scholarly journals Sources of Income Inequality in Pakistan

1987 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 659-672 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans De Kruijk

In a paper presented at the 1985 Conference of this Society [Kruijk and Leeuwen (1985)] we described some structural changes in poverty and income inequality in Pakistan during the 1970s. All inequality measures and poverty indicators pointed to the conclusion that poverty has declined while at the same time inequality has increased. However, the paper did not go deep enough into the reasons why inequality has increased. It did appear that neither the urban/rural distinction nor interprovincial income differences are important determinants of overall income inequality in Pakistan 1 so that these elements cannot contribute much to explaining changes in inequality. In his comments, Kernal, (1986) suggests to extend the applied decomposition technique by decomposing income also into its sources. This is precisely the purpose of the present paper. In fact, total income of a household (or any other unit) is the sum of income derived from various sources like labour, property, remittances, etc. Accordingly, income inequality is the aggregate of inequalities of these sources and changes in overall inequality are made up of changes in its components. Decomposition analysis is a clear and consistent framework to investigate these issues. It provides a sense of proportion and avoids to suggest - as some authors do - that overall inequality may have decreased because inequality of one single component has decreased. This kind of speculation is not possible within a decomposition framework because the relative importance of that particular component is taken into account and related to the importance of other components together with their development over time.

2009 ◽  
pp. 34
Author(s):  
Ayal Kimhi

Differentiating between the sensitivity of income inequality to male income and female income and decomposing inequality by income determinants, we find that total income inequality is less sensitive to female income variability or the level of female income, than to male income variability or the level of male income. Uniform increases in education reduce income inequality, with increases in female education having a larger effect than increases in male education. An increase in the population fraction of ethnic minorities has a positive effect on inequality, but this operates mostly through female income. All this suggests that female income is the most adequate target for inequality-reducing policy, and that within-household gender equality is good for reducing income inequality among households.


Author(s):  
Yue Chim Richard Wong

Individual income inequality has worsened because of underinvestment in education. A child born today with a good “birth lottery” is worth more than one born into the same family circumstances in the past, because their education will have a higher rate of return. Intergenerational upward mobility measured in schooling opportunities was largely unchanged for those born in the period 1956–1991. However, a subset born in the period 1961–1976 saw improved opportunities due to the waves of emigration Hong Kong experienced due to political unrest and uncertainty. Many policy advocates have used rising income inequality measures to push for income redistribution. But this merely tries to fix the measures of income inequality. Redistribution will not halt the underlying forces that are driving a more unequal distribution of incomes over time. Rising inequality can only be prevented by expanding education opportunities and encouraging couples to stay together.


2010 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 341-362 ◽  
Author(s):  
VICTOR BRAJER ◽  
ROBERT W. MEAD ◽  
FENG XIAO

ABSTRACTGiven the extensive discussion of China's air pollution and urban income inequality problems, relatively little attention has been paid to any relationship which may exist between the two. This paper seeks to do so, by exploring the existence of environmental equity in China. Specifically, we first calculate traditional measures of urban income inequality (the Gini coefficient and Theil's T and L indices) for the years 1995 and 2004. Then, we estimate ‘pollution-adjusted’ incomes using China-based health functions and economic valuation studies, and recalculate the income (or now welfare) inequality measures. The results indicate that as pollution cleanup efforts gain traction over time, the regressive consequences of pollution may diminish. We thus conclude with an encouraging note for developing countries: improving welfare distribution can coexist with an improving environment.


Author(s):  
Haley McAvay ◽  
Gregory Verdugo

AbstractIn the last decades, the Paris metro area has experienced important structural changes linked to rising income inequality and a rapidly growing immigrant population. Using census data from 1990, 1999 to 2015, this chapter explores these transformations and how they have shaped trends in residential segregation. We find that the occupational structure of the area shifted upwards in the recent decade with a substantial increase in the share of the top occupational groups. This trend, however, did not primarily concern the immigrant population, which nonetheless experienced a growth in the middle class. These trends were further accompanied by an increase in income inequality driven by rising wages among the top 1% earners. Despite these changes, dissimilarity indexes between socioeconomic groups and between natives and immigrants have remained quite stable over the period. However, interaction indexes suggest that neighbourhoods are becoming more homogenous over time, both in terms of socioeconomic and ethnic diversity. Finally, the findings shed light on the correlation between socioeconomic and immigrant segregation. Socioeconomic disadvantage and the presence of immigrants within neighbourhoods, especially of non-European origin, are tightly correlated, and that correlation became stronger over time.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (164) ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Blotevogel ◽  
Eslem Imamoglu ◽  
Kenji Moriyama ◽  
Babacar Sarr

