scholarly journals The Effect of Technology Spillovers on Income Distribution: An Application on OECD Countries

Author(s):  
Neşe Algan ◽  
Erhan İşcan ◽  
Duygu Serin Oktay

Ensuring a fair income distribution to increase social welfare is one of the main objectives of economic policies. With the acceleration of innovations in information and communication technology in the 20th century, the developments in technology have been characterized as the main reason for growth, welfare and productivity growth. However, rapid technological developments have revealed that significant changes in the dynamics of income inequalities occur at the same time. The growth in income inequality has increased significantly in many countries recently. Accordingly, the notion that the spread of technology has led to growth in income inequality has attracted attention in recent years. In the light of this information, the aim of the study is to reveal the impact of the spread of new technologies on income inequality and the factors underlying the income inequality dynamics. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine the impact of technology spillovers on income inequality of selected OECD countries including Turkey using panel data analysis. The data for all countries obtained from the World Bank’s Development Indicators and OECD. Stat. The empirical conclusion indicated the effect of the technology spillovers on income inequality. This empirical finding contributed to promote the existing literature, and also draws main attention of policymakers. Because, knowing the factors underlying income inequality, which is seen as an important economic and social problem, is important in determining effective policies to ensure a more equitable income distribution.

2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 335-352 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pihri Buhaerah

This paper examines the impact of financialization on income inequality in ASEAN-5 countries for the period of 1990-2013 by employing panel data analysis. The data was collected from various secondary sources by undertaking fixed effect model and generalized method moment. The result shows that there is a significant relationship between all financialization indicators and income distribution. Generalized method moment analysis using Arellano-Bond estimator also shows that all financialization indicators have a significant relationship with income distribution. There is no different sign estimator both in fixed model effect and generalized method moment analysis. This paper revealed that financialization indicators such as stock market capitalization and return on assets contribute positively to worsen income inequlality. Incontrast, domestic private debt securities have a negative effect on gini coefficient in ASEAN-5 countries indicating that increasing domestic private debt securities will improve income distribution in the region.


2021 ◽  
pp. 135406612110014
Author(s):  
Glen Biglaiser ◽  
Ronald J. McGauvran

Developing countries, saddled with debts, often prefer investors absorb losses through debt restructurings. By not making full repayments, debtor governments could increase social spending, serving poorer constituents, and, in turn, lowering income inequality. Alternatively, debtor governments could reduce taxes and cut government spending, bolstering the assets of the rich at the expense of the poor. Using panel data for 71 developing countries from 1986 to 2016, we assess the effects of debt restructurings on societal income distribution. Specifically, we study the impact of debt restructurings on social spending, tax reform, and income inequality. We find that countries receiving debt restructurings tend to use their newly acquired economic flexibility to reduce taxes and lower social spending, worsening income inequality. The results are also robust to different model specifications. Our study contributes to the globalization and the poor debate, suggesting the economic harm caused to the less well-off following debt restructurings.


2022 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Monica Addison ◽  
Kwasi Ohene-Yankyera ◽  
Patricia Pinamang Acheampong ◽  
Camillus Abawiera Wongnaa

Abstract Background Government of Ghana’s effort to reduce income inequality consistently poses a major challenge to public policy formulation. The promotion and dissemination of agricultural technologies as a pathway out of income inequality in rural Ghana have received widespread support. Yet, knowledge about the impact of agricultural technologies on rural income inequality remains low. The objective of the study is to evaluate the link between the uptake of improved rice technologies and income distribution in the study area. Methods This paper uses a survey data from 917 smallholder rice producers in selected communities in Ghana. The study employs the Bourguignon, Fournier, and Gurgand (BFG) selection bias correction model, a two-stage model, to empirically analyse the role of agricultural technologies in rural income distribution. Results The empirical result shows that education, farm size, land ownership, participation in relevant extension training programmes enhance adoption, but gender (female) inhibits uptake of the selected technologies. The empirical result further shows that the uptake of the improved rice seed and fertilizer increases rice farmers’ net revenue significantly. The result further indicates that farmers’ choice of the selected agricultural technologies decreases the sample population income inequality, indicating the uptake of the technologies has an equalizing effect on rice farmers’ income distribution. Conclusion The study concludes that the use of the selected technologies has potential to fight rural poverty in Ghana. The findings have implications for National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) agenda of redistribution of wealth in Ghana.


