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Reducing inequality has been the main focus of every country. This study is an attempt to measure consumption expenditure inequality in Pakistan by focusing on food and non-food components. The study uses secondary data to cover surveys from 2005-06 till 2018-19 using decomposed data taken from Household integrated expenditure survey of Pakistan. Gini coefficient has been used to measure inequality. The study finds fluctuating trends in inequality. Overall both food and non-food consumption inequality has slightly decreased but overall food consumption expenditure inequality increased in 2018-19 when we compared the results with year 2015-16. Food consumption inequality remain higher in rural areas compared to urban areas of the country. Whereas non-food consumption inequality was high in urban areas compared to rural areas of the country.

This paper deals with global imbalances as an increasingly important issue in our age. While the literature establishes that current accounts are inversely related to the ratio of income to consumption inequality in OECD, our study finds that this relationship is reversed in Asia. That ratio has much to do with various schemes of consumption smoothing, which are affected by policy interventions to alleviate the effects of rising income inequality. Different policies may generate opposite outcomes. In OECD, policy encourages consumer credit and deficit spending among low-income people so that consumption inequality is kept artificially low, leading up to a current account deficit. In Asia, policy promotes output growth via high savings with no well-developed smoothing schemes designed to help poor households, so that consumption inequality moves in line with income inequality, with excess savings recycled into a current account surplus. Hence, any reduction in global imbalances requires both regions to adjust their policies for mitigating income inequality and optimizing smoothing schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While food security in Vietnam has significantly improved in recent decades, many urbanites still rely on private food charities. Meanwhile, growing food safety concerns have been studied with a strong focus on emerging middle classes, whereas socio-economic precarity connected to food safety has attracted less attention. Drawing on ethnographic research conducted in food charities in Ho Chi Minh City, this article examines how symbolic and spatial boundaries perpetuate power imbalances within charities and affect patrons' food safety practices. It challenges the narrative that caring about food safety is limited to affluent consumers, instead highlighting the structural constraints that prevent people in urban poverty from acting upon food safety concerns, including (1) power imbalances within food charities and (2) lack of overall food security. The research shows the limitations of food charities in establishing long-term food security for socio-economically marginalised citizens and of a governmental food safety approach emphasising consumer 'choice'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reducing inequality has been the main focus of every country. This study is an attempt to measure consumption expenditure inequality in Pakistan by focusing on food and non-food components rather than income, as consumption is considered a better approach to measure inequality. Inequality was measured based on income in past but very few studies focused on consumption approach and no such study was conducted for the given time period. The study uses secondary data to cover surveys from 2005-06 till 2018-19 using decomposed data taken from Household integrated expenditure survey of Pakistan. Gini coefficient has been used to measure inequality. The study finds fluctuating trends in inequality. Overall both food and non-food consumption inequality has slightly decreased but overall food consumption expenditure inequality increased in 2018-19 when we compared the results with year 2015-16. Food consumption inequality remain higher in rural areas compared to urban areas of the country. Whereas non-food consumption inequality was high in urban areas compared to rural areas of the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One way inflation affects consumption inequality is through its varying impact on the purchasing power of different households. Indirect taxes, which affect commodity price levels, are another effective factor influencing consumption inequality. Turkey is a highly unequal country with a long history of high inflation. Moreover, indirect taxes have been used frequently as a policy tool in the last decades. This study develops a novel approach to examining the relative contributions of household inflation rates and indirect tax changes to real consumption inequality and applies it to the case of Turkey. The analysis is carried out using both household‐level data and artificial panel data created to apply the Shapley and Owen decomposition methods. The findings roughly can be summarized in two points. First, while nominal consumption during the 2003–2019 period became more equal, real consumption inequality increased as a result of price changes during that time. Variations in household inflation rates are the primary source of increased inequality. Second, changes in indirect taxes account for 31% to 68% of the unequalizing effect of price changes, depending on the method used. Results imply that monetary and indirect tax policy mix have been in favor of the rich in this period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issue of population aging and imbalanced urban–rural development are two major economic realities and difficulties in China. They constitute important factors affecting the sustainable development of urban and rural areas. The main objective of this study is to analyze the impact of population aging on the consumption levels of urban and rural residents, including overall and subdivided. The secondary objective is to analyze whether this