We study the channels that theoretically transmit the effects of inequality to economic growth, unlike much of the existing literature that focuses on the direct linkage. The role of inequality in these transmission channels is difficult to pin down and varies with the particular inequality indicator chosen. We run our analyses with six methodologically distinct inequality measures (Gini coefficients and Top10 income shares). Methodological differences within the set of Gini coefficients and the Top10 income shares exert a first-order impact on the estimated relationships, which is generally larger than the effect of switching between Gini and Top10 income shares. For a given inequality indicator, we find that the transmission channels can react in opposite directions, with the net effect on growth difficult to determine. Finally, we emphasize two additional but so far underappreciated empirical complications: (i) estimated relationships change over time; and (ii) fragile countries create significant but counterintuitive empirical associations that may obscure structural relationships.


2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esa Karonen ◽  
Hannu Lehti ◽  
Jani Erola ◽  
Susan Kuivalainen ◽  
Pasi Moisio

How much it matters for your income development what generation you happen to be born? We answer this question by using registers of the total population, we study generational income inequality during 1970–2018 and, for men and women in Finland. We follow the income trajectories of the cohorts born in 1920–1983 over their adult life course and observed, how certain structural factors explain differences in income trajectories. Our study expands state-of-the-art knowledge, as previous research has often bypassed the question of how much generational income differences explains of populations total income inequalities and what factors may explain the different generational income trajectories. Results show that overall generational income differences explained quarter for women and 6 percent for men total income inequality. Each successive cohort until 1980s had a higher average income trajectory. However, generation born in the 1980s has been falling behind. For both men and women, age structure and education were the most important factors associated with income inequality. On contrary to previous findings on Nordic welfare state, our results also indicate that, generational income trajectories are affected by economic shocks.


1986 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 685-706 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans De Kruijk

The purpose of this paper is to analyse, compare and explain income inequalities in the four provinces of Pakistan on the basis of decomposition analysis. Overall income inequality is decomposed into various categories of inequalities in such a manner that the relative importance of each category can be quantified. Decomposition analysis searches for the main origins of income inequality not only within or between provinces, but also within and between urban and rural areas, labour income and non-labour income, etc. Identification of origins of inequality is important if policies aiming at reducing inequalities are considered. Clearly, different causes require different policies. A large 'decomposition tree' built for Pakistan recently [2] which provides information on the components of inequality is presented in the accompanying chart. The structure of inequalities in the four provinces is analysed on the basis of this 'decomposition tree'.


Author(s):  
Gerhard Bosch ◽  
Thorsten Kalina

This chapter describes how inequality and real incomes have evolved in Germany through the period from the 1980s, through reunification, up to the economic Crisis and its aftermath. It brings out how reunification was associated with a prolonged stagnation in real wages. It emphasizes how the distinctive German structures for wage bargaining were eroded over time, and the labour market and tax/transfer reforms of the late 1990s-early/mid-2000s led to increasing dualization in the labour market. The consequence was a marked increase in household income inequality, which went together with wage stagnation for much of the 1990s and subsequently. Coordination between government, employers, and unions still sufficed to avoid the impact the economic Crisis had on unemployment elsewhere, but the German social model has been altered fundamentally over the period


Children ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 397
Author(s):  
Xu Tian ◽  
Hui Wang

The growth status and weight status of Chinese children have experienced remarkable changes in the past decades. Using China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) data, this paper examines the secular trends and disparity of the growth status and weight status in Chinese children and further investigates the impact of various family environments on children’s growth from 1991 to 2011. We found an increasing trend in standardized growth indicators (height, weight, and BMI), overweight, and obesity from 1991 to 2011. We also observed an increasing disparity in overweight and obesity over time. Family environments had a significant impact on children’s growth status and weight status. In particular, children that live in families with a small size, higher family income, better sanitary conditions, and with well-educated parents or overweight parents tended to be taller and heavier and have a higher BMI, lower risk of being underweight, and higher risk of exhibiting overweight and obesity. Further decomposition analysis showed that more than 70% of the disparity in standardized height, weight, and overweight and around 50% of the disparity in standardized BMI, underweight, and obesity could be attributed to heterogeneity in family environments. Moreover, the disparity associated with family environments tended to increase over time.


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