Author(s):  
Леонид Басовский ◽  
Leonid Basovskiy ◽  
В. Бабанов ◽  
V. Babanov ◽  
Елена Басовская ◽  
...  

In order to assess the extent to which the institutions of government in the current conditions in recent years in Russia — the activity of government officials and local governments affected economic growth, the correlation of the number of this category of workers with the growth rates of the economy was evaluated. The results show that by 2002 the positive correlation between the number of employees of state bodies and local self-government and the rate of economic growth was a negative one. The activities of employees of state and local governments began to slow down economic growth in the country. In order to assess how the change in the level of inequality of income distribution in modern Russia is due to the activities of employees of state-shock authorities and local self-government, its relation to the number of employees in this category of funds, which reflects the degree of income inequality, was evaluated. The results show that by 2011 the negative relationship between the number of employees of state bodies and local governments and the level of inequality of income distribution of growth replaced by a positive relationship. The activities of employees of state and local governments began to contribute to reducing the level of inequality of income distribution in the country.


2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (4) ◽  
pp. 397-413
Author(s):  
Vesna Bucevska

AbstractDespite increasing income per capita, the EU candidate and potential candidate countries remain confronted with high levels of income inequality. The purpose of our paper is to identify the main determinants of income inequality among the EU candidate countries. In addition to macroeconomic factors, we also analyze the impact of demographic variables to provide more reliable estimates. Using panel data analysis with fixed effects in the period 2005-2017 for three EU candidate countries (North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey) we find that the unemployment rate, the level of economic development and the investment rate are the main determinants whose increase leads to a bigger income differentiation in the analyzed countries. The government indebtedness has also a statistically significant, but a negative impact on income inequality. The other two macroeconomic variables in the model – the terms of trade and inflation are statistically insignificant. Among the demographic factors, population growth and education significantly affect income inequality among the EU candidate countries. The obtained results suggest that a sustainable economic growth combined with active measures in the labor market and the improvement of education level of the population could lead to more equal income distribution.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 12-20
Author(s):  
Bac Truong Cong ◽  
Tran Quang Van

Agricultural productivity plays a crucial role in sustainable development while income is one of the most critical indicators that manifest the living standards; therefore, both of these aspects have attracted much attention from the national level to the provincial level. Yet, for various reasons, the importance of regional linkages, especially spatial interaction in the analysis of agricultural productivity and the average income, is not recognized and thus ignored in economic policies. Taking Vietnam as the study area, this paper examines the impact of spatial interaction between metropolises and provinces on agricultural productivity and income per capita of provinces.  In order to evaluate the impacts, this paper uses a gravity model to estimate the spatial interaction then panel data analysis is employed to interpret the influences. The data used in this study is collected from the General Statistics Office of Vietnam in the period from 2015-2018. The results show a positive correlation between spatial interaction between metropolis and provinces to provincial change, including agricultural productivity and average income. As such, stronger linkages with metropolises through improving transportation systems could enhance agricultural productivity and income in the province.


2016 ◽  
Vol 63 (5) ◽  
pp. 581-601 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gülsün Yay ◽  
Hüseyin Taştan ◽  
Asuman Oktayer

This paper examines the impact of globalization and liberalization on wage inequality using the KOF globalization index, the Economic Freedom Index (EFI) of the Fraser Institute and the Theil industrial pay inequality statistic compiled by the University of Texas Inequality Project (UTIP). Both static and dynamic fixedeffects models are estimated using a 5-year panel data set consisting of about 90 developed and developing countries for the 1970-2005 period. Estimation results from the dynamic panel data specification suggest that wage inequality has a significant and slowly changing component. The overall KOF and EFI indexes are found to be statistically insignificant in the full sample, but the results show that economic freedom is associated with more wage inequality, especially in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. The estimation results from country groups indicate that more deregulation is associated with more earnings inequality in OECD countries. The results from the models with subcomponents of the EFI imply that access to sound money has a negative effect on wage inequality. A more stable price system in an economy implies a more equal wage distribution in emerging markets (EM), non-OECD countries, and European Union (EU).


