Sectoral Heterogeneity, Income Inequality and Productivity Dynamics

Author(s):  
Assaf Sarid ◽  
Yishay D. Maoz

An intricate dynamic pattern has been commonly observed in many developed countries during the past decades. This pattern contains a simultaneous rise in the following economic variables: (i) total factor productivity, (ii) educated labor supply, (iii) wage-gap between high- and low-skilled workers, and (iv) income inequality. Typical explanations for the different elements of this pattern assume a skill-biased technical change (SBTC) or capital-skill complementarity. In this study we offer a complementing explanation for these phenomena, which is based on sectoral heterogeneity and endogenous factor mobility, rather than on an SBTC. We show that sectoral heterogeneity can amplify the effects of a technical change, whether skill-biased or general, in a manner that generates the four elements of the above described dynamic pattern. Furthermore, inequality can perform also a Kuznets-curve pattern, as was observed in several countries, in contrast to the inequality dynamics in typical SBTC models.

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 242
Author(s):  
Mohamed Bouincha ◽  
Mohamed Karim

A long time ago, economic growth was the main indicator of countries’ economic health. However, since the 1970s, the analysis of the relationship between economic growth and other economic phenomena such as inequality has begun to grow (Sundrum, 1974). Much of the literature on the link between economic growth and income inequality is based on Kuznets revolutionary theory. The purpose of our article is to suspect the causality relationship between growth and inequality. To do this, we used data from 189 countries for the period between 1990 and 2015. We estimated a global model and three other of each category of countries in terms of development. In the global model, economic growth is insignificant even if its sign is positive. The same result appears in the developing country model and the moderately developed countries one. However, in the developed countries model, economic growth is negatively and statistically related to inequality. The Kuznets curve is approved in our study only when using human development indicator in the place of growth. Growth explain inequality’s movement in our study only in the model of developed countries and its coefficient is negative.


2021 ◽  
Vol 59 (4) ◽  
pp. 1191-1239
Author(s):  
Junsen Zhang

After China’s recent great success in eliminating absolute poverty, addressing relative income inequality becomes a more important issue. This survey finds that income inequality rapidly increased in the first three decades since 1978 but stabilized and slightly declined in the past decade, consistent with the well-known Kuznets hypothesis. In addition to documenting the trend and patterns over time and across groups and regions, seven sources of income inequality are systematically discussed with an effort to reconcile and extend the existing literature. Furthermore, a negative correlation is documented between income inequality and intergenerational mobility, consistent with the Great Gatsby curve observed in developed countries. (JEL D31, D63, O15, P36)


2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 377-402 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roy Kwon ◽  
Anthony Roberts ◽  
Karissa Zingula

Recent research shows that financial activities expand the wage gap between affluent and middle-class workers in advanced industrial societies. Furthermore, a well-established literature indicates that differences in labor institutions may be responsible for cross-national variations of income inequality in developed countries. Surprisingly, there is no empirical research examining whether the positive association between financialization and income inequality is conditioned by differences in wage coordination. We contribute to this comparative income inequality literature by testing the claim that wage-setting institutions suppress the inequality-widening effects of finance in advanced industrial societies. To test this contention, we compile an unbalanced panel dataset of 20 developed economies during the years 1988 to 2009. According to our results, financial activities are a robust positive predictor of 90–50 inequality. More importantly, the interaction of financialization and wage coordination returns significant negative associations with the dependent variable. These results are found to be consistent across different estimation techniques and numerous regression parameters.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yusuf Ekrem Akbas ◽  
Fuat Lebe

Abstract The primary objective of this study is to examine the relationship between carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, energy consumption, income inequality, and poverty within the framework of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) in 14 developed and ten developing countries over the period 2000–2018. We employed the Fourier unit root test and Dynamic Seemingly Unrelated Regression (DSUR) estimator to analyze the relationship between these variables. The results show that in developing countries, income inequality, poverty, and energy consumption positively affect CO2 emission. In contrast, in developed countries, there is no significant relationship between these variables. Moreover, we found out that the EKC hypothesis, which suggests an inverted U-shaped relationship between per capita income and CO2 emissions, is valid in developed countries and invalid in developing countries. We determined that the turning points obtained from regression analysis are outside of the sample period in five developing countries (Argentina, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Panama, and Uruguay). These results show that income inequality and poverty can indirectly affect environmental quality by energy consumption in developing countries.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sima Siami-Namini

The aim of this article is to examine how agriculture and non-agriculture growth and inflation affect income inequality. The multivariate panel data approach is used to examine the application of Kuznets hypothesis between income inequality and agriculture and non-agriculture growth and test the existence of nonlinear relationship between income inequality and inflation rate in a large sample of data collected for developed and developing countries. The Hodrick-Prescott (HP) filter is used to separate the cyclical component from the trend component of inflation rate and agriculture and non-agriculture growth. The results demonstrate a significant negative nonlinear relationship between income inequality and the HP filtered inflation rate squared in developed countries. The findings confirm the application of a ‘U-shaped’ of Kuznets curve between income inequality and agriculture growth and between income inequality and non-agriculture growth in developed countries. In addition, the results show Kuznets inverted ‘U-shaped’ curve between agriculture growth and income inequality, and Kuznets ‘U-shaped’ curve between non-agriculture growth and income inequality in developing countries.


