High Levels Of Income Inequality Research Articles

Social media use, economic recession and income inequality in relation to trends in youth suicide in high-income countries: a time trends analysis

BackgroundSuicide rates have risen in young people in several high-income countries over the last decade. Reasons for the increases are unclear. MethodsWe analysed trends in suicide rates in 15-24 year olds over the period 2000-2017 in high-income countries with populations >20 million using Joinpoint analysis. We investigated differences in the following population-level exposures between countries that are and are not experiencing suicide rates rises: 1) 2008 economic recession as indexed by changes in GDP; 2) Gini income inequality; 3) daily social media use. ResultsFour of the 11 countries studied are experiencing youth suicide rate rises: Australia, Canada, the UK, the USA. The year the increase began ranged from 2003 (95% confidence interval: 2002, 2007) in the UK to 2009 (95% CI: 2007, 2012) in Australia. There was little evidence of an association between social media use and youth suicide trends, and inconsistent evidence regarding the impact of the 2008 economic recession. Suicide rate rises were seen in countries with higher GDP per capita (Wilcoxon rank sum (WRS) z=-2.27; p=0.02) and income inequality (WRS z=-2.45; p=0.01) in 2008. LimitationsSuicide data were only available until 2016/2017. Social media and income inequality data were not available for all study years. The effect of other important factors were not investigated due to a lack of comparable data. ConclusionsOur analyses indicate that the most populous high-income countries experiencing a rise in youth suicide rates are predominantly English-speaking, with higher levels of income inequality and GDP. These findings provide preliminary evidence regarding possible contributory factors to guide further research.

The Interactions of Sustainable Development Goals: The Case of Urban Informal Settlements in Ethiopia

Ethiopia is challenged by a strong development progress. Currently the major issues in Ethiopia, as a least developed country with a rapid urbanisation, include a high level of income inequality, lack of formal employment opportunities, deeply rooted poverty, tenure insecurity, poor infrastructure, and limited access to electricity and energy. The Erasmus+ Project Social Inclusion and Energy Management for Informal Urban Settlements, enables European and Ethiopian universities to develop new university courses integrating the aspects of sustainability for future professionals in the field of architecture, urban planning but also social sciences. The paper investigates the respective situation in Ethiopia, and demonstrates the interactions of six selected Development Goals of the United Nations highly linked with this topic. These six Development Goals were identified in a participative process, involving different stakeholders like government officials, urban planners or informal settlers by interviews, focus groups, workshops and conferences. The focus is on SDG1 No Poverty, SDG3 Good Health and Well-being, SDG7 Affordable and Clean Energy, SDG11 Sustainable Cities and Communities, SDG13 Climate Action and SDG15 Life on Land. In the context of Ethiopian cities, energy production and distribution have been highly centralised under state entities and the scope for exploring local/business driven and decentralised energy systems has been limited. Transitions can be implemented towards sustainability and the United Nations Development Goals, if collective identification and structuring of issues along with collective envisioning of the future, and the interactions and trade-offs of different goals are taken into consideration.

The Peace Level of Nations: An Empirical Investigation into the Determining Factors

ABSTRACT The escalated violent conflicts and political upheavals in many developing countries have emphasized the pertinence of examining the multifaceted nature of conflict, and the various strategies that bring about reasonable degrees of peace. This paper examines the effects of national economic and socio-economic factors on national peace level, and on the corresponding elementary indicators. The empirical analysis is implemented through a panel dataset, using different econometric methodologies. The basic results underline that countries characterized by higher economic development levels, open trade systems, more educated population, and democratic systems rest on higher national peace levels. Meanwhile, countries that experience higher levels of income inequality and that are endowed with natural resources tend to be less peaceful. Also, the positive impacts of international alliances/regional blocs on national peace are mainly expressed through their promoting economic effects rather than through their aggression-deterrence properties. The empirical analysis shows that the effects of national economic and socio-economic factors on the elementary indicators exhibit considerable variations in magnitude and significance. Hence, an exclusive examination of the effects of these variables on the overall peace index would conceal significant differences across the elementary indicators, which should be accounted for when analyzing national peace and developing peace-promoting strategies.

Power, proximity, and physiology: does income inequality and racial composition amplify the impacts of air pollution on life expectancy in the United States?