impact has spatial spillover effects so that the bias caused by ignoring the mutual influence between regions could be eliminated. We used global and local Moran's I, the spatial SLM model, and the SEM model to econometrically analyze the provincial panel data of urban and rural areas obtained from 2010 to 2021. This study found that, first, the distributions of the total consumption and population aging levels of Chinese urban and rural areas are not random and all have obvious spatial dependence characteristics. More specifically, all distributions present significant H-H or L-L clustering phenomena in local space. In other words, high-level areas are surrounded by high-level areas, while low-level areas are surrounded by low-level areas. Second, population aging has a significant negative impact on the overall consumption levels of urban residents and positively increases the consumption level of rural residents, which indicates that population aging will eliminate the urban–rural consumption gap and balance regional economic development to a certain extent. Third, from the perspective of consumption structure, the negative impact of population aging on different consumption expenditure items of urban residents varies, and the effect on various consumption expenditure items of rural residents also shows heterogeneity. Fourth, in terms of the spatial spillover effect, the influence of population aging on the consumption level of urban residents has a significant negative spatial spillover effect; however, in the rural group, the spatial spillover effect caused by the population aging level on the consumption level is not significant. This study provides a new spatial perspective for studying aging and urban–rural consumption inequality behavior, and serves as a reference for the government to further promote the sustainable development of urban–rural consumption in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyzes the urban-rural, littoral-inland, as well as metropolitan-nonmetropolitan inequalities across the entire welfare distribution. It draws on micro-data from two nationally representative surveys to investigate the structure and dynamics of regional consumption inequality in Tunisia. The analysis covers the five years before the 2011's revolution. It reveals low and stable levels of welfare inequality between inland and littoral regions, but high and growing inequalities along rural–urban and nonmetropolitan-metropolitan lines. Consistent with earlier studies, these results shed light on an urban and metropolitan bias. Regional inequalities are found to be much higher at the top end and the bottom than at the middle of the welfare distribution in both 2005 and 2010. Using the unconditional quantile decomposition, we decompose the distributional welfare differentials among different regions into endowment effects, explained by differences in households' demographic and general characteristics and return effects attributable to unequal returns to these covariates. We find that differences in households' endowments such as demographic composition, standards of living, and human capital, dominate the return effects and contribute more to the regional disparities throughout the welfare distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consumption inequality is a matter of great concern. However, measurement error always appears when doing so. To handle this, this paper uses a method based on Engel expenditure elasticity proposed by Aguiar and Bils. The results show that consumption inequality in rural China based on Engel expenditure elasticity is smaller than the income inequality and consumption inequality calculated by the ratio of high-income to low-income households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We document a decline in the frequency of shopping trips in the United States since 1980 and consider its implications for the measurement of consumption inequality. A decline in shopping frequency as households stock up on storable goods (i.e., inventory behavior) will lead to a rise in expenditure inequality when the latter is measured at high frequency, even when underlying consumption inequality is unchanged. We find that most of the recently documented rise in expenditure inequality in the United States since the 1980s can be accounted for by this phenomenon. Using detailed micro data on spending, which we link to data on club/warehouse store openings, we directly attribute much of the reduced frequency of shopping trips to the rise in club/warehouse stores. (JEL D12, D31, D63, D91, E21)

[Display omitted] • The role of consumption inequality for carbon neutrality is examined. • Two step system GMM is used. • Equity-pollution dillema exists. • Natural resource rents and technological innovation increase GHG emission. The theory of equity pollution dilemma suggests that income redistribution causes environmental pollution. However, little research has been done to test the validity of the equity-pollution dilemma hypothesis on a global scale. Hence, the objective of this study is to examine how reducing consumption inequality imposes environmental burden in the form of greenhouse gas intensity across the world. The choice of the other variables such as natural resource rents and technological innovation also based on the previous empirical works. We consider 61 countries based on the availability of data and divide the countries into different income groups according to the World Bank classification. We use several other independent variables such as quality of governance, climate change mitigation law and access to electricity. We apply two-step system GMM technique for the full sample and one step system GMM for the income groups. The results depict that reducing consumption inequality increases GHG emissions all over the world. Natural resource rents and technological innovation helps to increase GHG emission. On the other hand, access to electricity has a negative impact on GHG emissions, whereas climate change mitigation law has an opposite impact on GHG emission