scholarly journals Financialisation and the slowdown of labour productivity in Portugal: A post-Keynesian approach

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diogo Correia ◽  
Ricardo Barradas
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Income Inequality ◽  
Economic Performance ◽  
Labour Productivity ◽  
Personal Income ◽  
Integration Process ◽  
Income Share ◽  
Portuguese Economy ◽  
The Portuguese Economy

The aim of this paper is to conduct a time series econometric analysis in order to empirically evaluate the role of financialisation in the slowdown of labour productivity in Portugal during the period from 1980 to 2017. During that time, the Portuguese economy faced a financialisation phenomenon due to the European integration process and the corresponding imposition of a strong wave of privatisation, liberalisation and deregulation of the Portuguese financial system. At the same time, Portuguese labour productivity exhibited a sustained downward trend, which seems to contradict the well-entrenched mainstream hypothesis on the finance–productivity nexus. Based on the post-Keynesian literature, we identify four channels through which the phenomenon of financialisation has impaired labour productivity, namely weak economic performance, the fall in labour’s share of income, the rise of inequality in personal income and an intensification of the degree of financialisation. The paper finds that lagged labour productivity, economic performance and labour income share positively impact labour productivity in Portugal, while personal income inequality and the degree of financialisation negatively impact labour productivity in Portugal. The paper also finds that the main triggers for the slowdown of labour productivity in Portugal are the degree of financialisation and personal income inequality over the last decades.

Monetary Policy and the Top 10%: A Time-Series Analysis Using ARDL and ECM

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadeen Omar ◽  
Christian Richter
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Monetary Policy ◽  
Interest Rate ◽  
Income Inequality ◽  
Dynamic Models ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Main Hypothesis ◽  
Income Share ◽  
Distributed Lag ◽  
The Impact

Abstract For the past decades, income inequality has been on the rise, and so is the frequency of its mentions in recent speeches by central bankers. With the heightened importance of the topic, this research aims to study the impact of monetary policy on income inequality. The study used dynamic models for the analysis, namely; the Error-correction Model (ECM) and the Auto-regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model to determine the relationship in both the short- and long-run. The data used were the top 10% income share and the short-term interest rate. Our main hypothesis is that changes in the short-term interest rate have a significant impact on the top 10% income share. We draw time-series evidence from a sample of nine economies at different stages of development: United States, United Kingdom, Russia, Germany, France, Greece, China, South Africa and Chile. The findings support the hypothesis with interestingly varying effects across our sample. These results provide important implications that can contribute in bettering policy setting and add to the discussion of the role of central banks in reducing income inequality.

Falling Inequality in Latin America: The Role of Fiscal Policy

2020 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 317-341 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith Clifton ◽  
Daniel Díaz-Fuentes ◽  
Julio Revuelta
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Fiscal Policy ◽  
Income Inequality ◽  
Public Spending ◽  
Income Taxes ◽  
Personal Income ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
Social Contributions ◽  
Urban Level

AbstractLatin America is one of the world's only regions to have witnessed a fall in income inequality during the 2000s. This paper evaluates the role fiscal policy played in this change. Recent scholarship has examined this in individual countries; lacking is a regional perspective. We examine the effects of nine fiscal instruments on income inequality in 17 countries between 1990 and 2014. Fiscal policy had a positive – albeit small – effect in reducing income inequality, especially from 2003, working best at the urban level. Public spending on education, personal income taxes and social contributions were especially instrumental in reducing income inequality.

scholarly journals INEQUALITY, GROWTH, AND OVERTAKING

2006 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 625-651 ◽  
Author(s):  
YOSHIAKI SUGIMOTO
Keyword(s):  
Income Inequality ◽  
Economic Performance ◽  
Qualitative Change ◽  
Growth Path ◽  
Lower Growth ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Short Run ◽  
Opposing Effects ◽  
Positive Effect

This research develops a theory about the role of within-country income inequality in the emergence of overtaking in economic performance among countries. The theory captures two opposing effects of inequality on factor accumulation and suggests that the qualitative change in their combined effect is a prime cause of overtaking. Because of the initial dominance of the positive effect of inequality, a less egalitarian economy follows a higher growth path in the short run, with a lower growth path in the long run. It also is shown that divergence or convergence may arise instead of overtaking, depending on the initial levels of development and inequality.

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