1999 ◽  
Vol 89 (5) ◽  
pp. 1259-1278 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daron Acemoglu

I present a model where firms decide what types of jobs to create and then search for suitable workers. When there are few skilled workers and the skilled-unskilled productivity gap is small, firms create a single type of job and recruit all workers. An increase in the proportion of skilled workers or skill-biased technical change can create a qualitative change in the composition of jobs, increasing the demand for skills, wage inequality, and unemployment. I provide some evidence that there has been a change in the composition of jobs in the United States during the past two decades. (JEL E24, J31, J64)


Author(s):  
João Gabriel Fidalgo ◽  
Marta Simões ◽  
Adelaide Duarte

Portugal stands as one of the most unequal countries in terms of income among the developed countries. Over the period 1980-2005, income inequality kept high, fostered mainly by a monotonic increase in earnings inequality. Given the close link between education and earnings, it is of major importance to study the distribution of education. This paper examines the distribution of education at the regional level in Portugal between 1986 and 2005. Our results indicate that education inequality decreased for the whole country as the average education level of the workforce rose, over the sample years. This finding does not apply at the regional level however, with several districts initially poor in terms of education exhibiting an increase in education inequality. The evidence also supports the existence of a Kuznets curve of education: as the average level of education rises, education inequality first increases, and, after reaching a peak at 5.13 years of schooling, starts declining.


2020 ◽  
pp. 49-57
Author(s):  
S. V. Orlova ◽  
E. A. Nikitina ◽  
L. I. Karushina ◽  
Yu. A. Pigaryova ◽  
O. E. Pronina

Vitamin A (retinol) is one of the key elements for regulating the immune response and controls the division and differentiation of epithelial cells of the mucous membranes of the bronchopulmonary system, gastrointestinal tract, urinary tract, eyes, etc. Its significance in the context of the COVID‑19 pandemic is difficult to overestimate. However, a number of studies conducted in the past have associated the additional intake of vitamin A with an increased risk of developing cancer, as a result of which vitamin A was practically excluded from therapeutic practice in developed countries. Our review highlights the role of vitamin A in maintaining human health and the latest data on its effect on the development mechanisms of somatic pathology.


Shore & Beach ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 65-73
Author(s):  
Gen Liu ◽  
Feng Cai ◽  
Hongshuai Qi ◽  
Jianhui Liu ◽  
Gang Lei ◽  
...  

Beach nourishment has been widely used for beach protection around the world. However, there is limited information about beach nourishment in China. This study offers an overview of beach nourishment practices, status and technological advances in China, based on the literature, reports, and personal communications. The results demonstrate that beach nourishment has been recognized as an effective and environmentally friendly measure to combat coastal erosion and has been increasingly adopted in China, especially in the past decade. The unique characteristics of coastal China resulted in a difference in beach nourishment between China and Western developed countries in terms of the types, objectives, and shapes of beach nourishment. For the types of nourishments in China, there were approximately the same number of restored beaches and newly constructed beaches. For fill sediment, homogeneous fill and heterogeneous fill comprised 51.1% and 48.9% of projects, respectively. The objective of beach nourishment was mainly to promote coastal tourism, and the shape of nourished beaches was dominated by headland bays. This study also indicated that China has achieved a number of technological advances in beach nourishment, including methods of beach nourishment on severely eroded coasts and muddy coasts, an optimized design of drain pipes involved in urban beaches, and ecological design considerations. From the past decade of practices, four aspects were proposed as considerations for future nourishment: sand sources, technique advances, ecological effects, and management of beach nourishments.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 1780
Author(s):  
Chima M. Menyelim ◽  
Abiola A. Babajide ◽  
Alexander E. Omankhanlen ◽  
Benjamin I. Ehikioya

This study evaluates the relevance of inclusive financial access in moderating the effect of income inequality on economic growth in 48 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) for the period 1995 to 2017. The findings using the Generalised Method of Moments (sys-GMM) technique show that inclusive financial access contributes to reducing inequality in the short run, contrary to the Kuznets curve. The result reveals a negative effect of financial access on the relationship between income inequality and economic growth. There is a positive net effect of inclusive financial access in moderating the impact of income inequality on economic growth. Given the need to achieve the Sustainable Development Targets in the sub-region, policymakers and other stakeholders of the economy must design policies and programmes that would enhance access to financial services as an essential mechanism to reduce income disparity and enhance sustainable economic growth.


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