High Levels Of Income Inequality Research Articles

Social Mobility as an Income Inequality Determinant

Abstract The paper focuses on the social mobility as the key driver of the income inequality. The aim of the paper is to contribute to the assessment of the social mobility and explore its links to the level of inequality and the age structure of the country. Employing composite social mobility indicator featuring benefit-of-the-doubt weighting principle, scores, ranks and benchmarks for 55 countries worldwide are determined by slack-based data envelopment analysis (DEA) reduced model. The proposed measure is compared to a regular Global Social Mobility Index (GSMI). Score and rank correlations reveal some significant differences although Denmark is robustly confirmed as a leader in social mobility worldwide. The suggested DEA-based approach proved more flexible as to determining benchmarks for underperforming countries. Second stage regression analysis reveals higher levels of income inequality for the countries of lower social mobility and with higher share of young people.

On the Character and Causes of Inequality in Latin America

On the Character and Causes of Inequality in Latin America

A deep learning model identifies emphasis on hard work as an important predictor of income inequality

High levels of income inequality can persist in society only if people accept the inequality as justified. To identify psychological predictors of people’s tendency to justify inequality, we retrained a pre-existing deep learning model to predict the extent to which World Values Survey respondents believed that income inequality is necessary. A feature importance analysis revealed multiple items associated with the importance of hard work as top predictors. As an emphasis on hard work is a key component of the Protestant Work Ethic, we formulated the hypothesis that the PWE increases acceptance of inequality. A correlational study found that the more people endorsed PWE, the less disturbed they were about factual statistics about wealth equality in the US. Two experiments found that exposing people to PWE items decreased their disturbance with income inequality. The findings indicate that machine learning models can be reused to generate viable hypotheses.

Income Inequality Gap as a Indicator for Measuring the Effectiveness of Social Policy: A Case Study on the Czech Republic

Income inequality is a significant social problem that differentiates society according to the amount of income into structured groups, which do not always objectively correspond to the generally required national economic or political idea of income equality in society. The high level of income inequality, including its inappropriate structure, is a source of intergroup tension, hinders balanced economic development and limits the development of society as a whole with reference to social disadvantage and income stratification of society. The contribution aims to present social income as an indicator for moderating the income inequality in the society through which the subjects of social policy may influence the distribution of money income among the individual social groups within the society and thus improve the living standard of the population in the given country. The level of influence of income inequality through social income will be expressed by the so-called income inequality gap and will be assessed by means of changes in the index of income inequalities on the case of the Czech Republic.

The geography of intergenerational mobility: Evidence of educational persistence and the “Great Gatsby Curve” in Brazil

AbstractThis paper explores the variation in intergenerational educational mobility across the Brazilian states based on univariate econometric techniques. The analysis of the national household survey (PNAD‐2014) confirms a strong variation in mobility among the 27 federative units in Brazil and demonstrates a significant correlation between mobility and income inequality. In this sense, this work presents empirical evidence for the existence of the “Great Gatsby curve” within a single country: states with greater income disparities present higher levels of persistence in educational levels across generations. Finally, the paper investigates one specific mechanism behind this correlation: whether higher income inequality might lead to lower investment in human capital among children from socially vulnerable households. The paper delivers robust and compelling results showing that children born into families where the parents have not completed primary education have a statistically significant reduction in their chance of completing the educational system if they live in states with a higher level of income inequality.

On the measurement of opportunity-dependent inequality under uncertainty

The actual level of income inequality and the scope of allocation options influence the individual as well as social perception of inequality under uncertainty. We show how incorporating opportunity concerns under uncertainty would affect inequality perception. An axiomatic system on preferences is suggested and demonstrated to characterize a measure of opportunity-dependent index under uncertainty, which would potentially provide a satisfactory answer to the puzzling observation that many individuals perceive higher level of income inequality although its actual level is low.

