Extent Of Income Inequality Research Articles

Does unionization and working under collective agreements promote health?

Health promoters recognize the social determinants of health (SDOH) shape health outcomes yet generally neglect how unionization and collective agreements (CAs) shape these SDOH. This is surprising since extensive evidence indicates unions and CAs influence wages and benefits, job security, working conditions and income inequality, which go on to affect additional SDOH of food and housing security, child development and social exclusion. We argue unions and CAs should be a health promotion focus by examining how they influence the SDOH and health outcomes in wealthy developed nations in four ways. First, we consider how union density (UD) and CA coverage (CAC) are associated with differences between wealthy western nations in percentage of low-waged workers, extent of income inequality, and low birthweight and infant mortality rates. Second, we bring together literature that shows greater UD and CAC within national sub-jurisdictions are associated over time with more equitable distribution of the SDOH and better health outcomes. Third, we document-also using available literature-how within nations, union membership and working under a CA shape the SDOH one experiences. Fourth, we carry out a Canadian case study-applying a political economy lens-to examine how power relations, working through economic and political systems, determine extent of unionization and CAC and the inclination of health promoters to consider these issues. Implications for health promoters are considered.

Income Inequality and Nutrition Insecurity among Rural Households: A Gini-Coefficient Causality Analysis in Ethiopia

Globally, malnutrition is an underlying cause for the deaths of more than 3.5 million children every year under the age of five and the prevalence of stunting, underweight and wasting among children in Ethiopia are 40%, 25%, and 9% respectively. More than 80% of the population in Northwestern Ethiopia resides in rural areas with high-income inequalities and consumption patterns. This contributed to dynamism in dietary diversity and subsequent nutrition insecurity among households. However, previous studies obscure in linking the extent of income inequality, its causes, and nutrition insecurity. We explored the extent of income inequality among rural households and its effect on nutrition security. Data were taken in 2017 from 378 households from different districts with varying crop production potentials. Multinomial Logistic Regression Model was employed to analyze the data. The result shows that the types of crops cultivated, total land size, and education level significantly (P<0.01) associated with households' dietary diversity. The Gini index was found to be 0.48, depicting high-income inequality among the target households. Crop diversification together with on/off-farm activities can help narrow the existing income in inequality among rural households. Awareness and empowering women can help households increase their dietary diversity and improve nutrition security. Advocating home gardening can also enable households to focus on nutrient-rich diets. This will ultimately help create a well-nourished and healthy family. Keywords: Food insecurity, Dietary diversity index, Nutrition insecurity, Gini Coefficient, Income inequality, Multinomial logit, Stunting DOI: 10.7176/JESD/11-17-01 Publication date: September 30 th 2020

Wealth inequality in Central and Eastern Europe: Evidence from household survey and rich lists’ data combined*

AbstractWe study how the problem of the ‘missing rich’, the underrepresentation of the wealthiest in household surveys, affects wealth inequality estimates for the post‐socialist countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). The survey data from the second wave of the Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS) are joined with the data from the national rich lists for Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Poland and Slovakia. Pareto distribution is fitted to the joined survey and rich lists’ data to impute the missing observations for the largest wealth values. We provide the first estimates of the top‐corrected wealth inequality for the CEE region in 2013/2014. Despite a short period of wealth accumulation during the post‐1989 market economy period, our adjustment procedure reveals that wealth inequality in the Baltic countries is comparable to that of Germany (one of the most wealth‐unequal countries in Europe), while in Poland and Hungary it has reached levels observed in France or Spain. We discuss possible explanations of these findings with reference to the speed and range of privatization processes, extent of income inequality, and the role of inheritances and wealth taxes in the region.

Wealth Inequality in Central and Eastern Europe: Evidence From Joined Household Survey and Rich Lists’ Data

We study how the problem of the ‘missing rich’, the under-representation of the wealthiest in household surveys, affects wealth inequality estimates for the post-socialist countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). The survey data from the second wave of the Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS) are joined with the data from the national rich lists for Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Poland and Slovakia. Pareto distribution is fitted to the joined survey and rich lists’ data to impute the missing observations for the largest wealth values. We provide first estimates of the top-corrected wealth inequality for the CEE region in 2013/2014. Despite a short period of wealth accumulation during the post-1989 market economy period, our adjustment procedure reveals that wealth inequality in the Baltic countries is comparable to that of Germany (one of the most wealth unequal countries in Europe), while in Poland and Hungary it has reached levels observed in France or Spain. We discuss possible explanations of these findings with reference to the speed and range of privatization processes, extent of income in-equality, and the role of inheritances and wealth taxes in the region.