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Matthew Nolan

<p>This dissertation investigates the role tax and transfer policy changes played in the evolution of New Zealand disposable income inequality between 1988 and 2013. Across five papers, the key changes in tax and transfer policies are identified, the labour supply response of individuals to the changes are estimated, and the impact of these changes on the income distribution is quantified. Overall, nearly 40% of the increase in income inequality during this period is attributable to changes in the tax-transfer system.  The tax and transfer payment changes investigated in this dissertation cover the gradual flattening of the tax scale over the 1980/90s, the reduction in benefit payments following the 1991 Mother of All Budgets, the introduction of Working for Families in 2005, and the erosion of transfer payments relative to the average wage throughout the period.  Given these changes, the efficacy of the tax transfer system for meeting vertical and horizontal equity goals is evaluated using data from the Household Economic Survey (HES). The redistributive effect of tax-transfer policy fell from 22.6 Gini points to 18.2 Gini points between 1988/91 and 2011/13, with a corresponding decline in the amount of vertical equity in the tax-transfer system. Between the same periods the degree of horizontal inequity rose,although this was predominantly the result of greater targeting in the tax-transfer system.  The adjustment in the structure of the tax-transfer system not only leads to a change in tax liabilities and transfer payments, but also generates a behavioural change by individuals with regards to the number of hours they would be willing to work. Preference parameter estimates over hours of work and income are generated for individuals in the sample, with imputed wages estimated for those who are out of work.  A tax-transfer microsimulation model, that utilises wage and preference parameter estimates, is then used to construct counterfactual scenarios where the tax-transfer system of a given year is applied to the population of other years. For example, the tax-transfer system of 1988-1991 is applied to the population in 2010-2013 in order to create a scenario representing what the disposable income distribution in 2010-2013 would look like with the 1988-1991 tax-transfer system. Estimates from this process suggest that nearly 40% of the increase in disposable income inequality between the 1988/91 and 2010/13 periods was due to the change in payments and labour supply behaviour associated with tax-transfer policy adjustments.  Other potential drivers of income inequality change were investigated by reweighting the HES data of one period to more closely represent the population of another period. Although shifts in the share of individuals in part time work also generated an increase in income inequality, the lift in higher educational attainment over this period is estimated to have reduced income inequality more sharply (by nearly 22%). The shift in the age distribution towards prime-aged work was not associated with any change in the aggregate income inequality measure.</p>


Economies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaozhun Peng ◽  
Hongyou Lu

“Creating conditions for more people to have property income” has become a national policy after the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. Based on the micro survey data from Chinese Family Panel Studies (CFPS) in 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016 and the macro panel data at the provincial level, a logarithmic linear equation was built to estimate the impact of micro and macro factors on property income. Furthermore, the contribution of fiscal expenditure and financial development on property income equality can be recognized using the regression-based inequality decomposition method. This research revealed that fiscal expenditure improves residents’ property income and slightly reduces the inequality of property income distribution. With respect to financial development, it improves residents’ property income but aggravates the inequality of property income distribution. However, there is a significant difference between the different regions. In eastern and central regions, inequality of property income distribution greatly benefits from fiscal expenditure, while in northwest regions, fiscal expenditure makes property income inequality even worse. Therefore, the focus of financial sustainable development is to reduce property income inequality through the establishment of an effective government and the improvement of the rule of laws.


Author(s):  
Buhari Doğan ◽  
Muhlis Can ◽  
Osman Değer

Regardless of their level of developments, the income distribution problem is one of the most important economic and social problems the countries face. In recent years, scholars have performed multiple studies to determine the factors affecting income distribution. The purpose of this chapter is to examine the impact of military expenditures on income inequality in a sample of North American countries (the USA, Canada, and Mexico), within the context of the Kuznets curve. The study covers between 1995-2013. In unit root Peseran approach, in cointegration analysis, Durbin-Hausmann approach were employed. The findings show that the coefficient of the military expenditures series is positive and the coefficient of square of the military expenditures is negative. This situation shows that military expenditures first increase and then reduce income inequality. Findings indicate that there is an inverse “U” relationship between military expenditures and income inequality. Moreover, it has been detected that as economic growth increases income inequality decreases.


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