Inequality, public health, and COVID-19: an analysis of the Spanish case by municipalities

The main objective of this work is to analyze whether inequality in income distribution has an effect on COVID-19 incidence and mortality rates during the first wave of the pandemic, and how the public health system mitigates these effects. To this end, the case of 819 Spanish municipalities is used, and a linear cross-sectional model is estimated. The results obtained allow us to conclude that a higher level of income inequality generates a higher rate of infections but not deaths, highlighting the importance of the Spanish National Health Service, which does not distinguish by income level. Likewise, early detection of infection measured by the number of primary care centers per 100,000 inhabitants, access to health care for the treatment of the most severe cases, unemployment as a proxy for job insecurity, climatic conditions, and population density are also important factors that determine how COVID-19 affects the population.

Regulation and income inequality in the United States

Income inequality in the United States has risen over the past several decades. Over the same period, federal regulatory restrictions have increased. An emerging literature shows that regulations can have regressive effects on the distribution of income, exacerbating inequality. The Federal Regulation and State Enterprise (FRASE) index quantifies the regulatory restrictions that apply to each US state by industrial composition. We construct a panel of 50 US states from 1997 to 2015 to test whether states exposed to more federal regulatory restrictions have higher levels of income inequality. The results indicate that a 10 percent increase in federal regulation is associated with an approximate 0.5 percent increase in income inequality as measured by the Gini coefficient . When states are rank-ordered by average Gini coefficient, a 0.5 percent increase in income inequality will typically result in a two-position decline in state ranking. • Both income inequality and federal regulations have increased in the United States. • We study these variables in a panel of 50 states between 1997 and 2015. • States are differentially exposed to federal regulation by industrial composition. • States exposed to more federal regulation tend to have higher income inequality. • Regressive effects may occur because of capture by incumbents and/or higher costs.

Are stress-related pathways of social status differentiation more important determinants of health inequities in countries with higher levels of income inequality?

We explored socioeconomic gradients in self-rated overall health (SROH) using indicators of materialist (educational attainment and perceived income adequacy) and psychosocial perspectives (subjective social status (SSS)) among adults living in countries with varying levels of income inequality, and the importance of psychosocial stress in mediating these associations. If psychosocial processes at the individual and societal levels correspond, associations between SSS and SROH should be higher among adults in countries with higher income inequality, and psychosocial stress should be a more important mediator of these associations. We used multigroup structural equation models to analyse cross-sectional data from the International Food Policy Study of adults (n=22,824) in Australia, Canada, Mexico, the UK and the United States. Associations between SSS and SROH were not higher in more unequal countries, nor was psychosocial stress a more important mediator of these associations. Inequities in SROH in more unequal countries may not predominantly reflect stress-related pathways of social status differentiation.

Equity impact of minimum unit pricing of alcohol on household health and finances among rich and poor drinkers in South Africa

IntroductionSouth Africa experiences significant levels of alcohol-related harm. Recent research suggests minimum unit pricing (MUP) for alcohol would be an effective policy, but high levels of income inequality raise concerns...

Does life satisfaction vary with income inequality and social mobility?

This article provides a novel analysis using the Global Social Mobility Index (GSMI) in order to explore whether the relationship between income inequality and life satisfaction differs depending on the level of social mobility. Unlike typical social mobility proxies, such as intergenerational persistence in education, the GSMI (by the World Economic Forum) views mobility as a broad concept which captures both quantity and quality which results in a more precise measure. Using a cross-country panel dataset (143 countries, 2005–2020), the main results indicate that, overall, a higher level of income inequality is related with a lower national average life satisfaction. Furthermore, the findings support the tunnel effect hypothesis showing that the negative relationship between income inequality and life satisfaction is more prevalent in groups with lower social mobility. The contributions of this study are devoted to the area of wellbeing policy development. Policies aimed at promoting income equality are recommended to improve the overall life satisfaction of citizens, especially for countries with low social mobility.