intensity. The results vary for the income groups. Policy implications are suggested based on the outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consumption inequality may impede economic development and hinder the achievement of common prosperity. Using three waves of the China Family Panel Studies from 2014 to 2018, this paper investigated the impact of e‐commerce on consumption inequality, as measured by the Kakwani index. The results indicate that e‐commerce can reduce household consumption inequality. A mechanism analysis shows that e‐commerce can narrow household income inequality, increase the purchasing power of low‐income households, and promote the consumption of households with limited access to offline markets, thereby reducing the consumption gap. A heterogeneity analysis suggests that the positive role of e‐commerce in reducing consumption inequality can be more significant among vulnerable households, such as households with elderly members and less‐educated households. E‐commerce can have varying impacts on consumption inequality across different subcategories of household expenditure, with the greatest impact seen in entertainment and education expenditure. These findings provide new evidence for the role of e‐commerce in reducing consumption inequality in the digital economy, and the implications of this are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What transmission channels drive the effect of monetary policy on consumption inequality? This paper investigates this question with tractable Two‐Agent New Keynesian models with search‐and‐matching frictions and wage rigidities. I make a distinction between credit‐constrained households and unconstrained households and find that an expansionary monetary policy shock decreases consumption inequality between those two households through three channels: (i) the income composition channel, through fluctuations in labor and profit income; (ii) the savings redistribution channel, through fluctuations in real interest rate; and (iii) the earnings heterogeneity channel, through fluctuations in unemployment. The results are in line with the empirical evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study analyses household consumption and income inequality using two levels; varying-intercept and varying-slope hierarchical linear model (HLM). The findings revealed higher levels of average consumption and income among urban as compared to rural households. On average, urban households face higher inequality in both income and consumption than rural households. Consumption dispersion is also much closer to income dispersion in rural stratum than urban strata. The novelty of the current study is the analysis of strata estimates deviations from overall National Panel Survey (NPS) sample estimates using two levels HLM. However, the application of more than two levels HLM that includes other socio-economic factors will significantly impact the methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we investigate the effect of digital finance inclusion (DFI) on household consumption inequality in China. Based on the biennial panel data of China Household Finance Survey from 2015 to 2017 and the county-level DFI index, we empirically analyze the impact of DFI on consumption inequality by using fixed effect model. We find that the development of DFI can significantly reduce the consumption inequality among residents. This is partly because DFI can reduce the income inequality among residents. And the development of DFI has different marginal impact on consumption expenditure for different residents, thus leading to the reduction of the residents consumption gap. We also find that, compared to the extensive usage and the degree of digitization, the intensive usage of DFI has larger effects on lowering consumption inequality. In addition, the effects of DFI on consumption inequality have significant heterogeneity, and they are relatively larger for residents in eastern regions, and for households with low debt-to-income ratios and for individuals with compulsory education. Therefore, it is necessary to attach importance to supporting construction in the western region when coordinating the development of digital inclusive finance. It is important to strengthen policy preference for residents with lower education levels in terms of school compulsory education and community public welfare education. Meanwhile, when developing the digital financial inclusion, we should focus on controlling the household debt-to-income ratio to prevent excessive debt growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reexamines the cyclical behaviors of price markup, profits, and labor share when responding to monetary and fiscal policy shocks in a two‐agent, two‐branch, and two‐sector model. We show that this framework is able to generate procyclical price markup and profits, and countercyclical labor share conditional on expansionary policy shocks. These results are in line with empirical evidences but at odds with the prediction of canonical New Keynesian models. As the share of nondurables in total production decreases, the results reverse. This finding implies expansionary monetary and fiscal policies widen the income inequality between Ricardian households and collateral‐constrained households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the effects of monetary policy shocks on—and their historical contribution to—consumption and income inequality in the United States since 1980 as measured by the Consumer Expenditure Survey. Contractionary monetary policy systematically increases inequality in labor earnings, total income, consumption and total expenditures. Furthermore, monetary policy shocks account for a non-trivial component of the historical cyclical variation in income and consumption inequality. Using detailed micro-level data on income and consumption, we document some of the different channels via which monetary policy shocks affect inequality, as well as how these channels depend on the nature of the change in monetary policy.