This study advances research at the intersection of environmental degradation, social stratification, and population health in the United States. Expanding the theoretical principles of power, proximity, and physiology, we hypothesize that the harmful effect of fine particulate matter on life expectancy is greater in states with higher levels of income inequality and larger black populations. To test our hypothesis, we use two-way fixed effects regression analysis to estimate the effect of a three-way interaction between fine particulate matter, income share of the top ten percent, and the percent of the population that is black on state-level average life expectancy for all US states and the District of Columbia (2000–2014). The findings support our hypothesis: the estimated effect of the three-way interaction on average life expectancy is negative and statistically significant, net of various socioeconomic and demographic controls. Using post-estimation techniques, we visually illustrate that the harmful effect of fine particulate matter on life expectancy is especially pronounced in states with both very high levels of income inequality and very large black populations. We conclude by summarizing the theoretical and substantive implications of our findings, the limitations of the study, and potential next steps in this evolving area of interdisciplinary research.

Assessment of Income Inequality, Structure and Conduct of Cocoa Marketers in Osun State, Nigeria

The level of income inequality and structure-conduct of cocoa marketers were evaluated in Osun State, Nigeria. Primary data were collected with the aid of a well-structured questionnaire, while a multistage sampling procedure was used to select 120 respondents for the study. Descriptive statistics, concentration ratio, Gini coefficient, index of dissimilarity, Herfindahl index; Ordinary Least Square (OLS) as well as Quantile Regression (QR) were used as analytical tools. The result showed the value of Gini coefficient as 0.76, which established a relatively high level of income inequality among cocoa marketers in the study area. The concentration ratio of one, two and four largest marketers in the cocoa marketing business also accounted for 19.2%, 31.9% and 45.8% respectively, of the total volume of cocoa beans sold in the study area, while the value (0.069) of the Herfindahl index further confirmed the presence of low concentration in the market share of cocoa marketers in the study area. The OLS result revealed that household size, education, access to credit, depreciation cost on fixed inputs and labour cost constituted the main factors affecting the income of the marketers, while depreciation cost on fixed inputs and labour cost were consistently significant in OLS and across the conditional quantiles (q25, q50 and q75). Therefore, it is expected that appropriate practical approach in addressing high level of income inequality as identified by the study should be taken by all stakeholders in the industry, with a view to making low-interest credit facilities and incentives available to the marketers in order to increase their scale of operations, and consequently bridge the inequality gap.

Subjective well-being determinants in Russia: a regional perspective

This article reveals that, despite Russian regions being very different from each other when it comes to a great many socio-economic and socio-cultural properties (population income level and living standards, various features of the socio-cultural environment, social optimism, degree of religiosity and so on), those who live in regions far removed from the capital cities, given their lower level of personal income, tend to be more satisfied with their lives and demonstrate a higher level of social wellbeing, according to data from various sociological surveys. Based on empirical data, the authors argue that material aspects are not the only factors which affect subjective wellbeing in any given region. The goal of the study is to analyze the differentiation in the level of subjective wellbeing of the population of various Russian regions, which implies identifying and comparatively analyzing those factors which help interpret these differences. The primary research method is regression analysis of data from sociological surveys conducted in 2012 using the World Values Survey method in nine regions and towns of federal significance: Moscow, Saint- Petersburg, Leningrad Province, Tambov, Tatarstan Republic, Chuvashia Republic, the Altai Krai, Kabardino-Balkaria Republic, Bashkortostan Republic. The analysis showed that there is indeed a connection between one’s personal income level and their subjective wellbeing, while there is no such connection between one’s subjective wellbeing and how wealthy their region is. This could be explained by the fact that people are more concerned with their personal income level than their region’s income. Aside from income level, there are other factors which determine subjective wellbeing in any given region. Moscow is considered to be the wealthiest region, however, it also has the highest level of income inequality. Both individual income and income level in comparison to the reference group considerably affect respondents’ subjective wellbeing, regardless of their region of residence. However, individual income has a stronger influence. That said it is in Moscow where subjective evaluation of one’s income level and satisfaction with one’s material status affect subjective wellbeing to the greatest extent, which is due to the fact that in Moscow both living standards and one’s sense of subjective inequality are somewhat higher. The influence of other socio-demographic factors also varies from region to region. For the most part this study confirms Ronald Inglehart’s concept of material factors playing a significant role in subjective wellbeing.