The Effect of Sex and Wealth on Population Attributable Risk Factors for Dementia in South Africa

Background and Aims: South Africa is a middle-income country with high levels of income inequality and a rapidly aging population and increasing dementia prevalence. Little is known about which risk factors for dementia are important and how they differ by social determinants of health as well as key demographic characteristics such as sex and wealth. We sought to calculate the population attributable risks (PARs) for established potentially modifiable risk factors for dementia among these different groups.Methods: We obtained risk factor prevalence from population-based surveys for established dementia risk factors (diabetes, midlife hypertension, midlife obesity, physical inactivity, depression, smoking, low educational attainment, social isolation). We used relative risk estimates reported in previous meta-analyses and estimated PARs using Levin's formula and accounting for communality. We tested for one-way and two-way interactions by sex and wealth using Pearson's χ2. In stratified analyses, we performed tests for trend using logistic regression.Results: The prevalence of established risk factors for dementia ranged from 5% for depression to 64% for low education. After accounting for communality, the risk factors contributing the greatest PAR were low education (weighted PAR 12%, 95% CI 7% to 18%), physical inactivity (9, 5–14%), and midlife hypertension (6, 5–14%). Together, 45% of dementia cases may be attributable to modifiable risk factors (95% CI 25–59%). We found significant interactions (p < 0.005) between sex, wealth, or both (sex * wealth) and each risk factor except social isolation and physical activity. Low education was inversely associated with wealth in both male and female. The PAR for midlife hypertension, obesity, and diabetes was associated with increasing wealth, and was higher in female. In contrast, the PAR for smoking was higher in male (8% vs. 2%) and was associated with increasing wealth among female only. We found that either a strategy of large reductions in selected risk factors with the highest PAR (midlife hypertension, smoking, physical inactivity) or small reductions across all risk factors could potentially reduce dementia cases by as many as 250,000 by 2050.Discussions: The potential impact on dementia risk by decreasing exposure to established dementia risk factors is large and differs by sex and social determinants of health like wealth. Risk factor PAR should inform national and local health policy dementia initiatives in South Africa including which risk factors to target in the whole population and which to target in high-risk groups for maximum public health benefit.

Sociophysics of income distributions modeled by deformed fermi-dirac distributions

ABSTRACT In order to model the income data, the physical distributions of Fermi-Dirac and Bose-Einstein families have already been proposed in the literature. In this study, we generalize Fermi-Dirac distribution by using a q,p-deformed version of Fermi-Dirac distribution which provides the advantage of working with flexible free q, p deformation parameters as the regression parameters for modeling the income data. We analyze the accuracy of the generalized version, q,p-deformed Fermi-Dirac distribution, on describing the data of income share held by quintiles for countries, and household income for the states of U.S.A. in 2018. We also use minimization routine for modeling the data which leads to the best fit parameters for the deformation parameters q and p. Subsequently, we plot the fitted q,p-deformed Fermi-Dirac distribution as income distribution with the obtained deformation parameters, then find the statistical confidence values from the fitted curve. We figure out that our model properly describes the income data for the systems experiencing a high level of income inequality, and also values are correlated with the Gini index for those of considered systems.

An analysis of the Effect of Public Subsidies on Income Inequality of Forestry Household using Gini Coefficient Decomposition

In this study, the Gini coefficient is estimated and decomposed within as well as between the forest industries according to income components. Analytical results indicate that the average Gini coefficient for the entire sample from 2009 to 2018 is 0.478 which can be interpreted that a high level of inequality in the forestry household income exists. Forestry investment subsidies are proven to play a vital role in alleviating income inequality for forestry households. This study suggests that government needs to increase the public forestry subsidies in order to mitigate the high level of income inequality.

Where do angry birds tweet? Income inequality and online hate in Italy

AbstractDo spatial socioeconomic features influence a digital behaviour like cyberhate? Our contribution provides an answer to this question, showing how high levels of income inequality determine high volumes of hate tweets in Italy. Our findings are robust to potential endogeneity problems of income inequality, as well as to the inclusion of confounding factors and to competing estimation strategies. Additionally, we find that education does not act as a protective factor against cyberhate in unequal places, aligning with existing evidence showing that inequality may trigger intolerance, including among educated people, threatening the perceived stability of social positions. Also, in the Italian case, the perception of economic insecurity fuels cyberhate, alongside the transmission of self-interest values along family generations. The latter finding relates to existing evidence supporting the role of persistent social norms in shaping people’s attitudes.