We study the effects of monetary policy shocks on—and their historical contribution to—consumption and income inequality in the United States since 1980 as measured by the Consumer Expenditure Survey. Contractionary monetary policy systematically increases inequality in labor earnings, total income, consumption and total expenditures. Furthermore, monetary policy shocks account for a non-trivial component of the historical cyclical variation in income and consumption inequality. Using detailed micro-level data on income and consumption, we document some of the different channels via which monetary policy shocks affect inequality, as well as how these channels depend on the nature of the change in monetary policy.

The role of economic uncertainty on macroeconomic fluctuations has been studied extensively in the empirical literature; however, its distributional effects have received little attention. This paper attempts to fill this gap by investigating whether macroeconomic uncertainty affects income, wage, and consumption inequality in the United Kingdom. Our findings suggest that measures of inequality fall significantly to a macroeconomic uncertainty shock. Households in the middle and right tail of the income distribution appear to be more adversely affected relative to ones in the left tail. Income composition and households indebtedness explain a large part of the heterogeneous response. Uncertainty also appears to account significantly for the variation of income and consumption inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Economic Science / Jingji Kexue is the property of Economic Science Editorial Office 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.)

This paper uses a dataset of 75 countries covering 1960-2010 to examine whether foreign aid has any effect on consumption inequality. The variable of assistance is split into grants and loans – the central hypothesis being different non-linear impact of each on inequality – with the impact of loans being hump-shaped and grants “U”-shaped. The results corroborate the direction and the type of impact that foreign assistance has on inequality. In addition, the outcomes for quartile data subsets show that the relationships between foreign assistance and inequality differ depending on a country’s GDP per capita. However, the hypothesis regarding the influence of coup d’états hasn’t been confirmed.

In this paper, we study the distributional effect of a progressive wealth tax. We show that there exists a threshold level below which raising the upper bound of the tax rate reduces inequality of wealth and consumption in the long run. Such a threshold increases when the difference between the rate of return on wealth and the growth rate, r − g , and the level of wealth inequality relative to that of labour income inequality rise. The room for raising the tax progressivity to reduce inequality is restricted if r − g falls and labour income inequality rises relatively to wealth inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops a simple theoretical model and offers empirical evidence of urban segregation on consumption inequality between rural‐to‐urban migrants and urban residents. Our analyses are based on the 2007 China Household Income Project (CHIP) and the 2017 China Migrants Dynamics Survey (CMDS) data. Results obtained from propensity score matching and 2SLS methods show that urban segregation caused by the hukou system leads to significant consumption inequality between rural‐to‐urban migrants and urban residents. Hukou conversion matters for improving migrants' consumption, but when or how hukou was transferred makes little difference. Besides, we find that the disparity in consumption between rural‐to‐urban migrants and urban residents is more prominent in the higher‐income group or in cities with stricter restrictions on hukou conversion. Finally, our results are robust to a series of sensitivity checks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Does disparity in income and consumption incite terrorism in Africa? To answer this important question, we investigate the empirical linkages between inequality and terrorism by separately regressing income and consumption inequalities on four indicators of terrorism: domestic, transnational, unclear, and total over the period 1980–2012. Employing a negative binomial regression across a panel dataset covering 46 African economies, the following findings are established. First, both income and consumption inequalities have decreasing impacts on all terrorism measures—with the exception of uncertain terrorism (the impact of which is negligible). Second, both income and consumption inequalities exert more statistical influence on transnational terrorism than domestic terrorism. Third, income inequality exerts more statistical weight on terrorism measures than consumption inequality across the model specifications. Last, the non-trivial impact of confounding variables—such as the lagged value of terrorism, surface areas, and conflicts—are validated across the terrorism models. In line with these empirical outcomes, policy implications and suggestions for further studies are offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents estimates of multidimensional household inequality in Australia from 2001 to 2017. Earnings inequality declines through the sample, while disposable income, non-durable consumption expenditures, food expenditures and net worth inequality exhibit relatively flat trends. The relatively flat trend for non-durable expenditures inequality, even over the life cycle, suggests households insure consumption against idiosyncratic shocks. Standard regression estimates of consumption growth against income shocks confirm this finding. Quantile regression estimates indicate households experiencing negative (positive) consumption growth have more sensitivity to negative (positive) income shocks than households with positive (negative) consumption growth, but coefficient estimates have small magnitudes, confirming standard tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work shows that the U.S.