Sources of Income, Income Inequality and Social Welfare-A Decomposition

Author(s):  
G. Chakrabarty
2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nate Breznau ◽  
Carola Hommerich

Does public opinion react to inequality, and if so, how? The social harms caused by increasing inequality should cause public opinion to ramp up demand for social welfare protections. However, the public may react to inequality differently depending on institutional context. Using ISSP and WID data (1980-2006) we tested these claims. In liberal institutional contexts (mostly English-speaking), increasing income inequality predicted higher support for state provision of social welfare. In coordinated and universalist contexts (mostly of Europe), increasing inequality predicted less support. Historically higher income concentration predicted less public support, providing an account of the large variation in inequality within the respective liberal and coordinated contexts. The results suggest opinions in liberal societies – especially with higher historical inequality – reached the limits of inequality, reacting negatively; whereas in coordinated/universalist societies – especially with lower historical inequality – opinions moved positively, as if desiring more inequality.


Author(s):  
Yue Chim Richard Wong

When nearly a quarter of GDP is redistributed through a rag bag of measures, one should expect poverty to have been considerably alleviated in these societies, if not totally eliminated. But this has not been the case. Income inequality in the West has not improved and, in fact, has worsened in recent decades. Sociologists, economists, and political scientists agree that an underclass exists in Western societies. For decades, this was believed to affect mostly “minorities,” but recent evidence shows that many in the mainstream middle class are descending into the underclass. The ability of income redistribution in alleviating poverty has its limits. Poverty alleviation has to be tackled through another front – economic growth.


Author(s):  
Joel Blau

This chapter examines the main themes in social welfare policy. These themes include the assumption that poor people are responsible for their own poverty; a belief in the marketplace as the best means of addressing human needs; and a consequent wariness of federal social welfare interventions. Analyzing social welfare policy’s multiple and conflicting roles, it then traces these themes as they have manifested themselves throughout U.S. history. The chapter concludes by contending that while these historical factors may have all contributed to less comprehensive social welfare policies, their inadequacies effectively reopen the issue of what social welfare should become in the twenty-first century, when neoliberalism and rising income inequality have heightened the fears of so many Americans about their declining standard of living.


2004 ◽  
Vol 49 (02) ◽  
pp. 233-253 ◽  
Author(s):  
CLEM TISDELL ◽  
SERGE SVIZZERO

Income inequality has increased sharply in higher income and in many lower income countries. Theories attributing this to bifurcation of labor markets in higher income countries are examined. Some theorists attribute this bifurcation primarily to technical change with influence from globalization. Others take an opposite viewpoint. A contrasting view presented here is that globalization is strongly linked with technological change. More significantly even if globalization increases economic efficiency and growth in globalizing countries, it can raise income inequality and reduce social welfare in such countries. International fiscal competitiveness may, it is argued, contribute to income inequality and make all nations worse off. Trends in public social expenditure and in taxation receipts in higher income countries, including Singapore, are examined to determine the extent of empirical support for the theory.


2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 84-107
Author(s):  
Juliann Vikse ◽  
Shuang Lu ◽  
Chien-Chung Huang

Income inequality is a growing area of concern in both China and the United States, the world’s two largest economies today. Alongside the traditional social welfare system, taxation and philanthropy are two alternative mechanisms to reduce inequality that have received increasing attention worldwide. This paper explores the roles of taxation and philanthropy in reducing inequality. In analyzing policies relating to taxation and philanthropy across several countries, this paper concludes that despite limitations and unintended consequences, under the current systems in China and the United States, taxation and philanthropy can and should be more effectively used to reduce income inequality.


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