Greater Inequality Research Articles

The women issue

Some problems are so intractable and resistant to solutions that they constantly remain on the agenda of things that need fixing. The situation of women in academic research is one such problem that has been festering for too long, as two articles in this month's issue of EMBO reports highlight. The two studies that we publish this month—like many others preceding them—show once again that there are great inequalities in the career prospects of men and women in science. However, although gender inequality seems to be an intractable problem, it cannot just be ignored. Many studies and analyses from the USA and the EU stress the increasing demand for scientists and engineers to support high‐tech industries in advanced economies. Losing women from academia represents not only a waste of talent, but also a significant waste of the money invested in training them. Yet, it is not cold economic reasoning that dominates the discussions about women in science; it is the blatant unfairness of the fact that, although an identical number of men and women get a PhD in …

Dependency and Justice

I was reading Martha Nussbaum's book, Frontiers of Justice: Disability, Nationality, Species Membership, while riding a New York City subway train that was speeding toward downtown. A destitute and disheveled man who seemed to be cognitively impaired entered the car and said, Help me! I have Parkinson's disease. He did not immediately arouse much sympathy or a will to help on the part of his observers. He spoke in a high-pitched, slurring manner that was difficult to understand. I began to go up and down the roller coaster of thoughts and feelings to which we have become accustomed. He has figured out a scam. How would I actually know if he had a chronic disease? He has fallen through the cracks of the social network-or has he? Is he collecting a check from a social agency? What if he has a chronic illness-does that mean that I have to support him? Should I give him money? What would cause me to reach into my pocket? In effect, I was mentally rehashing some of the moral and ethical issues concerning dependency that Nussbaum ponders in her book. What theory, if any, of justice might inform my relationship to the man on the subway? Is he dependent on me? Could I be in another situation dependent on him? Is any theory of justice or dependency itself one that posits a social contract fashioned between equals, or is it based on some inherent capacities and capabilities each human must be said to have? To clarify this point, we have to follow two trends in the history of philosophy, both of which concern the idea of justice. Social contractarians such as Hobbes, Hume, Kant, and Rousseau assume that in some semi-mythical past, humans met on a cognitive battle field and, after slugging it out for a long time, decided to give up their rights to steal each other's property and kill each other because they recognized that it would be to their mutual advantage to establish a quid pro quo. Thus the state was born. While each philosopher had different ideas about how this happened, the basis of the argument is that a social contract for mutual advantage emerged, and this guaranteed some rough-hewn idea of justice. On the other side of the debate are those who believe that humans have a set of inherent rights-rights that exist simply because one is born. No negotiations on any field are necessary to arrive at these; instead, reason and notions of fairness, dignity, and so on will make such rights apparent. The Declaration of Independence, for example, stated the belief that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. No meeting on the field took place to make this arrangement; rather, a Creator gave people the right to remain alive, to be free, and to scamper after happiness (and, like the pursuit of a suitable mate, not necessarily to succeed in the attainment). The problem with the man on the subway and me is that if my thoughts tend toward a social contractarian model, that way of thinking is founded on an idea that the original negotiators are equal, so their trade-security instead of lawlessness-is logical. Thus, each individual has the same things to lose and gain. But it is only logical if viewed as a trade between equals. What happens in situations where there is great inequality or where one person is dependent on another for the necessities of life? Nussbaum sees the case of the man on the subway- and of people with disabilities in general-as the example that tests the whole notion behind contractarianism. A contractarian would be stymied here because there is no mutual benefit derived; instead, the severely disabled person receives care and resources, is dependent, and may not give back equal resources or contributions to the other folks who signed the contract for mutual advantage. I work, contribute to the general welfare, and pay taxes that provide social services that may or may not take care of the man on the subway. …