-Sino diverse links between income and consumption inequality have to do with their different development levels and policy orientations. Foreign trade, financial markets, and capital flows are used for consumption smoothing in the U.S. but for economic growth in China. Other smoothing schemes are better developed in the U.S. than in China. As a result, income and consumption inequalities are linked loosely in the U.S. burdened with an external deficit but closely in China faced with a persist surplus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the effect of agricultural productivity and other macroeconomic variables on consumption inequality in Nigeria. The ARDL approach to cointegration and error correction modeling was employed for the analysis. The study found that agricultural productivity and domestic investment reduce consumption inequality in the long run. FDI was also found to be associated with reduction in consumption inequality in the short run, but its long run effect was not statistically significant. Based on the evidence, the study recommends as measure to reduce consumption inequality in the country, increased investment in the agriculture sector to enhance its productivity, and improvement in the investment environment through infrastructural development, including energy, road, telecommunication infrastructure, favourable, tax policies, enhanced national security, etc. to encourage domestic investment and enhance the attractiveness of the economy to FDI.

Growing research shows that information technology accelerates economic growth and development, but the effect of Internet penetration on inequality is less well documented, especially about consumption inequality. On the one hand, Internet lowers transaction costs and offers equal access to online products especially beneficial for remote and poor populations, seemingly reducing inequality. On the other hand, uneven access to the Internet may increase divergences. This study examines the relationship between Internet penetration and consumption inequality. Using data from 155 counties available from 2010 to 2016 China Family Panel Studies, this study examines whether Internet penetration potentially impacts consumption inequality considering regional heterogeneity. Based on fixed‐effect models and the two‐stage least squares regressions, results suggest the Internet penetration may increase consumption inequality measured by the Gini index. Furthermore, higher education and over a certain Internet penetration rate buffer the positive impact of the Internet. In some cases, the Internet has smaller positive or even negative impacts on consumption inequality in regions with higher education levels and over threshold penetrations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the 1990s, social structure of accumulation (SSA) theorists identified the solidification of a neoliberal SSA that included a capital-citizen accord based on 'managing the discontent of the losers'. This created social stability by reconciling working households to material hardships emanating from the neoliberal labour market by means of either coercion or non-economic distraction. This paper argues that there was, in fact, a material basis to the neoliberal capital-citizen accord, including the ability of households to accumulate debt in order to limit the growth of consumption inequality arising from burgeoning income inequality. The material basis of the capital-citizen accord broke down during the financial crisis of 2007–2009, destabilizing the accord itself. The result is that the neoliberal SSA is now threatened by rising populism. The outcomes of this process are highly uncertain – a key characteristic of the periods of inter regnum that separate successful SSAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we look at the evolution of consumption and wage inequality from 1980 to 2016 in the US. We use data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey (CEX) and the Current Population Survey (CPS) to look at differences in consumption and wages across groups in the population defined by educational attainment of the household head and year‐of‐birth cohort. We show that the results obtained by Attanasio and Davis (1996) for non‐durable consumption still hold in more recent decades. In addition to non‐durable consumption and services, we look at inequality measured in terms of expenditure on and stock of vehicles. The advantages of looking at these measures are that information on cars is typically measured more accurately than other components of expenditure and consumers are more likely to react by adjusting their stock of vehicles on the basis of long‐term expectations about their economic prospects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Digital finance reduces consumption inequality in rural areas. • Impact of digital finance on reducing developmental consumption inequality. • Digital finance mitigates consumption inequality by addressing income inequality. The advent of digital finance has mitigated financial constraints for residents in rural areas, offering a new avenue to reduce consumption inequality. This paper examines the relationship between the use of digital finance and consumption inequality based on data from the China Household Finance Survey. The results reveal that digital finance has a negative effect on consumption inequality, with a more significant impact on reducing developmental consumption inequality for families. The estimations of testing the potential mechanisms indicate that digital finance mitigates income disparities and heightens risk preferences, thereby reducing consumption inequality