The effects of financial deepening on income inequality based on grey incidence analysis

2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 495-504 ◽  
Author(s):  
Quanda Zhang

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to clarify the relationship between income inequality and financial deepening. The majority of theoretical studies on the relationship between them argue that financial deepening has a positive effect on the income inequality. This paper aims to study the case of China, and explores whether the effects of financial deepening on income inequality varies between urban residents and rural residents. Design/methodology/approach – Using the grey incidence analysis, this paper first calculates the degree of grey incidence between dependent variables, i.e. per capita disposable income of urban residents, per capita net income of rural residents and overall Theil Inequality Index for China, and independent variables, depth of credit, depth of direct financing and depth of insurance. Next, multiple non-linear regression is introduced to build the model. With the method of unit root test and co-integration test, some equations are given to show the clear relationship among the variables. Findings – The empirical results indicate that the development of credit market does not have a strong relationship both with the growth of income and income inequality. While the development of both the direct financing market and the insurance market is closely related to the growth of income and income inequality. Originality/value – The results of this paper suggest that the protection of the rights and interests of medium-sized investors is the key for the capital market. Meanwhile, the insurance market should be encouraged to expand in both breadth and depth, which helps to take full advantage of its functions. As for the credit market, more resources should be allocated to those who need them most the small- and medium-sized enterprises, which will contribute to the growth of the income for the majority and narrowing the income gap.

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-159
Author(s):  
Jiangtao Li ◽  
Jianyue Ji ◽  
Yanxia Wang

Purpose Efficiency of a commercial bank affects both its competitiveness and the role it plays in the process of economic development. Although great efforts have been exerted in developing the various aspects of banking efficiency, there seems to be a lack of research on examining the impact of the bank efficiency from the employee wage perspective. The mechanism of how employee wage affects commercial bank efficiency and the relationship between the two were analyzed in this paper. Based on the growing body of research on efficiency in banking, the aim of this paper is to examine if competitiveness of employee wages at any commercial bank has any impact on the bank efficiency score. Design/methodology/approach The method used was quantitative analysis, which was based on comparing the evaluated efficiencies of the banks with employee wages published in the bank reports. The empirical data in this paper were based on 16 Chinese listed commercial banks from 2004 to 2012. The per capita wage of commercial banks was selected as the wage indicator, and the efficiency value obtained by the slack-based measure (SBM) model was selected as the efficiency indicator. According to the calculated data, the Tobit regression model was built to analyze the relationship between employee wage and commercial bank efficiency. Findings The research results show that employee wage is the key variable that influences the efficiency of Chinese commercial banks, and the inverted U-shaped relationship between employee wage and commercial banks efficiency shows up. Practical implications The wage structure data of the composition of basic pay and bonus were not available at the time of conducting the research. Per capita wages were used instead to reflect the employee wage levels of Chinese banks. Originality/value This study can provide some help for the banking industry by analyzing the wage levels from the perspective of efficiency and also further enriches the theoretical system of the relationship between employee wage and bank efficiency.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xueli Chen ◽  
Wanshu Ma ◽  
Vivian Valdmanis

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the challenges involved in the trade-offs of labor productivity and per capita carbon dioxide (CO2) emission.Design/methodology/approachIn this research, we used a balanced dataset of 36 OECD countries and China between 1990 and 2018. We examined the relationship between labor productivity and per capita CO2 emission for OECD countries and China based on an Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis. Further, the fixed effects model of estimation was employed to examine the impact of variables during the sample period and explore the relationship between predictor and outcome variables within an entity while controlling for all time-invariant differences.FindingsThis study confirmed the existence of the N-shape EKC hypothesis in 36 OECD countries and China. This implies that at the initial development stage, per capita CO2 emission increased with labor productivity; however, after reaching certain threshold, per capita CO2 emission began to fall with rising labor productivity. Then the per capita CO2 emission rises again when labor productivity continually increases.Originality/valueIn this study, we explored the dynamic association between labor productivity and per capita CO2 emissions for 36 OECD countries and China under the EKC framework from 1990 to 2018 by using the labor productivity and per capita CO2 emission as economic and environmental indicators of one country respectively. This study’s contribution showed the following: first, the empirical findings confirmed the N-shape relationship between labor productivity and per capita CO2 emissions for 36 OECD countries and China; second, the findings demonstrated that the association among the underlying variables by testing through the fixed effect model.


