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In the United States, the rise in income inequality and downward intergenerational social mobility since the 1970s represent twin problems facing community and economic development today. This paper proposes a Structure of Labor theory to apply at the local and regional level to address these development challenges. The objective is to provide a simple local approach to development that maximizes upward economic mobility and enables individuals and communities to achieve their development goals in the 21st century development landscape of the United States. The proposed theory fuses free-enterprise principles with state-planned dirigiste efforts to maximize the best of both theoretical perspectives. After reviewing pertinent literature and articulating the Structure of Labor theory, the latter sections of the paper explicate its implications for community and economic development practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neoliberalism is a political-economic philosophy that consists of two claims: one economic and the other political. The economic claim is: that free market laissez faire economies are the best way to organize economic activity as they generate efficient outcomes that maximize well-being. The political claim is: that free market economic arrangements promote individual liberty. This paper argues both claims are problematic. The evidence from the forty-year experiment that began in 1980 shows neo liberalism has undercut shared prosperity and unleashed illiberal forces that threaten liberty. The paper distinguishes between the first political turn which saw the establishment of neoliberal political hegemony, and the second one toward proto-fascism that we are now experiencing. The second turn is being driven by a collection of factors that have created a demand for proto-fascism and weakened the defenses against alt-right ideas. Those factors include socio-economic disembedding, institutional destruction and political disembedding, increased economic inequality that tilts political power, an alteration in attitudes to government and governance, transformation of economic identity, and a cultural transformation that celebrates sociopathic egotism. The Third Way's capture of center-left politics means liberal elites occupy the political place that should be held by true opponents of neoliberalism. Those liberal elites obstruct the politics needed to reverse the deep causes of the drift to proto-fascism. Ironically, that makes those elites a real danger. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the effects of foreign direct investment (FDI) on domestic terrorism. Using a cross-national, time-series analysis of 114 countries from 1991–2017, and employing structural equation modeling to test a number of mediating factors, we find that the impact of FDI on domestic terrorism depends on the host state's level of economic development. For host countries at higher-income levels, FDI boosts economic development and global integration promoting prosperity, increasing counterterrorism resources, and reducing the economic grievances that foster terrorism. Conversely, for lower-income host countries, increased FDI fuels higher domestic terrorism, as it intensifies clashes between traditional and modern elements within society, raises economic discrimination, heightens perceptions of economic insecurity, and subsequently leads to grievances directed against the state. Our results indicate a curvilinear relationship between FDI inflows and domestic terrorism, suggesting that FDI produces a double-edged sword between promoting economic development and increasing domestic terrorism in host states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper develops a model in which the relation between the real exchange rate and the real wage, in the context of conflictive income distribution, is made explicit. It is noted that the central bank tries to regulate the distributive relation exchange rate and real wages through the changes in the interest rate. The theoretical point is that, under certain circumstances, a relatively depreciated or high level of the real exchange rate might reduce real wages and have a negative impact on economic growth. The paper also provides some evidence for the Argentine case, and suggests that the Classical Developmentalist elasticity pessimism seems, in the case of Argentina, to be validated. Also, the use of the exchange rate as an instrument to bolster redistribution away from the working class, and to promote investment and growth is also not born in the data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the statistical data of 280 prefectural-level cities in China from 2011 to 2020, this paper empirically tests the relationship between digital finance and residents' income in a linear and nonlinear model based on the G-J model theory, respectively. The study aims to discuss and analyze the impact of digital finance development on income distribution in the context of the current situation of digital finance development in China and further explore how to make digital finance better regulate the income distribution of residents. The innovation of this paper is to use two nonlinear methods to verify the Kuznets effect and threshold characteristics of digital financial development affecting the income distribution of residents based on linear analysis and explore the relationship between n digital economic development the current income gap more comprehensively. The study shows a Kuznets effect of digital finance development on the income distribution of Chinese residents. Thus, most regions in China have not yet crossed the inflection point of the bell-shaped curve, and the income gap within areas will continue to increase with the development of digital finance. By constructing a threshold model, it is found that the positive effect of digital finance on income disparity may initially increase with the increase of regional economic level. Still, when the regional economic development reaches a higher stage, the effect will tend to fall back. As a result, the negative impact of digital finance development on residents' income distribution will be significantly reduced at that time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main path of development credit funds in rural poverty alleviation in Y province is crucial. This paper studies the rural poverty alleviation work in extreme poverty areas in Yunnan and puts forward targeted and instructive policy suggestions for specific difficult areas. Research the relationship between credit resource allocation and rural poverty alleviation. The existing research is mainly based on the relationship between financial development and