Household Income Distribution Research Articles

The monetary policy of the State Bank of Vietnam, households and income distribution: the evidence from DSGE model

Purpose This paper aims to propose a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model for the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) to assess the response from the household sector to monetary policy shocks through the consumption function. Moreover, the transmission from monetary policy to household consumption and income distribution is experimented with through the vector autoregression (VAR) model. Design/methodology/approach In this study, the authors used the maximum likelihood estimation to estimate the DSGE and VAR models with the sample from 1996Q1 to the end of 2021Q4 (104 observations). Findings The DSGE model’s results show that the response of the household sector is as expected in the theory: a monetary policy shock occurs that increases the policy interest rate by 0.29%, leading to a decrease in consumer spending of about 0.041%, the shock fades after one year. Estimates from the VAR model give similar results: a monetary policy shock narrows income inequality after about 2–3 quarters and this process tends to slow down in the long run. Research limitations/implications Based on the research results, the authors propose policy implications for the SBV to achieve the goal of price stability, and stabilizing the macro-economic environment in Vietnam. Originality/value The findings of the study have theoretical contributions and empirical scientific evidence showing the effectiveness of the implementation of the SBV’s monetary policy in the context of macro-instability, namely: flexibility, caution and coordination of different measures promptly.

Minimum wages and household income distribution: Evidence from China

AbstractBased on the 2004–2015 China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) data, this article examines the effect of minimum wages on household income distribution. The results show that minimum wage increases significantly reduce the probability of per capita household net income falling below the poverty threshold, indicating that minimum wage can play a role in poverty reduction. Furthermore, we find that minimum wages significantly reduce the probability of per capita household income being 0–3 times lower than the poverty threshold, but have little effect on households with per capita net income more than 3 times the poverty threshold, which means that minimum wage increases can reduce household income inequality. We also find heterogeneous effects of minimum wage increases on household income distribution across gender, education, hukou, and age of household heads. Finally, we show that minimum wage increases play a role in regulating household income distribution by increasing the wages of employed individuals in households.

Using Multiple Data Sources to Learn about the Race and Ethnicity of Taxpayers

Recently, studying income by race and ethnicity has gained interest among policymakers. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) regularly reports on the distribution of household income, using a statistically matched dataset with survey and administrative tax data to account for the household resources for both tax filers and nonfilers. CBO has not evaluated whether the statistical match preserves the distribution of income by race and ethnicity reported in the survey. This preliminary analysis of CBO's statistically matched data by race and ethnicity uses information from survey data linked to administrative tax data at the individual level from the US Census Bureau.

Decoupling of functional and household income distribution by economic growth: new findings from analysing the three‐way growth‐equity nexus

Decoupling of functional and household income distribution by economic growth: new findings from analysing the three‐way growth‐equity nexus

Impact of health investment on household income distribution: insights from China's longitudinal survey data.

This paper investigates the impact of health investment on household income distribution, drawing from data spanning over 10 years from the China Nutrition and Health Survey. The study aims to contribute to the literature by examining the nuanced pathways through which health investment influences income distribution. Utilizing a rich dataset, rigorous empirical methods including quantile regression and cross-sectional data modeling are employed to explore the relationship between health investment and income distribution. The analysis reveals a robust positive association between health investment and both absolute and relative income levels across various demographic and occupational groups. Additionally, the study elucidates the pathways through which health investment influences income, including its effects on illness duration, employment opportunities, effective working time, and educational attainment. The findings demonstrate the dynamic nature of the relationship, indicating that as income levels rise, the impact of health investment on income becomes more pronounced. Moreover, the analysis highlights the role of health investment in facilitating upward income mobility, particularly for low-income households. Overall, these findings provide valuable insights for policymakers, suggesting that strategic health investment initiatives can contribute to achieving more equitable income distribution.

Expansion of Child Tax Credits and Mental Health of Parents With Low Income in 2021.

