scholarly journals Cross-Country Income Levels over Time: Did the Developing World Suddenly Become Much Richer?

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 265-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Inklaar ◽  
D.S. Prasada Rao
Keyword(s):  
Relative Income ◽  
Lower Income ◽  
Relative Prices ◽  
Income Levels ◽  
The World ◽  
Measurement Methodology ◽  
World Income ◽  
World Income Distribution ◽  
Cross Country ◽  
Lower Income Countries

The latest global survey on relative prices and income levels, for the year 2011, showed changes to relative income levels that were larger in lower income countries, thereby narrowing the world income distribution compared to estimates based on the previous, 2005, survey. This paper examines whether changes in measurement methodology between the 2005 and 2011 survey can explain these large differences. We construct a counterfactual set of relative prices for 2005 that harmonizes measurement, and we no longer find systematic differences across income levels, implying that international income inequality based on the 2005 survey was overstated. (JEL C82, D31, E01, E23, E31, O11)

scholarly journals Nutrition and cancer – global and African perspectives: a focused update

2015 ◽  
Vol 74 (4) ◽  
pp. 437-440 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin J Wiseman
Keyword(s):  
Physical Inactivity ◽  
Preventive Measures ◽  
Great Majority ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Excess Body Weight ◽  
Lower Income ◽  
The World ◽  
Nutritional Transition ◽  
High Level ◽  
Lower Income Countries

The burden of cancer worldwide is predicted to almost double by 2030 to nearly 23 million cases annually. The great majority of this increase is expected to occur in less economically developed countries, where access to expensive medical, surgical and radiotherapeutic interventions is likely to be limited to a small proportion of the population. This emphasises the need for preventive measures, as outlined in the declaration from the United Nations 2011 High Level Meeting on Non-communicable Diseases. The rise in incidence is proposed to follow from increasing numbers of people reaching middle and older ages, together with increasing urbanisation of the population with a nutritional transition from traditional diets to a more globalised ‘Western’ pattern, with a decrease in physical activity. This is also expected to effect a change in the pattern of cancers from a predominantly smoking and infection dominated one, to a smoking and obesity dominated one. The World Cancer Research Fund estimates that about a quarter to a third of the commonest cancers are attributable to excess body weight, physical inactivity and poor diet, making this the most common cause of cancers after smoking. These cancers are potentially preventable, but knowledge of the causes of cancer has not led to effective policies to prevent the export of a ‘Western’ pattern of cancers in lower income countries such as many in Africa.

scholarly journals If Technology Has Arrived Everywhere, Why Has Income Diverged?

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 137-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diego Comin ◽  
Martí Mestieri
Keyword(s):  
Technology Diffusion ◽  
Aggregate Productivity ◽  
Poor Countries ◽  
Income Divergence ◽  
Evolution Of Technology ◽  
World Income ◽  
World Income Distribution ◽  
Cross Country ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Rich Countries

We study the cross-country evolution of technology diffusion over the last two centuries. We document that adoption lags between poor and rich countries have converged, while the intensity of use of adopted technologies of poor countries relative to rich countries has diverged. The evolution of aggregate productivity implied by these trends in technology diffusion resembles the actual evolution of the world income distribution in the last two centuries. Cross-country differences in adoption lags account for a significant part of the cross-country income divergence in the nineteenth century. The divergence in intensity of use accounts for the divergence during the twentieth century. (JEL N10, N70, O14, O33, O41, O47)

scholarly journals Modeling economic growth fuelled by science and technology

2010 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 319-340 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonardo Costa Ribeiro ◽  
Ricardo Machado Ruiz ◽  
Américo Tristão Bernardes ◽  
Eduardo da Motta e Albuquerque
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Science Technology ◽  
The World ◽  
Scientific Papers ◽  
World Income ◽  
World Income Distribution ◽  
Wealth Of Nations ◽  
Simulation Exercises

This paper suggests a simulation model to investigate how science and technology fuel economic growth. This model is built upon a synthesis of technological capabilities represented by national innovation systems. This paper gathers data of papers and patents for 183 countries between 1999 and 2003, as well as GDP and population for 2003. These data show a strong correlation between science, technology and income. Three simulation exercises are performed. Feeding our algorithm with data for population, patents and scientific papers, we obtain the world income distribution. These results support our conjecture on the role of science and technology as sources of the wealth of nations.

12. Global Growth, Inequality, and Poverty:

2020 ◽  
pp. 313-353
Author(s):  
Robert Hunter Wade
Keyword(s):  
Economic Policy ◽  
World View ◽  
Washington Consensus ◽  
Liberal Ideology ◽  
The World ◽  
Economics Profession ◽  
World Income ◽  
World Income Distribution ◽  
Global Growth ◽  
Recent Demonstration

This chapter argues that economists have oversold the virtues of globalization, displaying confidence in derived policy prescriptions well beyond the evidence. The most spectacular recent demonstration of hubris is the failure of almost the whole of the mainstream economics profession in the few years before 2007–8 to forecast a major recession. The chapter then outlines the neo-liberal world view and its application in the form of the development recipe known as the Washington Consensus. Since the 1980s, the Western economic policy ‘establishment’ has espoused a doctrine of ‘best economic policy’ for the world which says, put too simply, that ‘more market and less state’ should be the direction of travel for developed and developing countries. This overarching neo-liberal ideology embraces globalization as a major component, relating to the nature of integration into the international economy. The chapter then looks at trends in world income distribution and poverty, bearing in mind the optimistic claims of the globalization argument.

scholarly journals Biological Health Risks and Economic Development

2015 ◽  
pp. 453-484 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Frankenberg ◽  
Jessica Ho ◽  
Duncan Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Health Risks ◽  
Noncommunicable Diseases ◽  
Lower Income ◽  
Complex Interplay ◽  
Gender And Education ◽  
Health And Development ◽  
Biological Health ◽  
Cross Country ◽  
Lower Income Countries

With populations aging and the epidemic of obesity spreading across the globe, global health risks are shifting toward noncommunicable diseases. Innovative biomarker data from recently conducted population-representative surveys in lower, middle, and higher income countries are used to describe how four key biological health risks—hypertension, cholesterol, glucose, and inflammation—vary with economic development and, within each country, with age, gender, and education. As obesity rises in lower income countries, the burden of noncommunicable diseases will rise in roughly predictable ways, and the costs to society are potentially very large. Investigations that explain cross-country differences in these relationships will have a major impact on advancing the understanding of the complex interplay among biology, health, and development.

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