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There is ample empirical literature on the contributions of different income sources to total income inequality. In contrast, studies estimating the contributions of income sources to income poverty are scarce. This paper presents a new decomposition of the Foster–Greer–Thorbecke poverty index, based on a marginal approach previously employed to decompose income inequality. We apply these marginal decompositions to data for 15 EU countries and classify six income sources according to their impact on inequality and poverty. Our results indicate that there are significant differences in the contributions of income sources to poverty compared to their respective contributions to inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the extent to which households in rural Thailand across the income distribution are able to mitigate income risks in the face of shocks. It uses especially high‐quality household income and consumption data spanning 64 Thai villages over 15 years. The paper identifies income shocks by village‐level variations during drought conditions. It finds that richer households are better able to mitigate income risk than poorer households, in contrast to some studies of the South Asian subcontinent. These possibilities for managing income risk are shown to be correlated with the type of contract the head of household is likely to be employed in, the share of salaries in total household income, the education level of the head, the relative youth of the heads of richer households, and location effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With exclusive property rights, community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) may provide economies of scale and scope in a joint production system. This paper examines the impact of CBNRM on poverty and inequality, using household-level panel data from Bangladesh. Results from the propensity score matching method and the random effect models reveal that project participants' employment increased by 60 person-days, and their fish income increased by 37.4%. We find a positive significant effect of the project in reducing both the incidence and depth of poverty and income inequality. The findings suggest CBNRM is an effective tool to achieve sustainable development goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The shock of the COVID-19 pandemic affected the human capital formation of children and youths. As a consequence of this disruption, the pandemic is likely to imply permanent lower levels of human capital. This paper provides new evidence on the impact of COVID-19 and school closures on education in Latin America by exploiting harmonized microdata from a large set of national household surveys carried out in 2020, during the pandemic. In addition, the paper uses microsimulations to assess the potential effect of changes in human capital due to the COVID-19 crisis on future income distributions. The findings show that the pandemic is likely to have significant long-run consequences in terms of incomes and poverty if strong compensatory measures are not taken soon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper focuses on three key metrics of poverty, income distribution and employment to ascertain the pro-poor and inclusive-growth position of the western African region. The roles of governance structures and their interactive effects are also accommodated to capture the peculiarity of the region. Design/methodology/approach: The paper employs fixed and dynamic models. Findings: Evidence suggests that growth is pro-poor, although virtually all governance indicators are sterile in stimulating poverty reduction. The authors observe that health and education spending coupled with trade-openness stimulate pro-poor growth potentials, whereas conflicts culminate the pervasiveness of poverty in the region. By empirically answering the question of how inclusive is economic growth through the lens of income-distribution and employment, the authors show that growth has been exclusive as per-capita-GDP growth rather dampens income shared by the poorest 20%. Also, it is observed that growth has not been inclusive as the jobless-growth argument remains valid while high inequality further exacerbates unemployment in the region. It is further shown that governance has been generally weak in propelling inclusive growth except where the institutional-component of governance stimulates inclusive growth through improvement in equality and labor employability. Originality/value: The study jointly examines the metrics of poverty, income distribution and employment to ascertain growth pro-poorness and inclusivity which are key for the achievement of African-union (AU) agenda 2063. The study captures cross-sectional dependence among selected countries which previous studies ignored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between income distribution inequality and inflation is widely discussed in economics. The different concepts of macroeconomic management in various countries have different implications for each country. This paper aims to examine the relationship between inequality in income distribution and inflation. Panel ARDL with semi-annual data from 33 provinces in Indonesia for the period of 2012-2018 is used in this model. The results show that changes in poverty and economic growth are not statistically significant in affecting the changes of income disparity in short run. Inflation is too low, thus it is less effective at encouraging income inequality in Indonesia. In addition, in the long run, inflation does not affect the inequality of income distribution, it is assumed that the benefits of inflation are concentrated in groups of people with high income levels. Moreover, economic growth has negative impact on income inequality and poverty that eventually will aggravate the imbalance in income distribution. Therefore, its is recommended for Indonesia's economy to be directed at increasing inflation to reach the ideal level in order to be able to reduce the imbalance in income distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How do trade reforms impact households in different parts of the income distribution? This paper presents a new database, the Household Impacts of Tariffs data set, which contains harmonized household survey and tariff data for 54 low- and middle-income countries. The data cover highly disaggregated information on household budget and income shares for 53 agricultural products, wage labor income, non-farm enterprise sales and transfers, as well as spending on manufacturing and services. Using a stylized model of the first-order impacts of import tariffs on household real income, this paper quantifies the welfare implications of agricultural trade protection. On average, unilateral elimination of agricultural tariffs would increase household incomes by 2.50 percentage points. Import tariffs have highly heterogeneous effects across countries and within countries across households, consumers, and income earners; the average standard deviation of the gains from trade within a country is 1.01 percentage points. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the effects of mining intensity and presence on Peru's mining districts' welfare from 2004 to 2019. A pooled cross-section regression is used which is constructed from different sources and two sets of comparisons are made: the first compare districts with and without mining presence within mining provinces, and the second compares districts with and without mining presence without the constraint of being within mining provinces. The primary dependent variables included in the model are income inequality, labor income, and poverty rate. In mining districts, inequality has increased, but labor income has increased, and poverty has decreased compared to non-mining districts. However, once control for province-fixed effects and clustered by standard errors at the district level, the significance of inequality is lost, while the impacts on labor income and poverty remain. The transmission mechanisms are human capital, employment, and redistributive policies. Also the mining presence has had positive effects on labor income in other sectors such as construction and commerce; Finally, the labor incomes of unskilled workers increases but not the labor incomes of skilled workers, and it has negatively impacted informal employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Countries around the world are working to develop social protection floors to help reduce poverty. Ensuring workers can earn adequate wages is an important component of social protection floors. In this paper, we explore who receives minimum, poverty, median, and living wages in Jordan, comparing 2010 and 2016, and in Tunisia in 2014. We demonstrate that while the majority of workers do earn at least minimum and poverty wages, only a minority of workers earn a living wage. The chances of earning minimum, poverty, median, and living wages depend on the characteristics of workplaces, specific work characteristics (especially job formality and skills required), and the demographic characteristics of workers. While results are consistent with wages reflecting, in part, workers' productivity, they may also reflect rents, efficiency wages, and for minimum wages issues with enforceability and policy design. These findings highlight which workers are vulnerable to low earnings and where greater enforcement or redesign of minimum wage legislation might be needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research background: Income inequality and poverty attract a lot of attention among politicians, activists as well as scientists, who are trying to find a solution to these socio-economic problems. State intervention is commonly expected in this field, however, there is no agreement about the most efficient methods and instruments, as well as about the scale of public expenditure for the purpose of limiting poverty and inequality. Purpose of the article: The aim of the paper is to specify efficiency of government social spending in reducing problems of poverty and income inequality in the EU countries. Moreover, the attention is paid to changes in the efficiency in a period of the 2007 crisis occurrence and its overcoming and to sources of the changes. Methods: To fulfill the main goal of the paper, the DEA method is used, which enables to compare the social efficiency of the EU countries. The Malmquist index is also calculated and decomposed to identify changes in the efficiency and their sources in the crisis period. Data used in the analyses were obtained from Eurostat and OECD databases and cover the period from 2007 to 2016 year. Findings & Value added: The main findings of the paper shed some light on the differences in social efficiency of government spending in the EU countries. Generally, the countries with a higher level of social spending are also those with lower efficiency in inequality reduction, however, the relationship doesn't appear for poverty alleviation. Thus, the research suggests some substitution between the scale and the efficiency of social spending, at least for the inequality dimension. Moreover, some differences in a social model can be found between the countries of the South and of the North: the countries of the South focus their social policy mainly on inequality reduction, while the Scandinavian countries as well as some other affluent societies direct their public support mainly on poverty alleviation. The research also shows that in the crisis period decreases in efficiency concerned mainly the poverty dimension. It reflects the fact that the poor were the losers of the crisis in favor of the middle classes. The efficiency losses were induced by negative changes in the current usage of public sources, while institutional reforms positively influenced the efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary goal of Liberation Theology is to change the material conditions of marginalised and oppressed groups in society. Within Islamic Liberation Theology, however, issues related to class and economic inequality are notably missing. This paper seeks to begin this conversation and highlight the necessity of addressing economic exploitation, which affects most of the world's population and Muslims disproportionately. Using a praxis-based methodology, it centres the interpretation of activists from Nijjor Manush, a British Bengali activist group, and seeks to understand how Islam is used as a liberative tool to combat class oppression. Through interviews and focus groups, an alternative and revolutionary Islam emerges. Echoing a Marxist understanding of class, it sees exploitation as an inherent part of the current capitalist system and recognises the necessity of people seizing economic power. This overarching objective is the lens through which activism in the here and now is interpreted and tactics decided. Establishing economic justice therefore means trying to secure "non-reformist reforms" in the short term, which resist the logic of capital and secure the interests of the marginalised, while working towards the ultimate goal of ending economic exploitation and, by extension, abolishing class. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to quantify the impact of social or government transfers on income inequality and poverty in South Africa. Design/methodology/approach: A top-down, bottom-up (TD-BU) model which combines an econometrically estimated labor supply model, a detailed tax-benefit module and a computable general equilibrium model is used in order to analyze the impact of government transfers on income inequality and poverty in South Africa. The paper uses a merged South African income and expenditure household survey and labor force survey for the year 2000, and a South African social accounting matrix as the main data sets. Findings: Simulation results suggest that doubling of government transfers lead to a 5.5 percent reduction in poverty if a relative poverty measure is used and a 7 percent reduction if an absolute poverty line is used. In addition, simulation results show differences in poverty and inequality measures between the MS-only model and the linked TD-BU model confirming the importance of linking the two models. Originality/value: The TD-BU approach is important since it explicitly accounts for the following aspects: that labor supply should adjust to changes in the tax-benefit model, general equilibrium effects and the heterogeneity of economic agents. This allows for a richer micro-household modeling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study related the influence of foreign direct investment inflow on income inequality in South Africa. The paper applied the co-integration regression and used the FDI inflow and income inequality data in South Africa for 2005-2015 to determine. Findings from the Augmented Dickey-Fully (ADF) test showed that increase in FDI inflow has (nonetheless not significant) broadened inequality in South Africa during the period of analysis. In addition, a test for a unit root in uhat arising from the Engle-Granger co-integration relationship test applied the Augmented Dickey-Fuller test. The result indicates that, within the time series examined, there is no long-run relationship between income inequality and foreign direct investment inflow to South Africa. The paper recommends that further research should examine likely effect of governance on income inequality by introducing governance variable into the co-integration regression model to see whether democratic governance in South Africa may have contributed in widening income inequality. Further research might also examine the characteristics of foreign direct investment inflow into the country to see whether it possesses certain attributes such as manufacturing FDI, which could create job for local citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ireland has experienced rapid – if volatile – growth over the last three decades. While this performance looks less impressive when considered over a longer horizon and is better seen as belated convergence making up for lost time in the first 50 years of independence, this paper highlights an aspect of the Irish experience that does stand out as quite remarkable: how broad‐based and inclusive growth in household disposable income was. Drawing on over three decades of harmonised household survey data, we first show that income inequality fell substantially over this period, the product of disposable income growth that was stronger at the bottom than the middle or top of the distribution. We then tentatively suggest some important factors that might have contributed towards the patterns of growth experienced – including tax and transfer reforms, a rise in two‐earner couples and a fall in the average size of households – before concluding with some directions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of European Journal of Development Research is the property of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Several scholars have confirmed the role that the welfare state (WS) plays in reducing poverty, promoting equality and ensuring the common wellbeing. One of the limitations of the scholarship has been the conceptualization and operationalization of the WS and poverty as one-dimensional variables. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between welfare state development, single-dimensions deprivations and income inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean, before and after controlling for demographic and cyclical factors. The WS is operationalized as a one-dimensional variable, but also taking into account its multidimensional nature. Three individual deprivations suffered by people on poverty and two income inequality indicators are used as dependent variables. Three pooled time-series cross-section regression analyses with panel-corrected standard errors models were carried out on 18 countries in the region around 2000, 2005 and 2010. This paper shows that the development of social-welfare programs and institutions seems to be an effective way of tackling individual deprivations suffered by people on poverty in the region. On the other hand, the WS development didn't appear to be effective to reduce income inequality. The outcomes of welfare institutions appear to be the pivotal dimension to reduce income inequality and income deprivations in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite having a middle-income status, many South African households are either already in or are about to fall into poverty. The income and wealth distribution in South Africa is among the most uneven in the world, and many households lack even the most basic access to healthcare, clean energy, and clean water. Although it has increased government spending, South Africa's government has made significant steps to combat poverty and inequality and encourage economic growth. Understanding the connection between social investment, poverty, inequality, and economic growth is, therefore, necessary to comprehend the ambiguity that currently prevails. In order to analyze