by 59 percent in 2011 and 23 percent in 2017, the real income and per capita household income remained unchanged over time. Agricultural income has contributed about 65 percent to household income, which for gher farmers was about 200 percent higher than average rural incomes in Bangladesh. Rice productivity declined slightly from its 2005 level. However, the productivity of MV rice under prawn-rice gher farming is substantially higher than in the conventional MV rice farming system. The positive estimates of the Mean Soil Quality Index and Soil Degradation Index for land used for MV paddy production within the gher indicate an increase in soil nutrients. This suggests that the joint prawn-rice gher farming system is relatively sustainable, having improved soil fertility and stabilized real income. Policy implications toward promoting agricultural growth in the southwestern region of Bangladesh include research on developing varieties of MV rice suited to prawn-rice gher farming and the development of commercial feeds and markets for prawn to further raise productivity and incomes of gher farmers.

The Evolution of Living Standards for Middle and Lower Income Households in OECD Countries

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Nolan ◽  
Stefan Thewissen
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Income Distribution ◽  
Real Income ◽  
Living Standards ◽  
Entire Population ◽  
Income Growth ◽  
Lower Income ◽  
Working Age ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Rich Countries

This chapter carries out and presents the findings from an in-depth comparative analysis of real income growth around and below the middle of the income distribution across the rich countries of the OECD over recent decades. It examines trends in real incomes for the entire population and for working age households only, and sets the evolution of incomes around the middle in each country against what has been happening lower down and higher up the distribution. This allows the range of experiences across countries in these terms to be captured, providing the base which subsequent chapters seek to probe and get behind.

The Multiracial Population

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Iceland
Keyword(s):  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Racial Identity ◽  
Household Income ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Median Household Income ◽  
Black And White ◽  
Health And Well Being ◽  
Over Time

This chapter examines trends in intermarriage, discusses how the estimates of the multiracial population are sensitive to how we define and measure this group, describes how views about racial identity have changed over time, and provides measures of well being, such as education and income, among the multiracial population. The chapter also documents differences among multiracial Americans, such as between people who are black and white and Asian and white. The chapter shows that the socioeconomic status of multiracial individuals tends to be in between that of the constituent race groups. The median household income of black-white individuals, for example, is between that of single-race black and white individuals. The chapter ends by noting that we need to learn much more about the growing multiracial population and the factors that affect their health and well being.

Inequality and Ordinary Living Standards in OECD Countries

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Nolan ◽  
Stefan Thewissen
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Relationship ◽  
Real Income ◽  
Living Standards ◽  
Income Growth ◽  
Lower Income ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Recent Commentary ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Rich Countries ◽  
Distribution Of Income

This chapter focuses on how the patterns of real income growth or stagnation seen in Chapter 2 are related to changes to inequality in the distribution of income, which has played such a prominent role in recent commentary and debate. It examines how income inequality has evolved over recent decades across the rich countries, both overall and in terms of the share going to the very top of the distribution, and highlights key factors in driving inequality upwards—albeit differentially across countries and time-periods. The ways in which rising inequality may undermine real income growth for middle and lower income households are discussed, and the empirical relationship between inequality and such real income growth over recent decades across the rich countries is analysed. Alongside real income growth or its absence, some other ways of looking at whether ‘the middle’ has been ‘squeezed’ in income terms are also explored.

Inequality amid Stagnation

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Brandolini ◽  
Romina Gambacorta ◽  
Alfonso Rosolia
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Financial Crisis ◽  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Turning Point ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Real Income ◽  
Income Growth ◽  
Macroeconomic Performance ◽  
Major Turning Point ◽  
The Global Financial Crisis

This chapter describes how inequality and real incomes evolved in Italy from the 1980s through the double-dip recession it experienced after the Global Financial Crisis. It brings out how the crisis Italy experienced in the early 1990s marked a major turning point, with inequality increasing and economic growth subsequently low. The labour market and tax–transfer reforms implemented in the following years are also discussed. The severe impact of the economic Crisis and very limited recovery seen to date reinforce pre-existing cleavages across the generations and geographically. Substantially improved macroeconomic performance is seen as central to the restoration of significant real income growth for ordinary households.

Conclusions and Implications

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Nolan
Keyword(s):  
Real Income ◽  
Living Standards ◽  
Income Growth ◽  
Common Elements ◽  
Wage Setting ◽  
Market Institutions ◽  
Individual Country ◽  
Country Case Study ◽  
Welfare State Regimes

This chapter brings together the findings from the ten individual country case-study chapters to highlight the lessons to be learned about inequality and living standards. It highlights the extent to which countries facing what might be thought of as common drivers in terms of globalization and technological change none the less had very different outcomes in terms of increases in inequality and real income growth. This variation did not align neatly with pre-existing welfare-state regimes or economic models, but some common elements can be identified in countries or periods where increases in inequality were limited, and ones where significant real income increases were achieved. The chapter brings out the implications in terms of macroeconomic policy, employment, wage-setting, and labour-market institutions and policies, and redistributive mechanisms as well as broader social provision and supports.

Inequality and Living Standards

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Förster ◽  
Brian Nolan
Keyword(s):  
Income Inequality ◽  
Income Distribution ◽  
Real Income ◽  
Comparative Data ◽  
Living Standards ◽  
Income Growth ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Rich Countries

This chapter provides an overview of how inequality and living standards have evolved across the rich countries of the OECD in recent decades, of the factors driving income inequality upwards in many of them, and of the channels through which this may undermine real income growth and opportunity for households across the middle and lower parts of the income distribution. It presents an overview of key trends drawing on comparative data from the OECD’s Income Distribution Database. It reviews existing evidence on the drivers of income inequality and on how inequality may affect income growth around the middle. It highlights key gaps in knowledge, to be addressed by the in-depth examination of the varying experiences of a range of rich countries in this book.

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