2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 591-610 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sima Siami-Namini ◽  
Darren Hudson

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of growth in different sectors of the economy of developing countries on income inequality and analyze how inflation, as a proxy for monetary policy, makes a proportionate contribution for setting a binding national target for reducing income inequality. The paper examines the existence of a linear or nonlinear effect of inflation and sectoral economic growth on income inequality using a balanced panel data of 92 developing countries for the period of 1990–2014.Design/methodology/approachMethods section includes several steps as below: first, the functional form of the model using panel data for investigating the contribution of economic sectors in income inequality; second, to estimate the relationship between income inequality and sector growth: testing the Kuznets hypothesis; third, to estimate the relationship between inflation and income inequality base on general functional form of the model proposed by Amornthum (2004); fourth, a panel Granger causality analysis based on a VECM approach.FindingsThe statistically significant finding shows that first agricultural growth and then industrial growth have a dominate impact in reducing income inequality in our sample. But, the service sector growth has positive effects. The results confirm the existence of Kuznets inverted “U” hypothesis for industry growth and Kuznets “U” hypothesis for service sector growth. The findings show that sector growth and inflation affect income inequality in the long-run.Originality/valueThis research is an original paper which analyzes the effect of growth in different sectors of the economy of developing countries (agriculture, manufacturing and services sectors) on income inequality and test the Kuznets hypothesis in terms of sector growth and at the same time, examine the existence of a linear/nonlinear effect of inflation and sectoral economic growth on income inequality and test Granger causality relationship between income inequality and sector growth and inflation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (7) ◽  
pp. 1689-1710
Author(s):  
Eric Akobeng

PurposeThis paper examines the relationship between foreign aid, institutional democracy and poverty. The paper explores the direct effect of foreign aid on poverty and quantifies the facilitating role of democracy in harnessing foreign aid for poverty reduction in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).Design/methodology/approachThe paper attempts to address the endogenous relationship between foreign aid and poverty by employing the two-stage least squares instrumental variable (2SLS-IV) estimator by using GDP per capita of the top five Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries sending foreign aid to SSA countries scaled by the inverse of the land area of the SSA countries to stimulate an exogenous variation in foreign aid and its components. The initial level of democracy is interacted with the senders’ GDP per capita to also instrument for the interaction terms of democracy, foreign aid and its components.FindingsThe results suggest that foreign aid reduces poverty and different components of foreign aid have different effects on poverty. In particular, multilateral source and grant type seem to be more significant in reducing poverty than bilateral source and loan type. The study further reveals that democratic attributes of free expression, institutional constraints on the executive, guarantee of civil liberties to citizens and political participation reinforce the poverty-reducing effects of aggregate foreign aid and its components after controlling for mean household income, GDP per capita and inequality.Research limitations/implicationsThe methodological concern related to modeling the effects of foreign aid on poverty is endogeneity bias. To estimate the relationship between foreign aid, democracy and poverty in SSA, this paper relies on a 2SLS-IV estimator with GDP per capita of the top five aid-sending OECD countries scaled by the inverse of land area of the SSA countries as an external instrument for foreign aid. The use of the five top OECD's Development Assistance Committee (OECD-DAC) countries is due to the availability of foreign aid data for these countries. However, non-OECD-DAC countries such as China and South Africa may be important source of foreign aid to some SSA countries.Practical implicationsThe findings further suggest that the marginal effect of foreign aid in reducing poverty is increasing with the level of institutional democracy. In other words, foreign aid contributes more to poverty reduction in countries with democratic dispensation. This investigation has vital implications for future foreign aid policy, because it alerts policymakers that the effectiveness of foreign aid can be strengthened by considering the type and source of aid. Foreign aid and quality political institution may serve as an important mix toward the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals 2030 and the Africa Union Agenda 2063.Social implicationsAs the global economy faces economic and social challenges, SSA may not be able to depend heavily on foreign partners to finance the region's budget. There is the need for African governments to also come out with innovative ways to mobilize own resources to develop and confront some of the economic challenges to achieve the required reduction in poverty. This is a vision that every country in Africa must work toward. Africa must think of new ways of generating wealth internally for development so as to complement foreign aid flows and also build strong foundation for welfare improvement, self-reliance and sustainable development.Originality/valueThis existing literature does not consider how democracy enhances the foreign aid and poverty relationship. The existing literature does not explore how democracy enhances grants, loans, multilateral and bilateral aid effectiveness in reducing poverty. This paper provides the first-hand evidence of how institutional democracy enhances the poverty-reducing effects of foreign aid and its components. The paper uses exogenous variation in foreign aid to quantify the direct effect of foreign aid and its components on poverty.