among rural residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inequality of opportunity is defined as the difference in individuals' outcome systematically correlated with morally irrelevant pre-determined circumstances, such as ethnicity, socio-economic background, area of birth. This definition has been extensively studied by economists on the assumption that, in addition to being normatively undesirable, it can be related to low potentials for growth. However, empirical estimations of inequality of opportunity require accessing rich data sources, rarely available in poorer countries. In this paper, we exploit 13 consumption household surveys to evaluate inequality of opportunity in 10 Sub-Saharan African countries. According to our results, the portion of total inequality that can be attributed to exogenous circumstances is between 40% and 56% for the generality of countries. Our estimates are significantly higher than what has been found by previous studies. We detect a positive association between total consumption inequality and inequality of opportunity, and we study the different sources of unequal opportunities. The place of birth and the education of the father appear to exert the most relevant role in shaping inequality of opportunity in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the pro‐poor bias of trade policy in India by estimating the household welfare effects of removing the current protection structure. The elimination of a pro‐poor trade policy is expected to have a negative differential welfare effect at the low end of the distribution. The paper first constructs trade restrictiveness indexes for household consumption items and industries using both tariffs and non‐tariff barriers. The results indicate that Indian trade policy is regressive through the expenditure channel as it disproportionately raises the cost of consumption for poorer households, while it is progressive through the earnings channel. Based on the net welfare effects, the elimination of the current trade protection structure is estimated to reduce inequality. These results indicate that a trade policy that is progressive through the earnings channel may induce a price effect that is regressive through the expenditure channel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Government spending shocks have substantially different effects on consumers across the income distribution: consumption increases for the poor whereas it decreases for the rich in response to a rise in government expenditure. I shed light on this issue by incorporating a progressive tax scheme and productive public expenditure into a heterogeneous agent model economy with indivisible labor. The model economy is able to successfully match aggregate and disaggregate effects of government spending shocks on consumption. When the government increases its spending and accompanies it by a rise in tax progressivity, the poor are employed and increase their consumption since after‐tax wage rates increase while the rich decrease their consumption because of a fall in after‐tax wage rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: This paper makes a theoretical and Empirical Study on the relationship between monetary policy and urban-rural economic inequality from the perspective of modern ecology. Methods: Constructed a structural vector auto-regression model containing variables of consumption inequality and income inequality. Results: The change of ecological environment will lead to the change of income gap between urban and rural residents, which lags behind the change of monetary policy and has a relatively short response time to the change of policy. Conclusion: Considering the ecological factors, the impact of monetary policy on economic inequality has not only direct transmission mechanism, but also indirect transmission mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Hacettepe University Journal of Economics & Administrative Sciences / Hacettepe Üniversitesi Iktisadi ve Idari Bilimler Fakültesi Dergisi is the property of Hacettepe University, Faculty of Economic & Administrative Sciences 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.)

Abstract: Population ageing has significant economic and social costs, and this paper studies its impacts on inequality, both theoretically and empirically. First, we build a two‐period overlapping generation model with uncertain lifetime and find that population ageing has the overall effect of increasing income and consumption inequality within the society. For empirical analysis, we use household data from China Health and Nutrition Survey to assess the age effect on income and consumption inequality in China, and confirm the results predicted by the theoretical model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using income from nationally representative household surveys and district as the lowest level of aggregation, we examine the role of spatial factors in determining income inequality in India. In both rural and urban India, we find that within-district income differences account for majority of the income inequality in 2011. Moreover, between-state income differences are more important in explaining between-district inequality in rural India. In contrast, in urban areas it is the within-state income differences that play a more important role in explaining the between-district inequality. We find significantly smaller level of inequality but similar trends using the consumption expenditure. Finally, using data for 1993 and 2011, we find that although majority of the income inequality in rural India is explained by within-district income difference in both years, over time the share of between-district differences has increased and they account for a third of the total increase in rural income inequality between 1993 and 2011. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]