Contrasting the experiences for high- and low-income Asian Americans during COVID-19

There is a lack of quantitative research examining how the pandemic has affected individuals at different income levels. The Asian American population has the highest level of income inequality and serves as an excellent case study for examining differences in experience between income groups. A non-probability sample of 3084 Asian American adults living in the US was surveyed in June 2020, examining health-related behaviors and outcomes. Descriptive analyses and chi-squared statistics were conducted to identify differences in income groups (low, medium, high) among Asian Americans across regional subgroups (East, South, Southeast, Multiethnic) and disaggregated ethnicities (Chinese, Asian Indian, Japanese, and Filipino). In bivariable analyses, a significantly (p < 0.05) greater percentage of high-income individuals during the pandemic reported having enough money to buy the food they needed, a away to get to the store for food, and reported stores where they get food had everything they needed. High-income Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino individual also noted that, since the COVID-19 crisis, they are now working partially or fully from home. In the total sample, multivariable adjusted logistic regressions revealed medium- and low-income individuals to have low odds of working partially or fully from home (AOR:0.55, 95%CI:0.42–0.72), higher odds of not having enough money to buy the food they needed (AOR:3.54, 95%CI:1.43–11.81), and higher odds of eating less (AOR:1.58, 95%CI:1.14–2.22). These results highlight the importance of considering income distribution when characterizing disparities in health behaviors within racial/ethnic minority groups and underscore the need to bolster the infrastructure supporting low-income Asian Americans.

The trap of climate change-induced “natural” disasters and inequality

The purpose of the present paper is to disentangle the mechanisms that connect climate change-induced disasters, inequality and vulnerability by accounting for both directions of causality. We do so by means of a simultaneous equations approach on a panel of 149 countries from 1992 to 2018. The empirical analysis reveals that countries with higher levels of income inequality suffer greater damages when hit by a natural disaster. At the same time, inequality is found to increase the number of people affected by disasters. Our analysis discloses the existence of a vicious cycle that keeps some countries stuck in a disasters-inequality trap.

Inclusive institutions, unequal outcomes: Democracy, state capacity, and income inequality

Although the relationship between democratic rule and income inequality has received important attention in recent literature, the evidence has been far from conclusive. In this paper, we explore whether the redistributive effect of democratic rule is conditional on state capacity. Previous literature has outlined that pre-existing state capacity may be necessary for inequality-reducing policies under democratic rule. In contrast to that intuitive view, this study argues that democratic rule and high state capacity combined produce higher levels of income inequality over time. This relationship operates through the positive effect of high-capacity democratic context on foreign direct investment and financial development. By making use of a novel measure of state capacity based on cumulative census administration, we find empirical support for these claims using fixed-effects panel regressions with the data from 126 industrial and developing countries between 1970 and 2013.

Urban socioeconomics and mortality

Coronavirus Santiago, Chile, is a highly segregated city with distinct zones of affluence and deprivation. This setting offers a window on how social factors propel the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic in an economically vulnerable society with high levels of income inequality. Mena et al. analyzed incidence and mortality attributed to SARS-CoV-2 to understand spatial variations in disease burden. Infection fatality rates were higher in lower-income municipalities because of comorbidities and lack of access to health care. Disparities between municipalities in the quality of their health care delivery system became apparent in testing delays and capacity. These indicators explain a large part of the variation in COVID-19 underreporting and deaths and show that these inequalities disproportionately affected younger people. Science , abg5298, this issue p. [eabg5298][1] [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.abg5298

Socioeconomic status determines COVID-19 incidence and related mortality in Santiago, Chile.

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected cities particularly hard. Here, we provide an in-depth characterization of disease incidence and mortality and their dependence on demographic and socioeconomic strata in Santiago, a highly segregated city and the capital of Chile. Our analyses show a strong association between socioeconomic status and both COVID-19 outcomes and public health capacity. People living in municipalities with low socioeconomic status did not reduce their mobility during lockdowns as much as those in more affluent municipalities. Testing volumes may have been insufficient early in the pandemic in those places, and both test positivity rates and testing delays were much higher. We find a strong association between socioeconomic status and mortality, measured by either COVID-19-attributed deaths or excess deaths. Finally, we show that infection fatality rates in young people are higher in low-income municipalities. Together, these results highlight the critical consequences of socioeconomic inequalities on health outcomes.