Regionální diferenciace současného socioekonomického vývoje v České republice

The social transformation in post-totalitarian countries is charac- terised by extraordinarily dynamic differentiation tendencies. With respect to social groups and territorial communities, these tendencies differ or are even contradictory, resulting in an internal social and territorial polarisation in the national systems concerned. These polarisation processes are, on the one hand, a reaction to the equalising tendencies in communist countries, and, on the other hand, are the result of the need for qualitative changes to social structures. One such structure is the regional organisation of society, which owing to the heterogeneous nature of the conditions it exists in has very specifi c features. Essentially it is the environmental organisation of society, where the effects of social and natural factors are combined. Consequently, there is typically a higher level of territorial inequality in the distribution of economic activities than in social distribution, and, by contrast, less variabil- ity of geographical differentiation than social differentiation. These features are demonstrated in an empirical analysis of the current development in the Czech Republic, wherein a distinction is made between two ways of assessing regional distribution. First, there is the assessment of differentiation of the territorial intensity of economic activities (economic aggregate/km 2 ). Second, there is the assessment of relative economic and social development (econom- ic aggregate/inhabitant). Despite the differences in the level and variability of the two types of regional differentiation, there are similar trends in their development, heading towards greater inequalities.

An empirical study on education equity in China, 1978–2004

By using the education Gini coefficient (EGC), as the indicator of education equity, this paper will calculate the degree of education equity in China during 1978–2004. Results show that although education equity as a whole has improved significantly since 1978, it is rather at a low level compared with the international average. Due to the great inequality among regions and the rural-urban disparity in education, the positive influence of education on social development and economic growth has been limited.

Third Annual Brown Lecture in Education Research—The Flat Earth and Education: How America’s Commitment to Equity Will Determine Our Future

In the knowledge-based economy that characterizes the 21st century, most previously industrialized countries are making massive investments in education. The United States ranks poorly on many leading indicators, however, primarily because of the great inequality in educational inputs and outcomes between White students and non-Asian “minority” students, who comprise a growing share of the U.S. public school population. Standards-based reforms have been launched throughout the United States with promises of greater equity, but while students are held to common standards—and increasingly experience serious sanctions if they fail to meet them—most states have not equalized funding and access to the key educational resources needed for learning. The result of this collision of new standards with old inequities is less access to education for many students of color, rather than more. This article outlines current disparities in educational access; illustrates the relationships between race, educational resources, and student achievement; and proposes reforms needed to equalize opportunities to learn.

The UNICEF Report on Child Well-Being

Arecent report from the UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre, entitled “An Overview of Child Well-Being in Rich Countries,” assessed the general welfare of children in the European and North American countries that make up the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). 1 The report, which recognizes that policy makers demand clarity, is an exercise in informed aggregation as the 40 examined indicators are summarized as 6 dimensions: Material Well-Being, Health and Safety, Educational Well-Being, Peer and Family Relationships, Behaviors and Risk, and Subjective Well-Being. A summary index was calculated for each dimension, and the average ranking across all the dimensions was then calculated for each country. The authors of the report have done a remarkable job analyzing and formatting the included indicators in a manner that permits valid cross-national comparisons. The United States and the United Kingdom had among the lowest summary rankings of child well-being of all the examined countries. Although the specific findings in the report should generate calls for better programs for children in these countries, the larger message of the report may lie in what was not explicitly stated but merely implied by the indices: that the relatively low ranking of child well-being reflects relatively high levels of social inequality. The strength of this relationship is suggested in the Figure, in which the report’s child well-being rankings are plotted against the most widely used indicator of inequality, the Gini coefficient, which summarizes the extent to which the distribution of incomes in a society departs from complete equality. 2 As is evident in the graph, the United States has by far the greatest inequality, with the UK coming close second, as well as the worst indicators of child well-being among the compared countries. The scale of social inequality in the United States translates directly into substantial levels of absolute poverty, particularly for children. When one adjusts for the purchasing capacity of different levels of income in each country, the poorest families in the United States fare worse than their counterparts in many of the other countries included in the UNICEF report. 3 Moreover, children are more heavily concentrated in the poorest segments of American society. Indeed, the material insecurity that a family with children currently feels is greater now than it has been since the Great Depression. 4 The number of children living in or near poverty in the United States is so large that virtually all indicators of child well-being that are sensitive to social status will prove to be relatively low in international comparisons. Beyond absolute levels of child poverty, the observed differences in social inequality are also associated with different political attitudes toward ameliorating poverty’s impact on children. A recent survey of attitudes toward income inequalities in OECD countries suggested that Americans are less aware of the actual scale of inequality at the top of their income distribution than was found in the other surveyed countries. 5 More important still was the finding that attitudes in the United States toward reducing income inequalities were more polarized than in the other countries. Americans had similar attitudes toward reducing inequalities between the highest income and middle income levels, but had less interest than in the other surveyed countries in reducing inequalities between the middle and lowest income levels. This is likely expressed in the relatively weak social programs in the United States dedicated to ameliorating the effect of poverty on child health and development. The United Kingdom provides an interesting contrast in view of its different European style political and welfare system. In the United Kingdom, under a Labour government, there has been a major shift in policy to reduce child poverty and improve educational attainment through major investment in deprived areas, an overarching set of targets (the Every Child Matters framework), and the appointments of an ombudsman for children and a children’s commissioner to oversee these policy developments. 6 One might have expected better progress with the United Kingdom’s well-developed and universal welfare system, which includes a health service that has received unprecedented levels of federal investment in recent years (although one must be cautious in approaching the data which are up to 7 years old). The indicators have all received the same weighting for simplicity, but whether this is a reasonable assumption may require more research. Nevertheless, for those looking at these data in the United Kingdom, there has been good progress in keeping children safe from injury, although the United Kingdom