National Income and Malnutrition in Africa: A Rapid Overview

Abstract This paper pursues a simple analysis of a static relationship between national income and income distribution, and obesity/overweight and undernutrition in African countries. From intuition, a relation between national income (GDP/Capita) and malnutrition is expected. Countries that have higher income are expected to have higher prevalence of obesity/overweight. Likewise, countries with higher income should have lower levels of undernutrition. This paper tests this hypothesis using macroeconomic data. The paper also analyses the role of income inequality, as measured by the GINI coefficient, as a potential driver of malnutrition. In this case, countries that have high levels of income inequality are expected to have coexistent high levels of both obesity and undernourishment. Results of this analysis show that there is a correlation between income and malnutrition. This relationship is insignificant, with a correlation coefficient of less than 50% for both undernourishment and overweight/obesity. The signs are as expected, even when running a simple regression of the variables. Higher national income has a positive relationship with obesity and negative relationship with undernourishment. From the regression, only the coefficient on undernourishment is significant at 5% level of significance. No significant relationship was found between income distribution and malnourishment, even on the extended logistic model. These finding are not realistically surprising. Higher income does not guarantee good nutrition, although poorer countries are expected to have high level of undernourishment. Also, there is a friction in the response of undernutrition to growth in GDP. Given the low-income elasticity of demand for food, higher income is not expected to be strongly linked to obesity. This could also be an explanation for the low response of malnutrition to income inequalities, although this latter relationship needs to be tested further with data sets of longer duration, in a time series approach. As such, it is important to lobby governments to mainstream food and nutrition security in other initiatives that increase national income, and to promote direct interventions that reduce the prevalence of undernourishment as part of meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This will ensure that high national income translates to reduction in malnutrition prevalence across countries. Keywords Malnutrition; Obesity; Undernourishment; GDP/Capita; GINI Coefficient

Adolescents’ Justice Evaluations of Earning Gaps in an Unequal Country: Evidence from Chile

Adolescents’ beliefs regarding inequality have received scant attention in social research. This article tackles the underlying processes that explain adolescents’ justice evaluations of earning gaps across status groups in Chile. I investigate whether their perception of earning gaps and fairness values mediate the relationship between socio-economic status and what they consider a just payment difference. Results show that perceptions of inequality and fairness values emerged as mediators between status and the level of inequality deemed as just, although perception played a stronger role. The results also provide evidence for a consensual legitimacy of inequality across status groups: adolescents from different status groups do not disagree on the fair payment gap. This legitimization of inequality does not necessarily entail acceptance by most youths of the high levels of income inequality in Chile. Their values and perceptions of inequality are anchored in their social standing, and this anchoring has consequences in terms of the legitimization of inequality.

Determinants of Income Inequality in EU Candidate Countries: A Panel Analysis

Abstract Despite increasing income per capita, the EU candidate and potential candidate countries remain confronted with high levels of income inequality. The purpose of our paper is to identify the main determinants of income inequality among the EU candidate countries. In addition to macroeconomic factors, we also analyze the impact of demographic variables to provide more reliable estimates. Using panel data analysis with fixed effects in the period 2005-2017 for three EU candidate countries (North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey) we find that the unemployment rate, the level of economic development and the investment rate are the main determinants whose increase leads to a bigger income differentiation in the analyzed countries. The government indebtedness has also a statistically significant, but a negative impact on income inequality. The other two macroeconomic variables in the model – the terms of trade and inflation are statistically insignificant. Among the demographic factors, population growth and education significantly affect income inequality among the EU candidate countries. The obtained results suggest that a sustainable economic growth combined with active measures in the labor market and the improvement of education level of the population could lead to more equal income distribution.

Economic Growth: Risk Aversion And Inequality

It is no secret that one of the key sources of economic growth is the entrepreneurial activity. But this type of activity is fraught with great risk, which is largely exacerbated by liquidity constraints. This situation is especially relevant for countries with a high level of income inequality, where the described barriers are much higher. Using the Friedman-Savage utility function, we tried to give our own interpretation of the impact of income inequality on economic growth through the channel of imperfect credit markets.