the effects of social investment on poverty and economic growth in South Africa between 1990 and 2020, this paper uses the cointegration technique. The cointegration estimates indicate that there is no correlation between social investment, poverty, inequality, and economic development. According to study findings, South Africa's macroeconomic policies, which seem to be more urban-focused, need to be modified and redirected into inclusive policies with strict constraints to assure their implementation. The transformation of rural and township life will be aided by this plan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global food demand is expected to increase in the next decades, pushing agricultural expansion and deforestation. However, food production in agricultural lands is just one dimension of food security, to which forest goods and services also contribute. In this paper, we aimed to explore the relationship between forest cover and food security. We hypothesized that food security is improved by both human‐made and green infrastructure combined. To test this relationship, we explore the relationships between forest cover and a multidimensional index of food security that included both socioeconomic and natural variables taken from Brazilian official databases for 1141 municipalities of the Brazilian Caatinga (a seasonally tropical dry forest). The index was formed by 12 principal components axes (12 PCs) and we found that financial poverty (PC 1) and economic inequality (PC 2) were the main determinants of food insecurity in Caatinga. We found that lowest food security values were found in two contrasting contexts: one is represented by poor and unequal municipalities with high forest cover while the other refers to poor and less unequal municipalities but with little forest cover. Municipalities with intermediate levels of forest cover had slightly higher food security, a consistent pattern across time (2006–2017). Win–win scenarios where both forest cover and food security increased with time were almost as common as lose–lose situations (25% and 22% respectively). This suggests a sort of balance between forests and human‐made land uses and reinforces that natural capital contributes to food security. Zero‐hunger is a main issue for sustainable development goals, and our results adds to the notion that both sustainable use of forests and socioeconomic improvements must coexist rather than being treated as antagonistic policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The distribution of income in Russia changed significantly over the past 25 years. This paper examines the factors that have been driving the fall in inequality and poverty over two recent decades in the Russian Federation. Changes in earnings from public and private sectors and pensions have been the main sources of changes in the income distribution between 1994 and 2015. Falling inequality and poverty were the result of a decrease in the dispersion of private sector earnings and an increase in the levels of pensions and public sector earnings. Neither the evolution of socio‐demographic characteristics nor the level or structure of employment alone had big impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the link between tourism, economic growth, inequality, and poverty reduction in the five countries of Central America (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua). Design/methodology/approach – The study represents the first application of panel data modeling of poverty, economic growth and inequality as related to Central America. Unbalanced panel data are employed for the five Central America countries for the period 1980-2012. Findings – The findings reveal three results: the relationship between poverty, inequality and economic growth varies relatively very little for different measures of economic growth; the null hypothesis that economic growth and inequality does not matter is rejected at the 1 percent level, and the coefficients are highly significant and with the expected signs; tourism matters for poverty reduction in Central America. Originality/value – The paper represents the first application of panel data modeling poverty, economic growth, inequality, and tourism development in the context of Central America. Additionally, the study puts together the largest number of comparable observations on poverty, income, and income distribution for Central America during the period 1980-2012. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Regional Studies is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Lecturas de Economia is the property of Universidad de Antioquia, Facultad de Ciencias Economicas and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Purpose: A systematic review was undertaken to determine whether research supports: (i) an association between income inequality and adult mental health when measured at the subnational level, and if so, (ii) in a way that supports the Income Inequality Hypothesis (i.e. between higher inequality and poorer mental health) or the Mixed Neighbourhood Hypothesis (higher inequality and better mental health). Methods: Systematic searches of PsycINFO, Medline and Web of Science databases were undertaken from database inception to September 2020. Included studies appeared in English-language, peer-reviewed journals and incorporated measure/s of objective income inequality and adult mental illness. Papers were excluded if they focused on highly specialised population samples. Study quality was assessed using a custom-developed tool and data synthesised using the vote-count method. Results: Forty-two studies met criteria for inclusion representing nearly eight million participants and more than 110,000 geographical units. Of these, 54.76% supported the Income Inequality Hypothesis and 11.9% supported the Mixed Neighbourhood Hypothesis. This held for highest quality studies and after controlling for absolute deprivation. The results were consistent across mental health conditions, size of geographical units, and held for low/middle and high income countries. Conclusions: A number of limitations in the literature were identified, including a lack of appropriate (multi-level) analyses and modelling of relevant confounders (deprivation) in many studies. Nonetheless, the findings suggest that area-level income inequality is associated with poorer mental health, and provides support for the introduction of social, economic and public health policies that ameliorate the deleterious effects of income inequality. Clinical registration number: PROSPERO 2020 CRD42020181507. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is twofold. First, analyze the relationship between inequality, growth and poverty. Second, study the effectiveness of the redistributive system in Morocco through a comparison between primary distribution of income by wages and secondary distribution by transfers. Our results show that growth is not pro-poor and can only reduce poverty if inequality does not increase. This situation is aggravated by non-progressive state transfers, which increase the inequalities in the majority of Moroccan regions. On the other hand, the increase in wages seems to have the opposite effect on inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper estimates the impact of Tunisia's tax and transfer system on inequality and poverty and assesses the benefits from public spending on education and health. Results show that Tunisia's redistributive fiscal policy reduces inequality and extreme poverty significantly. However, based on the national poverty line, the headcount ratio increases, implying that a large number of the poor people pay more in taxes than they receive in cash transfers and subsidies. This is due to a relatively high burden of personal income taxes and social security contributions for low‐income households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the implications for poverty measurement of the observed fact that any individual's level of deprivation is a function not only of his own income, but of the general level of prosperity of the group to which he is affiliated. Individual deprivation functions are specialized to a form that reflects this 'group-affiliation' externality, and the resulting poverty measure is studied with respect to its properties, and its implications for poverty rankings. Mainstream approaches to measuring deprivation tend to neglect group-related externalities in favour of a certain thorough-going 'individualism'. This paper is a preliminary attempt at filling this gap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper performs an assessment and imputation of the benefits produced to the individuals and households well-being by the public services provision. This analysis is very relevant in the current framework of economic crisis of the European economies. Although most of the papers in the literature compare countries, decentralization processes are included in this paper by accounting the effect of public expenditure on regional health care and education upon the levels of inequality and rates of poverty in each Spanish region. This case is relevant because of the high decentralization degree of the Spanish political structure and the persistent regional disparities. The results show a clear downward tendency in both phenomena following imputation, although education shows a greater impact. Furthermore, a decomposition, used in this context for the first time, of the effects shows the very relevant redistributive effect of this public expenditure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A key aspect defining the contemporary income distribution is the (increasing) share the top holds compared to the rest. This paper shows that income concentration increases towards the very top of the distribution, while the shares the middle- and upper-middle-income groups hold remain stable across countries and over time. Traditional indicators less sensitive to changes at the extremes of the distribution might obscure inequality's actual dimension, and thereby help perpetuate it. To avoid this, the present paper discusses a complementary indicator for the measurement of inequality: The ratio of the income share of the top 5% over that of the bottom 40%. The indicator is denominated Palma v.2, in reference to the recently suggested "Palma ratio" dividing the income share of the top 10% income earners by those at the bottom 40%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivated by the increasing importance of housing wealth, the paper reviews the debate about the inclusion of housing in social indicators. The review identifies the availability of two different approaches: the inclusion of imputed rent and the deduction of housing expenses from disposable income. The advantages and disadvantages of different measurement methods are discussed from the point of view of different policy aims (poverty and tax analyses). This study uses 2010 EU-SILC data and provides an assessment of the impact of the housing situation of households on relative poverty and inequality and corresponding transition matrices into and out of poverty, according to the two approaches for measuring the housing situation. The results show that relative income poverty and inequality decrease if imputed rent is taken into account, while they increase if housing expenses are considered. The paper suggests that the deduction of housing expenses provides a better measure of relative poverty, while avoiding most measurement problems. The use of the capital market approach for the estimation of imputed rent would improve the assessment of the redistributive effect of taxes. The analysis and comparison of both approaches provides useful suggestions on the distributional effect of housing in different housing systems. Finally, the paper concludes with some remarks on housing-related variables and measurement issues for the construction of better social indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper tests the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on income inequality in a panel of 16 African countries from 1980 to 2013. We controlled for both non-linear effects and heterogeneity by using a Pooled Mean Group estimator. There is robust evidence that the relationship is non-linear and we document a U-shaped effect of FDI on inequality. The results reveal that FDI increases equality of distribution of income in the countries examined. However, this effect diminishes with further increases in FDI. Policy implications emanating from this study suggest that although FDI may be growth enhancing, FDI-induced growth may not necessarily translate into a reduction in inequality. FDI has to be structured in such way that the resulting skill-biased employed is mitigated. To