Effects on poverty and equity of the decline in collective tank irrigation management in Tamil Nadu, India

AbstractThis paper investigates the factors influencing the decline in collective management of local commons and the impact of this decline on agricultural production and household consumption. The analysis is based on a village and household data set collected in 1999 in Tamil Nadu, India, where tank irrigation systems are managed collectively for rice cultivation by informal water users' organizations. Our statistical analyses find that one major reason for the decline in collective tank irrigation management is the dissemination of private well irrigation systems. Once the decline has occurred, our analyses predict that the gap in rice yields between farmers who have access to private wells and those who must rely solely on tanks will widen, with only the latter group suffering lower yields. Our analyses also find that the same pattern holds for levels of income and consumption because the affected farmers cannot sufficiently compensate for the loss of their rice income by diversifying their income sources to agricultural labor or nonagricultural work. In this way, the decline in collective management results in greater inequality and poverty.

Gasto Privado en Salud de los Hogares de Cartagena de Indias, 2004

Determining household out-of-pocket payments for access to health care services in Cartagena, Colombia, and its correlation with head of household characteristics (socioeconomic level, schooling, general social health security system (GSHSS) affiliation and type of work). A cross-sectional study was carried out on a sample of 384 homes selected by using proportional stratified random sampling. Data was collected using a standardised form. SPSS (version 10.0) was used for statistical and econometric analysis. The lowest socioeconomic strata (1 and 2) were incurring higher out-of-pocket expenditure than higher strata (3-6). Other factors predicting greater expenditure on health compared to income were household heads' low level of schooling, being unemployed or working independently and the fact of not being affiliated to the GSHSS. Market mechanism expansion into the Colombian health system has resulted in greater inequality in terms of out-of-pocket payment for the lowest social strata. Our findings suggest that the need for such financing represents an important barrier for gaining access to health care.

Turning interahamwe: individual and community choices in the Rwandan genocide

The first person to be found guilty of genocide by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) was Jean-Paul Akayesu, the bourgmestre 1 of Taba Commune in Gitarama.2 The prefecture of Git...

How Does Income Inequality Affect Market Outcomes in Vertically Differentiated Markets?