2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (6) ◽  
pp. 81-84
Author(s):  
Peter Buell Hirsch

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to highlight the ways in which long running secular trends and the COVID-19 pandemic have combined to re-energize labor movements and pushed political thinking to the left. Design/methodology/approach A review of emerging trends in public opinion and labor action to identify some critical tipping points. Findings There is a critical shift unfolding in which government intervention to stem income inequality is becoming politically acceptable. Originality/value To the best of the author’s knowledge, there have been few, if any comparable discussions of the relationship between the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the political will to stem income inequality and the implications for corporate behavior.


2014 ◽  
Vol 41 (8) ◽  
pp. 664-682 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aisha Ismail ◽  
Shehla Amjad

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is two folds: first, to analyze the long-run relationship between terrorism and key macroeconomic indicators (GDP growth, GDP per capita, inflation and unemployment) and second, to determine the direction of causality between these variables in Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach – The relationship between terrorism and various macroeconomic indicators is analyzed by applying Johansen cointegration analysis. Furthermore, the causality between terrorism and macroeconomic indicators is tested by applying Toda Yamamoto Granger causality test. Findings – The results show that there exists a long-run relationship between terrorism and key macroeconomic indicators. Furthermore, the results suggest that there exists a bi-directional causality between terrorism and inflation. The causality between GDP per capita, unemployment, GDP growth and terrorism is unidirectional. Originality/value – There is a lack of research work conducted to analyze the long-run relationship and direction of causation between terrorism and various macroeconomic indicators specifically for Pakistan. The current paper fills the gap in the literature by using sophisticated econometric techniques and recent data set to provide the evidence of the relationship between terrorism and various macroeconomic indicators.


2014 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 469-490 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mak Arvin ◽  
Byron Lew

Purpose – Empirical evidence on the relation between happiness (life satisfaction) and corruption is barely perceptible in the literature. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to closing this gap by presenting some estimates using a large cross-section of countries over the period 1996-2010. Design/methodology/approach – The empirical model allows both corruption and per capita income to enter as arguments of a happiness “production function”. The correlation between happiness and corruption is presumed to be non-linear. Findings – While the results do not support the existence of a Kuznets-type trajectory, the study finds that the level of per capita income determines whether happiness and corruption are related and in what way. The authors estimate cutoff income levels at which corruption has a discernible effect on happiness. The results show that corruption reduces happiness, but only for high-income countries – roughly the upper half of the income range in the sample. Practical implications – Results nullify the oft-asserted statement that happiness is negatively linked to corruption in all countries. The nature of correlation is more complex. Originality/value – The paper goes beyond simply testing whether happiness is related to corruption. It conjectures that the relationship between the two variables is non-monotonic. Thus, the analysis considers the notion that the association between happiness and probity is income dependent. A novel feature of the empirical model is that the estimated income cutoff levels are endogenously determined. That is, income thresholds are not pre-determined. The authors also test for the robustness of the results by addressing the issue of potential endogeneity of corruption.


2018 ◽  
Vol 118 (5) ◽  
pp. 370-385
Author(s):  
Yam B. Limbu ◽  
C. Jayachandran ◽  
Christopher McKinley ◽  
Jeonghwan Choi