address inequality, policy implications from this study imply that FDI has to target both ends of the labour market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polarization is an interesting additional social indicator for analyzing income distribution across countries, as it captures the phenomenon of ;clustering around extreme poles'. Income polarization can be closely linked to social exclusion, which is relevant for EU social policy, because combatting social exclusion is a central element of the Lisbon Agenda and the Europe 2020 Strategy. Rising income polarization has been observed outside Europe, but within the EU, polarization is relatively unexplored. This paper provides theoretical insights into this relatively new dimension of income distribution and analyzes trends in income polarization in 28 EU countries and 3 non-EU countries, using micro-data from EU-SILC over the period 2004-2012. Income polarization is rather stable over this period in European countries, and Europe-wide. It was rising among the old EU15 countries in the sub-period 2004-2008, but declining afterwards. The opposite development is witnessed for New Member States. Despite the Great Recession we find quite stable income polarization in Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Argumenta Oeconomica Cracoviensia is the property of Cracow University of Economics and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this paper, we examine the impact of the economic crisis and the policy reaction on inequality and relative poverty in four European countries: France, Germany, Ireland and the UK. The period examined, 2008-13, was one of great economic turmoil, yet it is unclear whether changes in inequality and poverty rates over this time period were mainly driven by changes in market income distributions or by tax-benefit policy reforms. We disentangle these effects by producing counterfactual ('no reform') scenarios using tax-benefit microsimulation and representative household surveys for each country. For the first stage of the Great Recession, we find that the policy reaction contributed to stabilising or even decreasing inequality and relative poverty in the UK, France and, especially, Ireland. Market income changes nonetheless pushed up inequality and relative poverty in France. Relative poverty increased in Germany as a result of policy responses combined with market income changes. Subsequent policy reforms, in the later stage of the crisis, had markedly different cross-country effects, decreasing overall poverty in France, increasing it in Ireland, and giving mixed effects for different subgroups in Germany and the UK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the measurement of social welfare, poverty, and inequality, taking into account features that have been found to be important welfare determinants in behavioral economics. Most notably, we incorporate reference-dependence, loss aversion, and diminishing sensitivity-aspects emphasized in Prospect Theory-to social welfare measurement. We suggest a new notion of equivalent income, the income level with which the individual would be as well off, evaluated using a standard concave utility function, as he actually is, evaluated with a reference-dependent utility function. We examine the differences between standard poverty and inequality measures based on observed income and measures that are calculated based on equivalent income. These differences are illustrated using household-level panel data from Russia and Vietnam. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Demographic transition due to population aging is an emerging trend throughout the developing world, and it is especially acute in China, which has undergone demographic transition more rapidly than have most industrial economies. This paper quantifies the distributional effects in the context of demographic transition using an integrated recursive dynamic computable general equilibrium model with top-down behavioral microsimulation. The results of the poverty and inequality index indicate that population aging has a negative impact on the reduction of poverty while its impact is positive with regard to equality. In addition, elderly rural households are experiencing the most serious poverty, and their inequality problems compared with other household groups and within-group inequality worsen with demographic transition. These findings not only advance the previous literature but also deserve particular attention from Chinese policy-makers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The EU-wide survey ' Statistics on Income and Living Conditions' ( EU- SILC) is extremely important for international social science research and policy advice. It is therefore crucial to ensure that the data are of the highest quality and international comparability. This paper is aimed at identifying unexpected developments in income levels, income mobility, and inequality in the EU- SILC data between 2005 and 2009. We examine the consistency of EU- SILC by comparing cross-sectional results with findings based on two-year longitudinal samples. Although the data represent similar populations, for several countries the results of this comparison differ widely. One important outcome is the high degree of variability over time in countries that obtain their income information from register data. This suggests methodological challenges in the clear designation of new subsample members, in the reweighting of the data, in imputation of missing values, and in other areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We simulate the short- and long-term distributional consequences of COVID-19 in the four largest Latin American economies: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico. We show that the short-term impact on income inequality and poverty can be very significant, but that additional spending on social assistance more than offsets the effect in Brazil. The offsetting effect is significant in Argentina and Colombia and nil in Mexico, where there has been no such expansion. We find that a universal basic income that would have produced the same reduction in the poverty gap as actual policies would have cost slightly more but would have benefited the poor (the nonpoor) slightly less (more). To project the longterm consequences, we estimate the impact of the pandemic on school achievement and its intergenerational persistence. We use information on school closures, educational mitigation policies, and account for educational losses related to health shocks and parental job loss. Our findings show that in all four countries the impact is strongly asymmetric and affects particularly the high-school completion rates of children from disadvantaged families. Our simulations suggest that mitigation policies seem to have a minor impact on containing these negative effects. [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]