The distribution of consumer incomes is a key factor in determining the structure of a vertically differentiated industry when consumer's willingness to pay depends on his income. This paper computes the Shaked and Sutton (1982) model for a general specification of consumers' income distribution to investigate the effect of inequality on firms' entry, product quality, and pricing decisions. The main findings are that greater inequality in consumer incomes leads to the entry of more firms and results in more intense quality competition among the entrants. This is due to the elasticity of consumer demand for quality being higher in more inegalitarian economies. More intense quality competition among firms causes them to locate their products in higher ranges of the quality spectrum, closer to each other, decreasing the degree of product differentiation. Competition between more similar products tends to reduce their prices. However, when income inequality is very high, the top quality producer chooses to serve only the rich segment of the market, and the low price elasticity of demand of these consumers allows him to charge a higher price. The conclusion is that income inequality has important implications for the degree of product differentiation, price level, industry concentration, and consumer welfare.

Globalización, desigualdad y transmisión de las enfermedades tropicales en el Amazonas venezolano

Economic globalization appears to be causing greater inequalities and increased vulnerability to tropical diseases around the world. The Venezuelan Amazon population, especially the rural indigenous population, displays among the worst health indicators in the Americas. High infant mortality rates in remote indigenous populations indicate that such communities have been affected by the globalization of disease, rather than favored by globalization of health. Globalization has also influenced public policies in the country, affecting the efficiency of control programs targeting tropical diseases. A new global pact for the sustainable development of the planet is needed, supported by the globalization of human values and rights. In Venezuela, new policies for the indigenous health sector, more resources, and greater autonomy could help reduce the inequities described here in the Venezuelan Amazon.

Human Diversity Reflected in Levels of Purchasing Power Parity, Democratization and the Human Condition

Samuel P. Huntington (1997: 20) argues that the potentially most dangerous enmities occur across the fault lines between the world’s major civilizations. Therefore it is worthwhile to explore civilizational differences. This paper tests a hypothesis according to which the persistence of significant civilizational differences in human conditions can be traced to civilizational differences in the average intelligence of people. The hypothesis is tested by empirical evidence on civilizational IQs (explanatory variable) and on per capita income, the level of democratization, and the level of human development (dependent variables). Any assessment of the leval of cultural achievement is specifically omitted since this cannot be reduced to mathematical values. The results show that civilizational IQ, explains more of the civilizational differences in human conditions measured by the three dependent variables than probably any other factor, including significant cultural differences between civilizations, and that, therefore, we cannot expect the disappearance of great civilizational inequalities in human conditions.

The Formalism of the Judicial System is Always Harmful? (Portuguese Version)

This paper discusses some of the foundations of the rule of law and due process of law. It makes a counterpoint to the widespread idea that more formalism leads to more corruption and worse institutions (Djankov et al, 2003). Following these authors, de degree of formalism, as measured by an index they propose, vary according to the legal origin, and the higher formalism index results in less impartial, affordable, honest and quick justice. The paper construct upon this hypothesis, taking into account the proposition that in the presence of great inequality in economic and political resources, the wealthy and the politically powerful will subvert institutions in their own benefit, as proposed by Glaeser, Scheinkman and Shleifer (2003). In such situation the outcome of more formalism will be the opposite of the predicted, and one will face a lesser degree of corruption and better institutions. This concept would be at root of the rules aimed at assuring the due process of law. Departing from the dataset and models used by Djankov et al, the article tests the interaction between the formalism index Djankov et al propose and an inequality index (GINI), resulting in a significant and positive relation between this interaction the quality of the judicial system. The cross-country analysis made stills for several others formalism, corruption and institutional quality indexes. When controlled for endogeneity the results are not so strong due the use of weak instruments (legal origin), both for the article hypothesis and for the Djankov et al hypothesis. At end, some tests are made trying to separate the elements of formalism that are detrimental to subversion of justice from those that are harmful for justice, as a guidance to policy-makers.

