Search results for "economic inequality"
showing 10 items of 58 documents
The grain market, short-term credit, and economic inequality in the Kingdom of Valencia. The towns of Cocentaina, and Castellón in the Fifteenth-Cent…
2018
Despite the predominance of small peasant farms in the Valencian countryside in the Late Middle Ages, large sections of the peasantry were forced to turn to the market to obtain cereals for consumption and sowing. Insufficient land and lack of liquidity caused by the seasonal cycle of crops made it necessary to use short-term credit, which was recorded in the court of local justice in the legal form of “obligacions”. The aim of this paper is to analyse the economic role of this credit market, identifying varieties of commercialised cereals, seasonality of purchases and payments, price trends and the socio-professional background of buyers (debtors) and sellers (creditors). Thus, we study ho…
Heritability of Lifetime Income
2013
Using 15 years of data on Finnish twins, we find that 24% (54%) of the variance of women’s (men’s) lifetime income is due to genetic factors and that the contribution of the shared environment is negligible. We link these figures to policy by showing that controlling for education reduces the variance share of genetics by 5-8 percentage points; by demonstrating that income uncertainty has a genetic component half the size of its variance share in lifetime income; and by exploring how the genetic heritability of lifetime income is related to the macroeconomic environment, as measured by GDP growth and the Gini-coefficient of income inequality.
Regional income inequality in France 1860–1954: Methods and findings
2019
This paper explores regional (departement or NUTS3) income inequality in France between 1860 and 1954. To this end we first document the existing evidence, evaluate the estimation methods and findi...
Relative and absolute socioeconomic inequality in smoking: time trends in Germany from 1995 to 2013
2020
Abstract Purpose This study aimed to investigate time trends in relative and absolute socioeconomic inequality in smoking prevalence in Germany using several indicators for socioeconomic position. Methods We conducted a repeated cross-sectional study using representative samples of the German population aged between 25 and 64 years in 1995, 1999, 2005, 2009, and 2013 (n = 857,264). Socioeconomic position was measured by indicators for income, education, and occupation. Relative and absolute socioeconomic inequalities were estimated with the regression-based relative index of inequality and the slope index of inequality, respectively. Trends in inequalities were estimated with interaction te…
Inequality and economic growth across countries of the Eurozone
2018
The EU economic recovery after the financial crisis is being accompanied by sluggish and unsteady growth with high levels of inequality. The relationship between income inequality and the rate of economic growth still remains a controversial issue with discrepancies in the results reported in many empirical and theoretical studies of growth and development. We explore the impact of income inequality, poverty, and wealth on the rate of economic growth in the Eurozone. We find that the effect of income inequality on economic growth is statistically insignificant, whereas poverty and savings have a negative, statistically significant effect on growth, while the effect of financial assets is po…
Approaching Economic Inequality through Late Medieval Tax Records: Valls (1378), Sevile (1384) and Palma (1478)
2017
Wealth inequality in pre-industrial societies is a newly reinvigorated topic in economic history. Late medieval historians, particularly those of Iberia, face the challenge to catch up with their early modern counterparts. This proves completely possible due to the existence of analytic methods already developed in economics, as well as tax sources based on patrimony estimates of tax-payers. With the aim of addressing such a topic, this essay analyses three cases coming from various late medieval Iberian populations: Valls (1378), Seville (1384) and Palma (1478). In the case of Valls and Sevile the evidence has been based on transcriptions of available material, while for Palma we have stud…
Regional Income Inequality in Spain 1860–2015
2018
How has regional economic inequality evolved since 1860? Is there a relationship between initial per-capita income and regional growth rates? Is there any relation between the evolution of regional inequality and the economic development process in Spain? In order to answer these questions, a number of different indicators of inequality are offered in this chapter. Then the patterns of convergence or divergence followed by Spanish regions from the mid-nineteenth century to the present are studied. Regional income inequality rose in the early stages of economic development and then declined. However, with high levels of development, around the 1980s, a change of trend is observed. In other w…
Getting support in polarized societies: Income, social networks, and socioeconomic context
2013
AbstractThis paper explores how unequal resources and social and economic polarization affects the size of social networks and their use to access resources. We argue that individual resource position generates divergent expectations with regard to the impact of polarization on the size of networks on one hand, and their usefulness for accessing resources on the other. Social and economic polarization encourages reliance on informal networks, but those at the bottom of the social structure are forced to rely on more extensive networks than the wealthy to compensate for their isolated and underprivileged position. At the same time, social and economic polarization limits the resources the po…
The macroeconomic effects of electricity-sector privatization
2021
Abstract We examine the macroeconomic effects of privatizing the ownership structure of the electricity market, using a novel indicator of privatization which covers 90 advanced, emerging market, and developing economies, since 1974. Privatization reforms, on average, improve outcomes in the provision of electricity and have positive macroeconomic effects: output and employment increase in the years following electricity-sector privatization reforms. Reforms are also associated also with an increase in income inequality, but the effects are small, on average. These impacts vary according to the business cycle, quality of institutions, and a country's development status, with macroeconomic a…
The Aggregate and Distributional Effects of Financial Globalization: Evidence from Macro and Sectoral Data
2018
We take a fresh look at the aggregate and distributional effects of policies to liberalize international capital flowsâfinancial globalization. Both country- and industry-level results suggest that such policies have led on average to limited output gains while contributing to significant increases in inequalityâthat is, they pose an equityâefficiency trade-off. Behind this average lies considerable heterogeneity in effects depending on country characteristics. Liberalization increases output in countries with high financial depth and those that avoid financial crises, while distributional effects are more pronounced in countries with low financial depth and inclusion and where libera…