economic growth, income growth, income distribution, and, on the surface, the relationship between the scale of financial development and the efficiency of financial development and other indicators. The purpose is to put forward targeted measures and suggestions on the basis of theoretical research and model analysis to help the Yunnan banking industry support poverty alleviation. The results of the study show that there is a causal relationship between agriculture-related loans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper empirically tests the relationship between digital finance and income distribution of residents in 280 cities in China from 2011 to 2020 using linear and nonlinear models, respectively. Based on the Greenwood-Jovanovic (G-J) theory of output grow, the empirical study shows that there is a Kuznets effect of digital finance development on the income distribution of Chinese residents, and most regions have not yet crossed the inflection point of the bell-shaped curve, and the income gap within regions will continue to increase with the development of digital finance. Furthermore, the threshold model test shows that the positive effect of digital finance on the income disparity of residents may initially increase with the increase of regional economic level. However, when the regional economic development reaches a higher stage, the negative effect of digital finance development on the income distribution of residents will be significantly reduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a new service system of finance, inclusive finance emphasizes on better meeting the needs of people's livelihood at a reasonable and affordable cost. Inclusive finance can effectively solve the problems existing in the process of high-quality economic development by promoting regional coordinated development and narrowing the income gap between urban and rural areas. Firstly, this paper constructs the inclusive financial development level measurement index system and high-quality economic development measurement index system, uses these two index systems to measure the development of inclusive finance and high-quality economy of the Yangtze River Delta in China from 2010 to 2019, and then empirically analyzes the impact of Inclusive Finance on high-quality economic development in the Yangtze River Delta by using the panel threshold model. The results show that the inclusive financial development level and high-quality economic development level of cities under the jurisdiction of the Yangtze River Delta have increased steadily year by year, but the development level differentiation among different cities is obvious. Inclusive finance has a threshold effect on high-quality economic development. When the inclusive finance index is lower than 0.358, inclusive finance is not conducive to high-quality economic development. When the inclusive financial development index is between 0.358 and 0.522, inclusive finance promotes high-quality economic development, but the effect is weak. When the inclusive financial development index is greater than 0.522, inclusive finance can significantly promote high-quality economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes the behavior of the Economic Fitness indicator as a measure of the international competitiveness of Latin American economies, as well as an indicator of their relationship with per capita income gaps and the Human Development Index (HDI). Positive correlations were found between per capita income gaps and the stagnation of the international competitiveness of Latin American economies, as well as between human development levels and the productive structure, suggesting a causal relationship between human development and competitiveness. This paper also finds that the Economic Fitness indicator fluctuates significantly when estimated using exports in domestic value-added, suggesting that the original estimate may over- or underestimate competitiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is aimed at investigating the impact of population, human development index, and economic growth in determining the income inequality in West Java of Indonesia. This paper used a panel regression to gain insight into comprehensively understanding the relationship between the variables. This study engaged eight years of time series data from 2011 to 2018 and cross-section data of 27 regencies/municipalities in West Java Province from Statistics Indonesia (BPS). The findings indicate that population, human development index and economic growth affect income inequality. In partial, total population and human development index can explain the income inequality. Meanwhile, economic growth failed in influencing income disparity of West Java Province. This finding suggests that the Kuznets hypothesis of the "U-Reverse" curve in West Java Province was not proven for the period 2011 to 2018. This study emphasizes the significant impact of having strategies in suppressing the population in West Java Province both through programs and binding regulations relating to births and immigration. Also, there should be synergy between stakeholders in providing jobs opportunities that potentially reduce inequality in the West Java province of Indonesia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the impact of FDI along with domestic physical investment and human capital on the regional income, and their role in the regional income convergence within the Czech economy over the periods from 1998-99 to 2013-14. The paper considers 14 regions of the Czech Republic and uses panel fixed effect regression and dynamic panel growth framework for the empirical analysis. The result finds that the role of physical capital formation and FDI along with the human capital are crucial for the regional disparity in income in the Czech Republic. There is also evidence of the convergence of per capita income at the speed of 7.8 per cent among the regions by conditioning physical investment and human capital along with FDI. This paper suggests that regional disparity in income can be reduced by the equitable allocation of investment and FDI, and equal development of human capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research background: Intensive economic growth in Russian regions during recent decades has been associated with numerous environmental issues, particularly increasing CO2 emissions, as well as income inequality. To achieve sustainable development, it is necessary to resolve these issues. Purpose of the article: To shed light on the impact of income inequality on CO2 emissions based on Russian regional data covering the years 2004-2018. Methods: Gini index and decile dispersion ratio are used to measure income inequality. To study the impact of