INEQUALITIES IN THE DISTRIBUTION OF INCOME IN THE HOUSEHOLDS OF FARMERS IN POLAND

The purpose of the study was to identify and assess the level of income inequality in farm households. The research methods applied were literature studies and analysis of statistical data provided by the Central Statistical Office for the period 2012-2017. The subject of the study was the disposable income of a farm household per capita. A research hypothesis was adopted whereby, over the years 2010-2017, a systematic increase in income inequality in farm households took place. It was found that during the analysed years, there was an increase in disposable income per capita in farm households. When assessing the level of income inequality in this group of households, a decrease in income stratification measured by the level of the Gini coefficient, by the Schutz-Pietra measure, was noticed, although these changes were very small. Comparing the level of the Gini coefficient among all groups of households distinguished with regard to the main source of income, it was the group of farms that was characterised by the highest level of income inequality. In addition, income inequalities among farmers were characterised by the highest variation compared to other professional groups. This situation may be caused by the nature of farm income, which is conditioned, among others, by the size and productivity of the farm, its degree of specialisation, as well as weather conditions.

Sympathy for the Devil? Exploring Flexicurity Win–Win Promises

Abstract Flexicurity is the combination of more flexibility for employers and more security for workers. It is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon that lacks a well-developed monitoring framework or a statistically consistent grouping of the indicators. First, this paper proposes a conceptual framework by building upon the Wilthagen and Tros (2004) flexicurity matrix and the Danish Golden Triangle. It constructs flexicurity “drivers” by pooling together variables that are conceptually related to each other and a specific type of flexibility or security. Then, it obtains statistically consistent aggregate measures for each driver and selects three drivers that represent the three corners of the Danish “golden triangle”: external numerical flexibility, employment security, and income security. It conducts an empirical analysis on the evolution of the selected flexicurity drivers over time and across European Union (EU) countries and on the relationship between selected flexicurity drivers and social outcomes from the Social Scoreboard of the European Pillar of Social Rights. It finds evidence of convergence on external numerical flexibility and polarization on employment and income security across the EU. It finds that higher flexibility at the onset of the crisis contributed to a reduction in the unemployment rates after the crisis, while a more generous welfare system contributed to reducing poverty. Employment security, however, appears to be linked to the presence of higher levels of income inequality after the crisis.

ENVEJECIMIENTO Y ESTRATOS: SOCIOECONOMIC INEQUALITY IN AGING IN COLOMBIA

Colombia has the highest level of income inequality among Latin American countries, which likely translates into disparities in the aging experience. This study uses data on adults ages 60 and older from the 2017 National Survey of Quality of Life to examine socioeconomic stratification in physical health and psychological well-being. Colombians are assigned to estratos that reflect their residential location as well as social and economic position. Compared to those in the lowest estrato, older adults in the middle and high estratos are less likely to report having sensory impairment or difficulty with daily activities. They are also 1-2 times more likely to report feeling happy and calm. Those in the highest estratos are less likely to report feeling worried. Results suggest there is tremendous variation in the aging experience across socioeconomic strata and that older adults in the lowest strata are particularly disadvantaged with respect to health and well-being.

Is the Current Trend of Income Inequality Sustainable?

Rising income inequality has become a major concern for policymakers and academic researchers. Very high levels of income inequality may result in serious social, political, and economic problems. In this paper, I analyze the trend of Gini index, which is the most commonly used measure for income inequality, to see if the current trend is sustainable in the long run for OECD and major non-OECD countries. Specifically, I use autoregressive time series models to test the sustainability of income inequality. I first analyze the Gini index to see if the time series is stationary and has a steady-state value below 1. If the series has a unit root, I take the first difference and check if the first difference is stationary and has a 0 or negative steady-state value. Results show that while many countries show signs of sustainability, there are a few countries that do not.

Manufacturing Jobs and Inequality

We examine the extent to which declining manufacturing employment may have contributed to increasing inequality in advanced economies. This contribution is typically small, except in the United States. We explore two possible explanations: the high initial manufacturing wage premium and the high level of income inequality. The manufacturing wage premium declined between the 1980s and the 2000s in the United States, but it does not explain the contemporaneous rise in inequality. Instead, high income inequality played a large role. This is because manufacturing job loss typically implies a move to the service sector, for which the worker is not skilled at first and accepts a low-skill wage. On average, the associated wage cut increases with the overall level of income inequality in the country, conditional on moving down in the wage distribution. Based on a stylized scenario, we calculate that the movement of workers to low-skill service sector jobs can account for about a quarter of the increase in inequality between the 1980s and the 2000s in the United States. Had the U.S. income distribution been more equal, only about one tenth of the actual increase in inequality could have been attributed to the loss of manufacturing jobs, according to our simulations.