The paper looks at the change, the level and the structure of income distribution and distribution of consumption possibilities at the individual and at the household level between the years 1979 and 2000. I also pay attention to the development of low incomes when the concept of income is expanded to include a monetary measurement of household production. The paper uses Time Use Data, collected by Statistics Finland in 1979, 1987-1988 and 1999-2000. I find that consumption possibilities are more equally distributed than money income. Household production increases the consumption possibilities of all income groups but its effect is most significant in the low income decile groups. As a share of consumption possibilities, household production forms a significantly more important part for low income households than for high income households. By looking at consumption possibilities we can see a different distribution of economic well-being compared to distribution offered by money income measurement alone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to explore the linkage between poverty and inequality in malnutrition through decomposition analysis using data from the National Family Health Survey-3 (NFHS-3) conducted in 2005-2006. Association between inequality in malnutrition and income inequality and poverty is observed at the state level. Inequality is analysed using the concentration index, which is further decomposed to identify the factors associated with inequality in malnutrition. Poverty, in terms of the wealth index, has considerable impact on average rates of malnutrition, indicating a disproportional burden of malnutrition on the poor. At the macro-economic level, overall socio-economic inequality correlates moderately with the inequality in malnutrition. On decomposition, poverty alone explains more than half of the inequality in malnutrition, which justifies the poverty-nutrition inequality linkage. The paper highlights the influence of poverty in worsening malnutrition, leading to unequal nutritional outcomes among children in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the pattern of poverty, growth and inequality in Ethiopia in the recent decade. The result shows that growth, to a large extent depends on structural factors such as initial conditions, vagaries of nature, external shocks and peace and stability both in Ethiopia and in the region. Using a rich household panel data, the paper also shows that there is a strong correlation between growth and inequality. In such set up, the effect of implementing a pro-poor growth strategy, compared to allowing the status quo to prevail, can be quite dramatic. On the basis of realistic assumptions, the paper shows that from a baseline in 2000 of a 30 per cent poverty share, over 10 years at growth of 4 per cent per capita, poverty would decline from 44 to 26 per cent for distribution neutral growth (DNG) (i.e. no change in the aggregate income distribution). In contrast, were the growth increment distributed equally across percentiles (equally distributed gains of growth, EDG), the poverty would decline by over half, to 15 per cent, a difference of almost eleven percentage points. Thus, ‘distribution matters’, even, or especially in a poor country like Ethiopia. On the basis of these results the paper outlines policies that could help to design a sustainable pro-poor growth strategy. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates dynamic effects of remittances on households' poverty and income distribution. Using state-of-the-art matching techniques, we measure impacts based on counterfactual scenarios, and make a step forward by applying for the first time a dose-response function approach to assess poverty effects due to variations in the time-length of receiving remittances. Our results suggest that remittances alleviate both absolute and relative poverty levels and lead to a marginal increase in inequality in the case of Kosovo. We further demonstrate that – although poverty reduction effects are stronger in the short-run – remittances have a positive poverty reduction effect over time. These findings have important welfare policy implications for low- and middle income economies with a high dependency on remittances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Income distribution measures obtained from standard household income surveys are usually published with a significant delay, of about 2 years. In this paper we propose a methodology for obtaining timelier indicators using the Italian Labour Force Survey (ILFS), a database which collects detailed information not only on individuals' labour market status, but also on their households and wages. We develop a framework to estimate household labour income and we use it to construct distributional indicators that are available 1 year and half before the standard measures. After discussing the limitations of our approach, we show that the ILFS-based indicators closely track those calculated on standard household income surveys. The suggested indicators are not meant to substitute standard income measures but can offer up-to-date information, with the aim of better monitoring the distributional impact of changing macroeconomic conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses a previously unused source of data – the All Media and Product Survey (AMPS) – to arrive at alternative estimates of the post-transition poverty path. The motivations for using this non-official data source are twofold: concern over the comparability of the existing official post-transition datasets – the Income and Expenditure Survey (IES) and Population Census – and a desire to extend analysis of poverty trends beyond 2001. While official data sources are generally preferred for purposes of poverty analysis, the IES and Census collect data at long (5 or 10 year) intervals, and additional years pass before these datasets become available to the public. In some cases there is also concern about data comparability between surveys. The expenditure data contained in the General Household Survey are available annually, although data are captured in a small number of categories that are not very conducive to analysis at the lower end of the income distribution. Analysis on AMPS data confirms the large decline in poverty implied by an increase of R18 billion (in 2000 Rand) in social grant payments between 2000 and 2004. The direction of this trend is consistent with recent research findings based on more frequently analysed data sources, including the work done by Agüero, Carter and May (2005), Seekings (2006 ) and Meth (2006 ). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We estimate the impact of mitigation goals on future poverty and inequality trends. • Stringent mitigation plans may slowdown poverty reduction in developing countries. • Global poverty in 2030 is estimated to be 4% higher than in the baseline scenario. • A minor and heterogeneous effect is detectable on income distribution. • Climate transfers have a positive effect, but do not offset total poverty increase. The paper investigates potential synergies and trade-offs between emission reduction policies and sustainable development objectives. Specifically, it provides an ex-ante assessment that the impacts of the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), submitted under the Paris Agreement, will have on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of poverty eradication (SDG1) and reduced income inequality (SDG10). Through this research we aim at answering the following questions: does mitigation policy always imply a trade-off with development objectives? If this is the case, what is the magnitude of the effect of the new international climate architecture on poverty and inequality? By combining an empirical analysis with a modelling exercise, the paper estimates the future trends of poverty prevalence and inequality across countries in a reference scenario and under a climate mitigation policy with alternative revenue recycling schemes. Our study finds that a full implementation of the emission reduction contributions, stated in the NDCs, is projected to slow down the effort to reduce poverty by 2030 (+4.2% of the population below the poverty line compared to the baseline scenario), especially in countries that have proposed relatively more stringent mitigation targets and suffer higher policy costs. Conversely, the impact of climate policy on inequality shows opposite sign but remains very limited. If financial support for mitigation action in developing countries is provided through an international climate fund, the prevalence of poverty will be slightly reduced at the aggregate level, but the country-specific effect depends on the relative size of funds flowing to beneficiary countries and on their economic structure. The output of our analysis contributes to the emerging literature on the linkages between climate change policy and sustainable development, although we capture only partially the complex system of interrelations and feedbacks proper of the SDGs. Moreover, due to its policy relevance, it further enriches the debate on the implementation of the Paris Agreement and its climate finance tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using time series data for Portugal between 1973 and 2016, this paper examines to what extent, inward FDI contributes to income inequality and poverty in the long-run. It was found that increased flows of inward FDI are associated with a less unequal income distribution and lower poverty rates. The results further suggest that, in the Portuguese case there is mutual causality between inward FDI and poverty in the long run, i.e., FDI significantly reduces poverty, and lower levels of poverty lead to higher inward FDI flows. In the case of inequality, the evidence shows that FDI does not contribute to higher (or lower) income inequality. Instead, more unequal income distributions significantly and negatively impact on inward FDI in the long run. Finally, human capital emerged as a key determinant to mitigate income inequality and circumvent poverty, contributing, indirectly, to fostering additional FDI inflows. Such results call for integrated public policy interventions that emphasize social and institutional dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the 1980s and 1990s fertility decisions varied significantly and not uniformly along the income distribution in Argentina. In this paper we study the effects of these demographic changes on income poverty and inequality by applying microeconometric decomposition techniques. In particular, we simulate the equivalized household income distribution that would emerge if individuals observed in a given base year had taken fertility decisions as they did in another different year. The results suggest that these demographic factors have contributed considerably to the changes in poverty and inequality experienced by Argentina since the 1980s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this study was to empirically examine the influence of globalization on income inequality in Nigeria from 1986 to 2021. The income inequality was represented by the Gini coefficient while globalization was measured by key indices like foreign direct investment, remittances, and trade openness. With the use of the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach which was as a result of the stationary of our series at levels and first difference as reported by the Augmented Dickey-Fuller unit root test, the study observed that a long-run relationship exists amid inequality and measures of globalization. In the short-run, it was realized that foreign direct investment, remittances, trade openness, and urbanization aided in reducing income inequality in the short-run while inflation accelerated income inequality within the study period. In the long-run, the only measure of globalization that significantly reduce income inequality is remittances; while foreign direct investment significantly increased income inequality in the long-run. the paper concluded that it is not inevitable that measures of globalization have different influence on inequality of income and wealth depending on time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]