On Income Inequality within China’s Provinces

The paper provides estimates of Gini coefficients for each of the 31 Chinese provinces for the years 2000-2012. The estimates bring out the extremely high income inequality to be found in nearly half of the provinces in sharp contrast to the extremely low income inequality to be found in the other half. The country seems to be sharply divided into two extremes when it comes to considering the extent of income inequality within its provinces. Policy implications of the findings are considered.

Income differentials and global migration in the contemporary world-economy

Shifting the unit of analysis from the nation-state to the world as a whole fundamentally changes our understanding of migration. Elsewhere, the authors have argued that ascriptive criteria centered on national identity and citizenship have long served as a fundamental basis of inequality in the world. Here, they develop a model that seeks to identify the main forces driving migration across the world-economy. They test this model by drawing on an original cross-national dataset on population flows. This allows them to more precisely identify country- and region-specific patterns of outgoing and incoming migration, and to assess the relative weight of specific variables (e.g., wage differentials between countries, the extent of income inequality and social mobility in sending and receiving countries, civil war, famine, geopolitical location, and migration policy regimes) in explaining these patterns. Finally, the authors discuss the implications of their findings for a more productive understanding of global social stratification and mobility in the contemporary world-economy.

Abstract 2513: An examination of socioeconomic status, race, and health outcomes in the 2009 CHIS adult population.

Abstract Introduction: The social gradient effect refers to incremental disparities in health status and conditions and extends beyond differential health status found in comparisons between those from the poorest groups and those from the wealthiest groups. The social gradient also results in differential health profiles among all levels of social class as members from the middle class also have poorer health profiles than those from the wealthiest class.A highly overlapping construct with social status, particularly in the U.S., is race and ethnicity. It is difficult to disentangle the effects of one from the other as ethnic and racial minorities are disproportionately represented in lower levels of SES. Methods: We examine the social gradient and its influence on different health outcomes (i.e., limited activity due to a chronic condition, high blood pressure, obesity, Type 2 diabetes, BMI, and perceived health) and preventive behaviors (i.e., smoking status, sedentary lifestyle, dietary behaviors, and drinking) among adults in the 2009 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS). We assess linear and non-linear trends of the relationship between SES and various outcomes for White, Black, Hispanic, Asian, and American Indian participants. We rely on two proxies of SES: education and family income. Educational attainment had four levels: less than a high school diploma, high school/GED completion, some college, and college degree and beyond. Family income as % of the federal poverty level (FPL) had four levels: 0-99%, 100-199%, 200-299%, and 300% and beyond. Results: In general, Whites reported more favorable health behaviors and health status in comparison to Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, and American Indians. In addition, the trends analyses indicated that educational attainment and family income significantly predicted all health status and health behavior variables for the total population, providing evidence for the social gradient after adjusting for age, gender, race, and acculturation. Race stratified analyses indicated that Whites demonstrated the most consistent effects of the social gradient collapsed across all outcomes and behaviors for both educational attainment and family income. The social gradient was observed the least for Blacks and American Indians, particularly when educational attainment was used to capture SES. In addition, Hispanics and Asians were the most likely to demonstrate non-linear effects of the social gradient in comparison to other racial and ethnic minority groups. Conclusion: The extent of income inequality contributes to the health of a nation as the average health status of a person is determined by income differences between the poorest and richest members of society. Future studies should examine temporal trends to track the impact of the social gradient for different racial and ethnic populations in tandem with indices of national income inequalities. Citation Format: Anh B. Nguyen, Richard Moser, Wen-Ying Chou. An examination of socioeconomic status, race, and health outcomes in the 2009 CHIS adult population. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 2513. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-2513

O4-1.5 Macro-level determinants of health among adolescents in welfare states: a multi-level analysis

IntroductionPrevious studies have shown that macro-level factors, such as income inequality, wealth of countries or welfare state characteristics are crucial determinants of health and health inequalities among adults. So far,...