County-Level Clustering and Characteristics of Repeat Versus First Teen Births in the United States, 2015–2017

PurposeApproximately 16% of U.S. births to women aged 15–19 years are repeat (second or higher order) births. Repeat teen mothers are at elevated risk for poor perinatal outcomes. Geographic clustering and correlates of repeat teen birth are unknown. MethodsData from birth certificates on N = 629,939 teen births in N = 3,108 U.S. counties in 2015–2017 were merged with data on county-level demographic, socioeconomic, and health provider characteristics. We identified contiguous clusters of counties with significantly elevated rates of first teen births only, repeat teen births, both, or neither between 2015 and 2017 and compared demographic, socioeconomic, and medical provider characteristics of counties between 2010 and 2016 in each cluster type. ResultsA total of 193 counties (6.21%) had high rates of repeat births only; 504 (16.22%) had high rates of first teen birth only; 991 (31.89%) had high rates of both repeat and first teen births; and 1,420 (45.69%) had neither. Counties with high repeat (vs. first only) birth rates had higher rates of poverty and unemployment, higher levels of income inequality, lower high school graduation rates, a higher share of racial and ethnic minority residents, fewer publicly funded family planning clinics per capita, and more women receiving contraceptive services at publicly funded clinics. ConclusionsFirst and repeat teen births cluster in differentially resourced geographic areas. Counties with high repeat teen birth rates have lower socioeconomic conditions than counties with high rates of first teen births only. These counties are more reliant on publicly funded family planning clinics but have fewer of them per capita.

ANALISIS PENGARUH FAKTOR PERTUMBUHAN EKONOMI, PENDIDIKAN, DAN PENGANGGURAN TERHADAP KETIMPANGAN DISTRIBUSI PENDAPATAN DI INDONESIA

This study is analyze the impact of economic growth, education and unemployment on the inequality of income distribution and see which provinces contribute the most to income inequality in Indonesia. This study used Panel regression analysis with the Eviews 8 analysis tool. The data used in this research are Gini ratio, GDRP growth rate, mean of school duration, and open unemployment rate from 33 Provinces within 2007 to 2016 (330 observations). The results show that economic growth has no impact on income inequality, at the same time education has a positive impact and unemployment has a negative impact on income inequality in Indonesia. The results show that Banten is a province with the highest level of income inequality.

Persistence and determinants of income inequality: The Brazilian case

AbstractLatin America, which is a region known for its high and persistent income inequality levels, experienced a significant decline in income inequality since the second half of the 1990s. Brazil is a particularly interesting case in Latin America. While the country presented notable economic growth and improvements in income distribution in the early 2000s, Brazil continues to experience high levels of income inequality in comparison with other Latin American or advanced economies. This research contributes to the literature by examining the key drivers of income distribution and the degree of persistence of income inequality among Brazilian states. This research also improves upon previous works by using more recent and comprehensive data and addressing concerns regarding heterogeneity and endogeneity by using the system GMM estimation method. Our findings show that income inequality is highly persistent across Brazilian states and that government policies including income transfer programs made important contributions to reduce income inequality in Brazil. This study also shows that the decline in labor income ratios between different ethnic groups and the increase of the share of formal jobs in the labor market contributed to reduce income inequality.

Labor Unions and Support for Redistribution in an Era of Inequality*

ObjectivesThe United States has become increasingly unequal over the past several decades. Despite this, public opinion toward redistribution has remained largely unchanged. This is puzzling, given Americans' professed concern regarding, and knowledge of, rising inequality. I argue that the decline of labor unions, an organization that promotes anti‐inequality attitudes among its members, can help us to understand this.MethodI use panel data from the 50 U.S. states from 1978 to 2012 and ordinary least squares regression to examine how state‐level unionization levels condition the relationship between income inequality and support for redistributive spending.ResultsI find that in contexts where labor unions are stronger, higher levels of income inequality prompt greater support for welfare spending.ConclusionThese findings illustrate an additional mechanism through which labor unions can check income inequality and help us to understand why the American public has not turned in favor of redistribution during an era of rising economic inequality.

Comparisons of utility inequality and income inequality

A simple theoretical model is developed and analyzed to investigate the possible relationships between income inequality and utility inequality. Measuring utility inequality and income inequality with Gini coefficients, it is argued that there need not be any relation whatsoever between the realized levels of inequality in these two distinct outcomes. That is, a high level of income inequality could result when there is either equally high or absolutely no utility inequality, and a low level of income inequality could result when there is either no utility inequality or a relatively high degree of utility inequality. Consequently, if what we are actually concerned with is inequality in utility or well-being, observations on income inequality might be meaningless.