income inequality on CO2 emissions in the Russian regions, we estimate econometric models with fixed and random effects and apply GMM method. We test the hypothesis of the environmental Kuznets curve to determine the impact of economic growth on CO2 emissions. Findings & value added: The results show that CO2 emissions increase in tandem with growth in income inequality between 10% of people with the lowest income and 10% of people with the highest income. Simultaneously, CO2 emissions decrease with growth of Gini coefficient. The hypothesis of the Environmental Kuznets Curve was confirmed based on GMM method. Our findings underscore that the activities of the extraction and manufacturing sectors, as well as energy consumption, increase CO2 emissions. The chief significance of this paper is the finding that large income gap between extremely rich and extremely poor population cohorts increases CO2 emissions. This implies that economic policy aimed at reducing income inequality in Russian regions will also reduce CO2 emissions, especially if accompanied by increased use of environmentally friendly technologies. From the international perspective, our research can be extended to study other countries and regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces a model in which greater inequality reduces growth in economies with low levels of financial development but that this effect is attenuated in economies with more developed systems. The model also predicts that individuals in economies with developed financial markets have a higher tolerance to inequality. Using a panel dataset that covers a large number of countries, this paper shows empirical evidence that is consistent with the main predictions of the model. Overall, this paper's major findings highlight that some of the pernicious effects of inequality can be attenuated by improving access to credit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to unavailability of consistent income data at the sub-state or district level in developing countries, it is difficult to generate consistent and reliable economic inequality estimates at the disaggregated level. To address this issue, this paper employs the association between night time lights and economic activities for India at the sub-state or district-level, and calculates regional income inequality using Gini coefficients. Additionally, we estimate the relationship between night time lights and socio-economic development for regions in India. We employ a newly available data on regional socio-economic development (Social Progress Index), as well as an index that represents institutional quality or governance. Robust to the choice of socio-economic development indicators, our findings indicate that regional inequality measured by night time lights follow the Kuznets curve pattern. This implies that starting from low levels of socio-economic development or quality of institutions, inequality rises as regional socio-economic factors or quality of institutions improve, and with subsequent progress in socio-economic factors or quality of institutions, regional inequality declines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper shows that in Tanzania, economic growth contributes to job creation and employment opportunities, however, it does very little to curb income inequality. Using official data from various local sources compiled by the National Bureau of Statistics and international the paper provides an explanation for why the creation of wealth and employment opportunities in Tanzania fails to bring the level of poverty to a level roughly comparable to what is found in the region to reduce inequality between the richer and the poorer segments of society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper intends to evaluate if the Latin American structuralist approach is still relevant to understand capital accumulation dynamics of peripheral countries and their insertion in the global value chains. It's a theoretical paper that strives to improve the building blocks of structuralism with the incorporation of elements from different approaches to establish a nexus to understand capital accumulation dynamics in the periphery. Considering the relevance of technological accumulation, its impacts over the productive structure and over the international insertion, we strive to analyze factors that perpetuate income diversion in relation to the center. Under this perspective, we conclude that the particularities of peripheral economies changed their form of manifestation without effectively overcome the dependence relation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the relationship between the following indicators: income inequality, gross domestic product, risk of poverty threshold and median equivalized net income for a panel of 28 countries of European Union (EU) over the period 2005-2016. Two theoretical regression models, a linear and a quadratic one, are used to estimate the influence on income inequality of the other three indicators. Empirical estimations, using panel data techniques on three different data panels, confirm the Kuznets hypothesis that income inequality tends to increase with early economic development and tends to decrease when a country reaches a certain level of development. We found that for emerging EU countries, income inequality has a growing tendency with a positive economic growth and maybe reduced by increasing risk of poverty threshold or median equivalized net income. For highly developed EU countries the situation is completely opposite. At EU level, the influence of gross domestic product on income inequality is strongly determined by its trend in the highly developed EU countries, while the influence of risk of poverty threshold and median equivalized net income on income inequality is strongly determined by their trend in the emerging EU countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent history and the institutional evolution of economies leads to criticisms of some aspects of Modern Monetary Theory about the origin of money, as well as the role of the public deficit, and taxes. This paper proposes a precise definition of the financialization process. based on the mobility of business management. It also discusses its impact on income distribution and its consequences for innovation and economic growth, and raises the need for taxes to redistribute income. A concept of private deficit is also proposed based on the creation of means of payment by the banking system, which leads to defend credit orientation policies. It concludes with several macroeconomic policy proposals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Political institutions are an essential component to explain income variation. Brazilian