The resonant structure of Jupiter's Trojan asteroids - I. Long-term stability and diffusion

We study the global dynamics of the jovian Trojan asteroids by means of the frequency map analysis. We find and classify the main resonant structures that serve as skeleton of the phase space near the Lagrangian points. These resonances organize and control the long-term dynamics of the Trojans. Besides the secondary and secular resonances, that have already been found in other asteroid sets in mean motion resonance (e.g. main belt, Kuiper belt), we identify a new type of resonance that involves secular frequencies and the frequency of the great inequality, but not the libration frequency. Moreover, this new family of resonances plays an important role in the slow transport mechanism that drives Trojans from the inner stable region to eventual ejections. Finally, we relate this global view of the dynamics with the observed Trojans, identify the asteroids that are close to these resonances and study their long-term behaviour.

Os Centros Federais de Educação Tecnológica e o ensino superior: duas lógicas em confronto

O sentido educacional que os Centros Federais de Educação Tecnológica assumem ao se tornarem, progressivamente, instituições de ensino superior, exige que se defina que ser humano se quer formar e a que finalidades se destina a educação. Cabe ainda uma reflexão sobre a questão da técnica, da ciência e da tecnologia e sua relação com o trabalho e a educação. Tendo como horizonte uma visão de totalidade social dos fenômenos, nas múltiplas relações que estabelecem, portanto, na sua complexidade, trataremos do tema proposto em sua dimensão histórica e política. Primeiro, refletimos sobre o significado da técnica e sua relação com o conhecimento, a ciência e as tecnologias. A seguir, trataremos dos termos cidadão produtivo e/ou emancipado e da estrutura social brasileira e suas grandes desigualdades. Por último, da questão da universidade, da produção do conhecimento e de sua relação com o ensino médio e a formação de tecnólogos em nível superior.

Confronting income inequality in Japan: a comparative analysis of causes, consequences, and reform

Contrary to general belief, and to Japan's own self-image, inequality of income and wealth distribution in Japan has grown in the past two decades. In this well-written and accessible book, Toshiaki Tachibanaki analyzes the movement toward more income inequality in Japan and offers policy recommendations to counter the trend. Tachibanaki, Japan's leading expert on income distribution, draws on new statistical data covering wealth, inheritance, farm and business holdings, salary, and other relevant factors, to demonstrate that Japan can no longer be thought of as a 90 percent middle-class society. The book, updated and substantially expanded from Tachibanaki's 1998 Japanese bestseller, discusses the history and the causes of Japan's increasing income inequality and analyzes the effect on wealth distribution of intergenerational transfer. Employing cross-national comparisons to the United States and Europe throughout, Confronting Income Inequality in Japan examines the contrast between equality of opportunity and equality of outcome, evaluates equality of opportunity in terms of education and occupation, analyzes the relationship between income distribution and income growth, discusses the role of hierarchical positions in organizations, and considers the differences between welfare states and nonwelfare states. Concluding with policy recommendations, Tachibanaki argues against the belief of some economists that greater inequality is unavoidable if Japan is to achieve a strong economic recovery.

Privatization and some economic and social consequences: Higher incomes, greater inequalities

The past 14 years have witnessed profound political, social, and economic changes in the various countries that previously comprised the “Soviet bloc.” The antecedents to and the process of Hungarian privatization are examined in the present study, followed by an evaluation of some of the economic and social consequences of the systemic change. The change from one-party rule to a pluralistic democracy and from “goulash communism” to a market economy has been successful overall, but the necessary rationalization of production also resulted in growing inequalities in income and wealth and the appearance of social conflict.