Democracy, Inequality and the Environment When Citizens Can Mitigate Privately or Act Collectively

We study the political economy of the environment in autocratic, weak and strong democracies when individuals can either mitigate the health consequences of domestic pollution privately or reduce pollution collectively through public policy. The setting is that of a small open economy in which incomes depend importantly on trade in dirty goods, where income inequality and the degree to which ordinary citizens exert voice in each dimension of the policy process distinguishes elites and ordinary citizens. The recognition that the health consequences of pollution can be dealt with privately at a cost adds an important dimension to the analysis of the political economy of environmental regulation, especially for an open economy. When private mitigation is feasible, inequality of incomes leads to an unequal distribution of the health burden of pollution (in accordance with the epidemiologic evidence), thus polarizing the interests of citizens in democracies and of ordinary citizens and elites in non-democratic regimes. Inequality in the willingness to bear the cost of private mitigation in turn interacts with the pollution costs and income benefits of trade in dirty goods to further polarize interests concerning both environmental stringency and the regulation of trade openness. In this context, we show how the eco-friendliness ranking of different political regimes varies with the cost of private mitigation and with the extent of income inequality, tending to converge when mitigation costs are high, and even producing a ranking reversal between democracies and autocracies, and between weak and strong democracies, when costs lie in an intermediate range.

A Canadian exceptionalism? Trust and diversity in Canadian cities

Canadian research is seriously scarce in the fast-growing literature on social trust—defined as the degree to which one can trust others whom one does not know personally. In this article, we have tried to address this issue by examining the levels of trust in various Canadian provinces and cities. The study shows that the level of trust in Canada rises as one moves away from the centre and toward both west and east coasts, and that the trust levels are alarmingly low for cities in the province of Quebec. We have also made an attempt to further our understanding of the dynamics of social trust, by looking at the determinants of trust at the city level. The factors examined are: the city’s population, the size of its immigrant population, average income of residents, the extent of income inequality, and the degree of its ethnic diversity. Out of these, the positive relationship found between ethnic diversity and social trust—that is, as the former rises, the latter increases as well—constitutes a uniquely Canadian trend, which is in contrast to what the existing literature on social trust suggests. Moreover, within Canada, Quebec appears as an anomaly, given the extremely low levels of trust in cities located in this province. Also, within Quebec, Montreal seems to be in a class by itself, showing the unusual combination of high diversity and low trust. Although some speculative hypotheses are proposed to explain some of these trends, the anomalies found warrant particular attention in future research.

Response: In defence of the income inequality hypothesis

Lynch, Harper, and Davey Smith’s metaphor of the SS Income Inequality 1 is amusing, but we think that a more accurate representation of the current debate in this area would be a kangaroo court, in which the defendant (viz. the hypothesis that income inequality is detrimental to population health) is in imminent danger of being summarily executed without the benefit of a fair hearing. Indeed, some jurors already seem to have decided that a relationship between income inequality and health does not exist. One recent assertion, for instance, was that ‘statistical adjustment for ethnicity statistically accounts for all of the association between income inequality and health within the US’. 2 Other assertions, based on an ecological analysis, 3 were that ‘adjustment for education … also accounted for all of the association between income inequality and mortality‘ 2 and that the ‘evidence for the income inequality hypothesis is weak, beyond its important mechanical effects on individual income’, 1 also based on ecological evidence. 4,5 Examples of other claims include: ‘the evidence favoring a negative correlation between income inequality and life expectancy has disappeared’ 6 and that ‘we can muster little evidence to show that the extent of income inequality, per se, affects population health’. 7 These are strong claims which, taken at face value, imply that income inequality is not a public health concern and the public health community has no cause to be alarmed about the sharp increase in income inequality that has occurred in the last two decades both within and between countries. However, we are not so confident that the income inequality story can be so hastily dismissed. In particular, several key accusations levelled by the prosecutors in this case can be tested with new evidence and better-designed studies. As witnesses for the defence, we would like to draw the attention of the jurors to evidence based on the more appropriate multilevel methods.

Crime: social disorganization and relative deprivation

Crime is seldom considered as an outcome in public health research. Yet major theoretical and empirical developments in the field of criminology during the past 50 years suggest that the same social environmental factors which predict geographic variation in crime rates may also be relevant for explaining community variations in health and wellbeing. Understanding the causes of variability in crime across countries and across regions within a country will help us to solve one of the enduring puzzles in public health, viz. why some communities are healthier than others. The purpose of this paper is to present a conceptual framework for investigating the influence of the social context on community health, using crime as the indicator of collective wellbeing. We argue that two sets of societal characteristics influence the level of crime: the degree of relative deprivation in society (for instance, measured by the extent of income inequality), and the degree of cohesiveness in social relations among citizens (measured, for instance, by indicators of `social capital' and `collective efficacy'). We provided a test of our conceptual framework using state-level ecologic data on violent crimes and property crimes within the USA. Violent crimes (homicide, assault, robbery) were consistently associated with relative deprivation (income inequality) and indicators of low social capital. Among property crimes, burglary was also associated with deprivation and low social capital. Areas with high crime rates tend also to exhibit higher mortality rates from all causes, suggesting that crime and population health share the same social origins. Crime is thus a mirror of the quality of the social environment.