municipalities are characterized by a great contrast in the colonization process and its impacts on the current income level and distribution, and other development aspects. This study analyzes the spatial heterogeneity of the relationship between institutional quality and the municipalities' economic development. We use a spatial moving window method applied to weighted regressions—Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR). We find evidence that good institutions increase income and other variables related to economic development. In addition, the institutional quality influence on economic development measures is distinct across the Brazilian regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This brief article seeks to introduce the reader to this special number on industrialization in contemporary Latin America. It does so considering three issues. First, the importance of industrialization in sustaining high rates of economic growth leading to high levels of income per capita. Second, the long-standing debate in global historiography regarding the successes and failures of industrial policy: markets vs. states. Lastly, Latin America's industrial trajectory through the lenses of four historiographical tendencies, and the ways in which each of the four original papers relate to the extant literature, and contribute to enhancing our understanding of one of the most important economic transformations in the history of the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poverty eradication will remain United Nations highest priority after the Millennium Development Goals-2015 deadline. Moreover, although impressive achievements in poverty cutting have been reached in the last decade, progress has been uneven, as inequality has been increasing. Hence, future poverty reduction strategies should be designed taking into account the nexus between economic development, inequality and the so-called "pro-poor factors", which represent the set of policies able to make economic growth beneficial for the poor. The aim of this paper is to provide a quantitative answer to the following questions: Does economic growth reduce poverty? If so, by how much? How economic inequality affects poverty? Does the responsiveness of poverty to growth and inequality depend on initial poverty and inequality? How do pro-poor policies influence the poverty-growth-inequality nexus? Although these questions have received a great deal of attention along the years, this paper makes use of the most complete and up-to-date comparable data on growth, poverty and inequality, as compiled by the World Bank PovcalNet. Moreover, it originally employs the System Generalised Method of Moments estimator. In particular, the present empirical exercise is built on an original unbalanced panel dataset, which comprises 109 developing countries observed between 1981 and 2008, in 8 different three-year growth spells. As for the econometric technique, System GMM has been proved to be the most efficient and best suited in the context of dynamic unbalanced panels. Our main results are in line with the existing literature. First, we find that the poverty elasticity to growth and inequality is, respectively, around -2% and 2%. Second, the poverty elasticity to growth is higher the more favorable the initial conditions (i.e. -0.89% and -2.5% for, respectively, high and low initial poverty and inequality). Third, the poverty elasticity to inequality is higher in relatively richer and more equal countries (i.e. 2.6%) than in poorer and more unequal countries (i.e. 0.39%). And, finally, we show that human capital, as measured as health and education, facilitates the effect of economic growth on poverty reduction (i.e. poverty elasticity of -0.89% and -2.5% for, respectively, high and low infant mortality). Our analysis suggests that, in designing policy reduction strategies, policy makers should carefully take into considerations initial poverty and the initial income distribution. Moreover, as for the fundamental importance of pro-poor policies, and human capital in particular, economic policies should go beyond the mere growth stimulus., economic policies should go beyond the mere growth stimulus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper considers how thinking on inequality in relation to development has evolved over the last half century, including three critical questions: why be concerned about inequality; inequality of what; and among whom. Fifty years ago, inequality was defined unidimensionally in terms of incomes, with a focus on inequality among individuals, and it was regarded purely instrumentally, as a means to achieve higher economic growth. Since then, the objectives of development have widened while the extent of inequality is increasingly regarded as important in itself, for justice, as well as instrumentally. Exploration of inequality and its effects now extends to a plurality of dimensions. Consideration of inequality among whom has also broadened, beyond inequality among individuals (vertical inequality), to concern with inequality among groups (horizontal inequality) both in relation to justice and instrumentally. Evidence suggests that greater horizontal equality tends to reduce violent conflict, and greater vertical equality to reduce criminality, while both are likely to improve social outcomes and promote sustainable growth. The paper argues that although the objective of achieving more equality is increasingly accepted, many countries are experiencing more inequality and few effective redistributive measures have been adopted. It reviews how political economy considerations explain this paradox. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses patterns in regional inequality within and between Malaysia's 14 states, drawing upon estimates of Kuznets/Williamson curves, σ- and β-convergence and spatial spillovers. The path of regional inequality contradicts Kuznets predictions. Regional inequality initially fell but has subsequently risen with further economic development. While Malaysian governments have been successful at reducing poverty, they have been unable to curtail regional inequality in the long run. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to propose a new economic index, namely, real national income average growth rate (RNIAGR), which measures the performance of economic growth with consideration for income distribution. This study also develops another new economic index, called five-scale real national income average growth rate (FSRNIAGR), which simplifies the calculation of RNIAGR. The merits of these new indexes are discussed to justify their efficacy. This paper also justifies the use of proposed index by showing that this index can actually measure the ordering of social welfare. To highlight the difference between this new index and the traditional ones, this paper compares the index with real economic growth rate using the data of Taiwan. In addition, this paper shows that when the real growth stagnates or even declines, this new index indicates that income distribution deteriorates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Residential energy consumption level, structure, and potentiality are crucial indices reflecting economic and social development. In rural China, energy poverty is still prevalent, and economic poverty is a critical factor that deteriorates energy poverty. This paper combines income- and asset-based measures of wealth to provide a more dynamic perspective on the effects of economic poverty on energy poverty. Results show that for the household which in an average asset or income level, when its assets and income increase by 10%, the probability of a household choosing clean fuels increases by 0.007 and 0.002, respectively. Rural household prefers gas than electricity when household income and assets increase. To solve the energy poverty problem in rural areas, governments need to take measures to improve the accumulation of wealth, raise the infrastructure level and increase the employment rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One potential consequence of rising top‐income concentration is borrowing by less‐affluent households attempting to maintain relative living standards. This paper evaluates the “keeping up with the Joneses” phenomenon, examining the responsiveness of payment‐to‐income ratios for different debt types across the income distribution to changes in income among affluent households. The analysis provides evidence for the responsiveness of debt to rising top incomes. Middle‐ and upper‐middle‐income households take on more housing‐related debt and have higher payments in places with higher top‐income levels. Among lower‐income households non‐mortgage borrowing and debt payments decline, consistent with restrictions in the supply of credit. (JEL D63, D14) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses distribution and the historical phases of capitalism. It assumes that technical progress and growth are taking place, and, given that, its question is on the functional distribution of income between labor and capital, having as reference classical theory of distribution and Marx's falling tendency of the rate of profit. Based on the historical experience, it, first, inverts the model, making the rate of profit as the constant variable in the long run and the wage rate, as the residuum; second, it distinguishes three types of technical progress (capital-saving, neutral and capital-using) and applies it to thehistory of capitalism, having the UK and France as reference. Given these three types of technical progress, it distinguishes five phases of capitalist growth, where only the second is consistent with Marx prediction. In the final phase, corresponding to financier-rentier capitalism and neoliberalism, the profit rate recovered from the fall of the 1970s, while wages have been growing below the growth of productivity [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper documents, for the first time, municipality- and occupation-level estimates of income inequality between individuals in a European country in the nineteenth century, using a combination of several detailed data sets for Norway in the late 1860s. Urban incomes were on average 4.5 times as high as rural incomes, and the average city Gini coefficient was twice the average rural municipality Gini. All high- or medium-income occupation groups exhibited substantial within-occupation income inequality. Across municipalities, income inequality is higher in high-income municipalities, and lower in muncipalities with high levels of fisheries and pastoral agriculture. While manufacturing activity is positively correlated with income inequality, the association is not apparent when other economic factors such as the mode of food production is accounted for. The income Gini for Norway as a whole is found to have been 0.546, slightly higher than estimates for the UK and US in the same period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between income inequality and economic growth is complex and the evidence mixed. This paper focuses on the connections between income inequality and the fragility of economic growth. We find that longer growth spells-periods of strong, healthy, per capita growth-are robustly associated with more equality in the income distribution, even when controlling for a range of other standard determinants. A key implication is that it would be a gamble to think that distribution will take care of itself provided policy makers steadfastly pursue growth. Over longer horizons, avoiding excessive inequality and sustaining economic growth may be two sides of the same coin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper distinguishes three types of countries (rich, middle-income, and preindustrial) and focus on the latter, which, in contrast to the other two, didn't complete their industrial and capitalist revolutions. Can pre-industrial countries be governed well and under democracy? Today democracy is a universal value, and, so, these countries are under pressure from the West and from its own society to be democratic, even though they do not dispose of mature enough societies in which the economic surplus is appropriated through the market. In fact, no country completed its industrial and capitalist revolution within the framework of even a minimal democracy. Additionally, pre-industrial countries are extremely difficult to govern because they usually don't have a strong nation and capable states. This double pressure represents a major obstacle to their development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We are living in an era of vast inequality. Income and wealth gaps between ‘the haves’ and ‘have-nots’ have reached epidemic proportions. The top 1 per cent of earners in the United States pulled in a whopping 19.3 per cent of household income in 2012, their biggest slice of total income in more than 100 years. In 2014, the World Economic Forum listed severe income inequality as the number one global risk and Tom Piketty’s unlikely best seller, Capital in the 21st Century, documented the rising ratio of wealth to income and the growth of a ‘rentier class’. Even in Australia, where the mining industry continues to power economic growth, the income and wealth gap between the lowest and highest quintile of earners is stark. According to recent data, the top 20 per cent of Australians earn five times the income of the bottom 20 per cent, while holding 71 times more wealth. The question for