Irregular satellite capture during planetary resonance passage

The passage of Jupiter and Saturn through mutual 1:2 mean-motion resonance has recently been put forward as explanation for their relatively high eccentricities [Tsiganis, K., Gomes, R., Morbidelli, A., Levison, H.F., 2005. Nature 435, 459–461] and the origin of Jupiter's Trojans [Morbidelli, A., Levison, H.F., Tsiganis, K., Gomes, R., 2005. Nature 435, 462–465]. Additional constraints on this event based on other small-body populations would be highly desirable. Since some outer satellite orbits are known to be strongly affected by the near-resonance of Jupiter and Saturn (“the Great Inequality”; Ćuk, M., Burns, J.A., 2004b. Astron. J. 128, 2518–2541), the irregular satellites are natural candidates for such a connection. In order to explore this scenario, we have integrated 9200 test particles around both Jupiter and Saturn while they went through a resonance-crossing event similar to that described by Tsiganis et al. [Tsiganis, K., Gomes, R., Morbidelli, A., Levison, H.F., 2005. Nature 435, 459–461]. The test particles were positioned on a grid in semimajor axes and inclinations, while their initial pericenters were put at just 0.01 AU from their parent planets. The goal of the experiment was to find out if short-lived bodies, spiraling into the planet due to gas drag (or alternatively on orbits crossing those of the regular satellites), could have their pericenters raised by the resonant perturbations. We found that about 3% of the particles had their pericenters raised above 0.03 AU (i.e. beyond Iapetus) at Saturn, but the same happened for only 0.1% of the particles at Jupiter. The distribution of surviving particles at Saturn has strong similarities to that of the known irregular satellites. If saturnian irregular satellites had their origin during the 1:2 resonance crossing, they present an excellent probe into the early Solar System's evolution. We also explore the applicability of this mechanism for Uranus, and find that only some of the uranian irregular satellites have orbits consistent with resonant pericenter lifting. In particular, the more distant and eccentric satellites like Sycorax could be stabilized by this process, while closer-in moons with lower eccentricity orbits like Caliban probably did not evolve by this process alone.

Interactions between arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and intraspecific competition affect size, and size inequality, of Plantago lanceolata L.

Summary 1 Intraspecific competition causes decreases in plant size and increases in size inequality. Arbuscular mycorrhizas usually increase the size and inequality of non-competing plants, but mycorrhizal effects often disappear when plants begin competing. We hypothesized that mycorrhizal effects on size inequality would be determined by the experimental conditions, and conducted simultaneous field and glasshouse experiments to investigate how AM fungi and intraspecific competition determine size inequality in Plantago lanceolata . 2 As predicted, plant size was reduced when plants were competing, in both field and controlled conditions. However, size inequality was unexpectedly reduced by competition. Plants may have competed in a symmetric fashion, probably for nutrients, rather than the more common situation, in which plant competition is strongly asymmetric. 3 Mycorrhizas had no effect on plant size or size inequality in competing plants in either field or controlled conditions, possibly because competition for nutrients was intense and negated any benefit the fungi could provide. 4 The effects of mycorrhizas on non-competing plants were also unexpected. In field-grown plants, AM fungi increased plant size, but decreased size inequality: mycorrhizal plants were more even in size, with few very small individuals. In glasshouse conditions, mycorrhizal colonization was extremely high, and was generally antagonistic, causing a reduction in plant size. Here, however, mycorrhizas caused an increase in size inequality, supporting our original hypothesis. This was because most plants were heavily colonized and small, but a few had low levels of colonization and grew relatively large. 5 This study has important implications for understanding the forces that structure plant communities. AM fungi can have a variety of effects on size inequality and thus potentially important influences on long-term plant population dynamics, by affecting the genetic contribution of individuals to the next generation. However, these effects differ, depending on whether plants are competing or not, the degree of mycorrhizal colonization and the responsiveness of the plant to different colonization densities.

Will International Pursuit of the Millennium Development Goals Alleviate Poverty in Mountains?

Abstract Since September 2000, when world leaders agreed on time-bound, measurable goals to reduce extreme poverty, hunger, illiteracy, and disease while fostering gender equality and ensuring environmental sustainability, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have increasingly come to dominate the policy objectives of many states and development agencies. The concern has been raised that the tight timeframe and financial restrictions might force governments to invest in the more productive sectors, thus compromising the quality and sustainability of development efforts. In the long term, this may lead to even greater inequality, especially between geographical regions and social strata. Hence people living in marginal areas, for example in remote mountain regions, and minority peoples risk being disadvantaged by this internationally agreed agenda. Strategies to overcome hunger and poverty in their different dimensions in mountain areas need to focus on strengthening the economy of small-scale farmers, ...