THE DETERMINANTS OF URBAN INCOME INEQUALITY IN CHINA

Oxford Bulletin of Economics and StatisticsVolume 53, Issue 2 p. 123-154 THE DETERMINANTS OF URBAN INCOME INEQUALITY IN CHINA John Knight, John Knight Institute of Economics and Statistics, University of OxfordSearch for more papers by this authorSong Lina, Song Lina Institute of Economics and Statistics, University of OxfordSearch for more papers by this author John Knight, John Knight Institute of Economics and Statistics, University of OxfordSearch for more papers by this authorSong Lina, Song Lina Institute of Economics and Statistics, University of OxfordSearch for more papers by this author First published: May 1991 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0084.1991.mp53002002.xCitations: 47AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume53, Issue2May 1991Pages 123-154 RelatedInformation

The Ecology of Inequality: Minorities and the Concentration of Poverty, 1970-1980

This article examines trends in the geographic concentration of poverty among whites, blacks, Hispanics, and Asians in 60 U.S. mentropolitan areas from 1970 to 1980. It describes changes in the distributional structure of income, the extent of income inequality, and the degree of spatial segretation by income. These factors are then related to levels and trends in poverty concentration. Concentrated urban poverty is confined principally to blacks outside the West and to Hispanics in the Northeast. Poverty concentration among these groups does not reflect a tendency for upper-status minority members to live apart from the poor but an interaction between changes in the distributional structure ov income and patterns of racial/ethnic segregation. The occurence of rising poverty under conditions of high racial/ethnic segregation explains the growing spatial isolation of poor blacks and hispanic in U.S. urban society.

Income Inequality across Nations over Time: How Much and Why

The paper aims at the (a) measurement of the extent of income inequality across countries, (b) measurement of the change in income inequality over the last decade, (c) examination of the factors responsible for the income inequality, and (d) identification of the shape and position of the Kuznets’ curve. Twenty-seven countries data at two points of time, one in 1960s and the other in 1970s, have been used. The six alternative measures of inequality, i.e. income share of the lowest 20% population, income share of the top 20% population, Gini coefficient, Their index I (based on income weights), Theil index II (based on population weights) and Kuznets index, and the regression technique have been used for the analysis. It is found that the (a) Income in equality varies widely among countries in the world. Countries with comparatively low-income inequality, in the sample, are Korea, the Netherlands, Sweden U.K. and Yugoslavia. Brazil and Mexico have witnessed rather high degree of Income inequality. It is moderate in Argentina and nothing unambigously can be stated about other countries in the sample; (b) Inequality has increased in Panama and decreased in Cost Rica, France, Italy, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Tanzania and U.S.A. in the last decade; (c) Kuznets’ hypothesis of the inverted U-shaped curve between the income inequality and the per capita income is valid; and (d) government expenditure, the literacy rate and the growth rate in GNP are the equalizers, while the growth rate in population and the proportion of labor force in agriculture have the disequalizing effect on the economy.

Explaining Inter-Urban Variation in the Level and Distribution of Income

Little is currently known about the determinants of the level or distribution of income within urban areas. Although hypotheses have been advanced which have relevance to these issues, comprehen? sive studies in this area are not available. This paper presents re? sults of a study of inter-city variation in income levels and income distribution. Models are advanced in an attempt to explain variation in the extent of income inequality, the percentages of families at the top and bottom of the income distribution and the mean level of in? come across urban areas. Explanatory variables relied upon in these models are estimates of the level of education and work experience, output concentration, unionization, firm size, racial and sexual discrimination and unemployment. Results of tests using cross-sec? tion data are varied but the models utilized do, in general, explain a high proportion of variance in both level and distribution variables and indicate statistically significant relationships for a number of included independent variables. The current income distribution literature places very heavy em? phasis on the importance of human capital in explaining variation in the level and distribution of income. According to this view it is primarily productivity differences and smoothly functioning factor markets which underlie the observed distribution of income. [Becker, Chiswick, Mincer] Carefully developed challenges to this view are now being advanced. [Bowles and Gintis, Thurow, 1976] Through both the theoretical models advanced and the empirical results at? tained, this study also offers some refutation of the strict human capital perspective. The empirical results indicate that while human capital considerations are not irrelevant, other considerations (gen? erally referred to as market imperfections) are equally if not more important. The following section of this paper is devoted to a discussion of background issues in methodology and economic analysis. Section II includes an outline of the specific models tested. Section III is