mediation scholars and practitioners is whether this growing gap is affecting the way in which society’s ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’ access and experience mediation. At the low end of the socio-economic totem pole, government cuts in legal services – combined with mediation practitioners’ obsession with neutrality – potentiate uninformed decision-making by unrepresented parties. At the high end, models of practice catering to legal professionals’ preferences threaten to rob mediation of its transformative, therapeutic potential. This paper will explore these troubling developments and query whether growing social inequality should precipitate shifts in our thinking about mediation ethics and the way we educate the next generation of lawyers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although multiple theories suggest that economic development and inequality somehow affect democratization, these claims have received only limited empirical support. I contend that much of the confusion stems from the implicit assumption held by the literature that development and inequality affect democratization independently of one another. In this paper, I argue that the effect of income distribution on democratization is in fact contingent on the income level: in middle-income countries inequality fosters democratization; in rich countries, however, it harms democratization. Using a data set covering almost all autocracies between 1960 and 2007, I find evidence consistent with my hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper discusses the hypothesis that the functional distribution of income is not necessary stable along the growth path of a capitalist economy. We reviewed Pasinetti and Foley models showing that if we use the traditional definition of capital, i.e., capital as the value of productive resources (i) r > g is a necessary condition for the existence of balanced growth, and it will not lead to an explosive process of income concentration and (ii) r > i is a necessary condition for a financially robust growth path. Thus we conclude that from a post-Keynesian perspective, Piketty's argument that the root of the increase of inequality in capitalism is that the capital return rate is higher than the growth rate of the economy is wrong. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the potential causal relationship(s) between China’s urbanization and income inequality since the start of the economic reform. Based on the economic theory of urbanization and income distribution, we analyze the annual time series of China’s urbanization rate and Gini index from 1978 to 2014. The results show that urbanization has an immediate alleviating effect on income inequality, as indicated by the negative relationship between the two time series at the same year (lag = 0). However, urbanization also seems to have a lagged aggravating effect on income inequality, as indicated by positive relationship between urbanization and the Gini index series at lag 1. Although the link between urbanization and income inequality is not surprising, the lagged aggravating effect of urbanization on the Gini index challenges the popular belief that urbanization in post-reform China generally helps reduce income inequality. At deeper levels, our results suggest an urgent need to focus on the social dimension of urbanization as China transitions to the next stage of modernization. Comprehensive social reforms must be prioritized to avoid a long-term economic dichotomy and permanent social segregation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates whether the relationship between income inequality and growth changes over time. Two time periods, covering 1970-1985 and 1985-1999, are analyzed and compared. A statistically significant relationship between inequality and growth in either time period fails to emerge. However, there are indications that effect of inequality on growth may be different in the nineties when compared to the seventies. In the literature, a consistent negative effect of inequality on growth is documented although the significance of the effect is open to debate. This paper also finds a negative effect of income inequality on growth in the seventies but, although statistically insignificant, a consistently positive effect in the nineties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globalization exposes nation-states to both opportunities and challenges. Singapore, an island country, moved from the process of building a nation-state to becoming a global city in the last decade of the twentieth-century. This meant increased migration of people at all levels of the economy to enable Singapore to remain a competitive economy. Though Singapore's economy prospered, its citizens were beset by structural unemployment and increasing income inequality. The Singapore state responded with the twin solutions of maintaining a sustainable economic growth while complementing it with policies to manage inequality. The paper examines the policies that were created in the 1990s to capture the benefits of globalization and the years from 2000 to 2008 during which the entire Singapore population felt the full impact of the challenges of globalization. The paper argues that the Singapore state must invest in its citizens to give them the hope of belonging to a nation to overcome the negative impact of globalization, a scenario in which a strong state like Singapore may survive while it flounders as a nation of hope-filled citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces a new comprehensive panel of annual state-level income inequality measures spanning the postwar period 1945–2004. For many states, the share of income held by the top decile experienced a prolonged period of stability after World War II, followed by a substantial increase in inequality during the 1980s and 1990s. This paper also presents an examination of the long-run relationship between income inequality and economic growth. Our findings indicate that the long-run relationship between inequality and growth is positive in nature and driven principally by the concentration of income in the upper end of the income distribution. ( JEL D31, O40) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The world is becoming more and more urbanized at every income level, and there has been a dramatic increase in the number of mega-cities in the developing world. This has led scholars to believe that development and urbanization are not always correlated, either across space or over time. In this paper, we use historical data at both the country level and city level over the five centuries between 1500–2010 to revisit the topic of “ urbanization without growth ” (Fay and Opal, 2000). In particular, we first