Purpose People living on poverty-level incomes in developing nations face unique health challenges as compared to those in developed nations. New insights emerge from a bottom of the pyramid context (India) where culture-based health notions, preventive orientation and health resources differ from developed western health orientations and resources. The purpose of this paper is to explore how structural and cognitive social capital indirectly influence preventive health behavior (PHB) through perceived health value. Design/methodology/approach The participants for this study include rural people from Tamil Nadu, a state of India who are classified as those living below poverty level based on a per capita/per day consumption expenditure of Rupees 22.50 (an equivalent of US$0.40 a per capita/per day) (Planning Commission, Government of India, 2012). The study included a total number of 635 participants (312 males and 323 females). Relatively a high response rate (79 percent) was achieved through personal contacts and telephone solicitation, cash incentive and multiple follow-ups. Participants completed a questionnaire assessing structural and cognitive social capital, preventative health behavior, perceived health value, and health locus of control (HLC). Findings The results show that perceived health value mediates the relationship between cognitive social capital and PHB. Specifically, cognitive social capital influences BoP people’s assessment of benefits of engaging in PHB, that, in turn, influences PHB. In addition, the findings showed that HLC moderates the effect of social capital on PHB. Social capital positively related to enhanced PHB only among those who believe that health outcomes are controllable. Originality/value The authors findings indicate that cognitive social capital has enormous potential in promoting health intervention and the health of poor communities, a sentiment shared by prior researchers (Glenane-Antoniadis et al., 2003; Fisher et al., 2004; Martin et al., 2004; Weitzman and Kawachi, 2000). Overall, from a theoretical, empirical and methodological perspective, the current study offers a unique contribution to the social capital and PHB literature. First, drawing from the HBM and HLC, the findings provide a more nuanced explanation of how distinct aspects of social capital predict PHB. Specifically, the relationship between social capital and PHB is qualified by the extent one perceives personal control over her health. In addition, the cognitive component of social capital influences PHB through perceptions of health value.


Author(s):  
Utku Altunöz

Analysing the relationship between development and Gross Domestic Products (GDP) is one of the most important issue for economics. Kuznet claims that mentioned relationships between developing and GDP resemble as upside down U. In this paper, GINI, GDP, credit and trade variables were analysed by using ARDL bounding test for the period covering by 1991-2014. Obtained results of econometric model shows that credit in private sector, GDP per capita and trade variables play an important role to be eliminated of income inequality. Effect of trade variable is less compare with other variables. For Turkish Economy, 1% increase in private credits causes to a 0,044 % fall in income inequality for the estimated period. Alike, 1% increase in income causes to a 0.055 % fall in income inequality.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (6) ◽  
pp. 1053-1072
Author(s):  
Alfonsina Iona ◽  
Marco Alberto De Benedetto ◽  
Dawit Zerihun Assefa ◽  
Michele Limosani

Purpose Using a sample of US firms more likely to be affected by agency problems, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between corporate value and financial policies and to study whether credit market freedom (CMF) affects this relationship. Design/methodology/approach The authors identify a sub-sample of non-financial US firms potentially affected by agency problems using a joint criterion of over-investment and high cash-holdings. A generalized method of moment econometric framework is then used to estimate the impact of cash-holdings and leverage policies on firm value for this sub-sample. This exercise is also performed by taking into account the level of CMF of the state where the firm operates. Findings The results show that the relationship between cash-holdings – or leverage – and firm value is “U-shaped.” In addition, when the authors focus on the role played by the level of CMF, the authors find a number of interesting facts: CMF facilitates the firms’ access to external finance, thereby relaxing the need of internal funds for investing; the relationship between cash-holdings and firm value is “U-shaped” only in states enjoying high levels of CMF; the probability of observing firms more likely to be affected by agency problems is higher in states with high levels of CMF. Research limitations/implications The empirical findings provide important insights to policymakers, shareholders and practitioners. To policymakers, the results suggest that providing institutional environments with greater CMF can enhance the firm access to external finance, the level of corporate investment and the economic growth. To shareholders, the findings highlight that the conflicts of interest between managers and shareholders may be more severe in states with higher CMF; therefore, adequate financing policies and corporate governance mechanisms must be used to mitigate these conflicts and maximize the firm value. Finally, to practitioners, the evidence suggests that, in valuing a firm, they must take into consideration whether the economic environment provides managers with more freedom to stockpile cash and invest sub-optimally. Originality/value The paper contributes to the corporate finance and governance literature in two respects. First, it provides new evidence on the shape of the relationship between cash holdings and firm value for firms affected by empire-building managers. Second, at the best of the knowledge, it is the first corporate finance study, which analyzes the role played by the CMF at the state level on the capital structure and the level of investment of the firms.


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