establish that, although urbanization and income remain highly correlated within any given year, urbanization is 25–30 percentage points higher in 2010 than in 1500 at every level of income per capita. Second, while historically this shift in urbanization rates was more noticeable at the upper tail of the income distribution, i.e. for richer countries, it is now particularly visible at the lower tail, i.e. for poorer countries. Third, these patterns suggest that different factors may have explained the shift in different periods of time. We use the discussion of these factors as an opportunity to provide a survey of the literature and summarize our knowledge of what drives the urbanization process over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rising economic inequality, often considered intrinsically harmful, is increasingly being viewed as having a number of secondary impacts as well, including impacts on health and economic growth. The ongoing nature of today's environmental crisis also raises questions about inequality's role in environmental deterioration. Despite the large number of papers that have been written on this topic, no theoretical or empirical consensus presently exists. Firstly, our article identifies that authors' conclusions in this area depend on their hypotheses regarding 1) the relationship between individual income and individual environmental pressure, 2) the impact of inequality on the social norms that influence individual environmental pressure, 3) the interests that social groups have in degrading or protecting the environment, 4) how these interests play out in terms of political demands, and 5) how these political demands translate into political decisions. Secondly, the study shows that, despite enabling a general test of the causal relationship between inequality and the environment, the empirical methods utilised do not account for the full range of theoretical mechanisms in play. Hence the suggestion that a research programme be launched to conduct empirical studies of the five aforementioned hypotheses by applying a recursive approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Substantial research has assessed the Kuznets hypothesis, which is a traditional relationship between inequality and development. The Kuznets hypothesis suggests that as development proceeds a country will experience first rising then falling income inequality. However, the existing literature analyzes the relationship between income inequality and per capita income, which is, at best, an incomplete measure of the multi-dimensional process of economic development. This paper explores the relationship between income inequality and development utilizing the more expansive, multidimensional Human Development Index (HDI) as the measure of development. Based on the "capabilities" approach to development, the Human Development Index incorporates key dimensions of human development that are particularly suitable for examination in the context of the Kuznets hypothesis. These include health and education measures as a complement to more traditional measures of living standards, such as per capita gross domestic product (GDP). In the Human Development Index, population health is measured using life expectancy at birth, while a measure of education is formed from a weighted average of the primary, secondary, and tertiary enrolment ratio and the adult literacy rate. The standard of living is captured by per capita GDP, and all three are incorporated into the overall human development index. Using data from 147 countries for the years 1992 through 2007, we analyze the relationship between income inequality, as measured by the Gini coefficient, and economic development, measured with the Human Development Index (HDI) and its constituent dimensional indices: the GDP index, the Life Expectancy Index and the Educational Index. Using both ordinary least squares with clustered standard errors and a fixed effects analysis, we find that the use of different measures of development significantly affects the shape of the Kuznets curve. Specifically, the results imply an S-curve in which, beginning at the earliest stages of a country's development, growth in human development (as measured by the HDI) results in falling income inequality followed by a brief rise and then another fall in income inequality. To the best of our knowledge, this is a relationship not seen in the existing literature to date. In doing so, the results call into question the traditionally held view of the relationship between income inequality and human development. They also provide a basis on which the Kuznets hypothesis may be further examined in the future and suggest that rising inequality may not be a necessary part of the process of a country's development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to model the connection between economic growth and the environment, assuming that developing economies face an environmental constraint that developed economies did not suffer when they started their processes of economic development. Following the model of Lucas (2000) , this paper simulates world income dynamics since the year 1800, setting up the parameters such that the model accurately describes the world economy by the year 2020. The original model is enriched by adding an environmental constraint so that follower economies face a declining growth premium after 1970. The model also forecasts income dynamics until the end of the 21st century, which allows testing the effects of the environmental constraint on followers in the future. The simulations predict that convergence to upper-middle and high-income per capita levels will slow down and so will the pace of reduction of across income inequality worldwide. These results suggest that a strategy of "grow first, then clean up", typically derived from the existence of an environmental Kuznets curve (EKC), is not necessary valid for today developing countries. Instead, the results would suggest the implementation of a policy of "clean up in order to grow", but growing less. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the causal relationship between poverty reduction and economic growth in Swaziland during the period 1980-2011. Unlike some of the previous studies, the current study uses the newly developed ardl-bounds testing approach to co-integration, and the ecmbasedGranger causalitymethod to examine this linkage. The study also incorporates financial development as a third variable affecting both poverty reduction and economic growth - thereby leading to a trivariate model. The results of this study show that economic growth does not Grangercause poverty reduction in Swaziland - either in the short run or in the long run. Instead, the study finds a causal flow from poverty reduction to economic growth in the short run. These findings, however, are not surprising, given the high level of income inequality in Swaziland. Studies have shown that when the level of income inequality is too high, economic growth alone may not necessarily lead to poverty reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge of the determinants of self‐employment income is critical to entrepreneurial development strategies if the development goal is to increase incomes not just employment. Using American Community Survey data, unconditional quantile regression is used to investigate differences in the relationship between entrepreneurial income and an array of individual, industry, and regional characteristics across the self‐employment income distribution. Personal attributes, such as education, race, age, and gender, both explain differences in self‐employment income and vary in importance across the income distribution. Regional agglomerative effects are significantly positive and stronger at the upper end of the self‐employed income distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With rapid economic growth, China is facing tremendous pressures of emission–reduction and serious income inequality issues. The existing research is concerned with the relationships between income inequality and CO 2 emissions in recent years, but little attention has been paid to the regional differences in China. This paper investigated the impact of income and its inequality on CO 2 emissions at the national and regional levels using the panel data from 1995 to 2010 in China. The empirical results show that income growth increases China’s CO 2 emissions. The effects of income growth on CO 2 emissions vary across regions. Further, the impact of income inequality on CO 2 emissions in the Eastern region is greater than that in the Western region. This research reveals that a more equitable income distribution may help control CO 2 emissions in developing China, and there is a win–win situation of income redistribution and emission–reduction. Our findings merit particular attention from policy makers in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reduction of income inequality and the participation of the top 1 % in the Brasil, 2000-2010. According to OECD, the recent process of deterioration of the income distribution chain in developing and developed countries has been marked by increased participation of 1% of households with higher income. In the past decade, Brazil has escaped the general trend of deterioration of the income distribution. This paper shows that the reduction of economic inequality was accompanying the reluctance of the participation of top 1%, arguing that the reproduction of the movement more generally requires that this participation has been reduced in the current decade, to enable sustained growth and development with social justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this paper is to analyze the mie played by innovations on economic activity. In this sense, the relationship between innovation and economic growth is studied, being economic growth the current main objective of economic policy to reduce unemployment and to increase social welfare. To carry out this analysis we base on Schumpeter's model, playing entrepreneurship and social climate an important role in the process. The empirical analysis an innovations equation for the case of 11 developed countries is included, showing that the social climate, represented by the training and income distribution, and monetary policy, represented by money supply, stimulate innovations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we evaluate income distributions in four European countries (Austria, Italy, Spain and Hungary) using two complementary approaches: a standard approach based on reported incomes in survey data, and a microsimulation approach, where taxes and benefits are simulated. These two approaches may be expected to generate slightly different results, particularly in respect of individuals on lower incomes, because benefit receipts tend to be under-reported in survey data, and over-estimated in microsimulation procedures. However, we find that the two approaches do in fact produce reasonably consistent results, in terms of both inequality measures and poverty rates. To the extent that the results differ, we explore the reasons why these differences arise, and suggest directions for future research, in which each approach may inform improvements in the other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper highlights some recent components related to the endogenous growth literature; in particular, (i) research and development progress, direction, and diffusion; (ii) human-capital accumulation; (iii) wage inequality; (iv) nonscale economic growth, showing how each one has been treated by the existing seminal literature and the expected impact of bringing them together. The connection of the different components is mainly done by involving the leading literature on North-South technological knowledge diffusion by imitation under trade, and the prevailing literature on intra- and intercountry wage inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Growth is good for the poor" is a ubiquitous statement and one generally backed by theory, research and history. In the long-run, growth reduces poverty. Yet, growth in output - per se - is neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition for poverty reduction in the short-term. The paper uses a number of parametric and non-parametric methodologies to assess the relation between growth and poverty in Kazakhstan, a country that experienced rapid growth and poverty reduction in the short-term. Combining macro and micro regional data, we find a very small trickle down effect of output growth on household incomes and no evidence that output growth is correlated with poverty reduction. We find instead that pro-poor growth in household income explains well poverty reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Discrimination against older workers and the higher barriers for entrance to the workforce that these workers face are well documented in the literature. This situation becomes even worse when technological changes take place. In this paper the different responses of younger and older workers to those technological changes were analyzed, and it was revealed that older workers can be severely harmed when such changes occur. It was found that providing a subsidy for older workers could aid in reducing the unemployment among older workers, together with increasing growth of the economy and decreasing the inequality of income distribution. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]