The 2021 Child Tax Credit (CTC) expansion, as part of the American Rescue Plan Act, offered financial relief through generous monthly tax benefits to families with children amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In light of heightened concerns about mental health during the pandemic, the expanded CTC may have alleviated parental mental health challenges, especially within families with low income. To investigate the association between the 2021 CTC expansion and mental health among parents with low income as measured by depression and anxiety symptoms. This repeated cross-sectional study used data from the Household Pulse Survey covering April 14, 2021, to January 10, 2022, in the US. A difference-in-difference-in-differences estimator combined with propensity score matching was used to estimate the association of the expanded CTC with mental health symptoms among households with income less than $35 000. The monthly payment of expanded CTC from July 15 to December 15, 2021. Parental mental health was measured by analyzing depression and anxiety symptoms using logistic regression. The weighted sample comprised 546 366 adults (mean [SD] age, 43.02 [14.54] years; 52.9% female). The most common education level was high school or less (36.0%), the highest frequency of household income distribution was $50 000 to $74 999 (16.1%), and the majority of the sample was employed (67.3%). The weighted mean (SD) number of children in the household was 0.92 (1.18). For the full sample, receiving expanded CTC benefits was associated with lower odds of experiencing anxiety symptoms (odds ratio, 0.730; 95% CI, 0.598-0.890). Subgroup analyses indicated that the positive associations of the policy with anxiety symptoms were particularly pronounced among the female, working-age (17-60 years), non-Hispanic White, and higher education groups. However, the policy expansion had no association with depression. These findings may provide valuable evidence for policy makers to consider when deliberating on the possibility of making the CTC expansion permanent or transforming it into a universal program.

Double (Dis)Advantage: The Cumulative Role of Parental Resources and the Institutional Context in Intergenerational Time and Money Transfers

Abstract This study addresses an underexplored mechanism of social inequality transmission, namely, intergenerational transfers from older parents to their adult children in terms of (i) money and (ii) time (specifically, devoted to sporadic or regular childcare). A yet unaddressed question in the literature is whether these two resources are transferred in a cumulative (i.e., both resources being transferred) or compensatory (i.e., only one resource being transferred) manner and how such cumulation or compensation depends on parental income and the wider institutional context. Filling this lacuna, this study investigates whether grandparents who have fewer financial resources compensate for their lack of opportunities to provide financial transfers to their adult children by transferring more time to their children, or whether higher-income parents are more likely to transfer both more time and money than lower-income parents, resulting in greater advantage among their receiving children (cumulation). Drawing on six waves of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe, this study analyzes transfers from more than 53,000 grandparents aged 50 or older to their adult children across European countries. The findings show that higher-income parents, relative to lower-income parents, are more likely to provide both time (more precisely, sporadic childcare) and financial support to their adult children, yielding evidence for the cumulation of transfers. Further, evidence of a double (dis)advantage emerges, as social gradients in (financial and regular time) transfers are more pronounced in contexts with smaller public expenditures on formal childcare and a more unequal distribution of household incomes.

Global evidence on the economic effects of disease suppression during COVID-19

Governments around the world attempted to suppress the spread of COVID-19 using restrictions on social and economic activity. This study presents the first global analysis of job and income losses associated with those restrictions, using Gallup World Poll data from 321,000 randomly selected adults in 117 countries from July 2020 to March 2021. Nearly half of the world’s adult population lost income because of COVID-19, according to our estimates, and this outcome and related measures of economic harm—such as income loss—are strongly associated with lower subjective well-being, financial hardship, and self-reported loss of subjective well-being. Our primary analysis uses a multilevel model with country and month-year levels, so we can simultaneously test for significant associations between both individual demographic predictors of harm and time-varying country-level predictors. We find that an increase of one-standard deviation in policy stringency, averaged up to the time of the survey date, predicts a 0.37 std increase in an index of economic harm (95% CI 0.24–0.51) and a 14.2 percentage point (95% CI 8.3–20.1 ppt) increase in the share of workers experiencing job loss. Similar effect sizes are found comparing stringency levels between top and bottom-quintile countries. Workers with lower-socioeconomic status—measured by within-country income rank or education—were much more likely to report harm linked to the pandemic than those with tertiary education or relatively high incomes. The gradient between harm and stringency is much steeper for workers at the bottom quintiles of the household income distribution than it is for those at the top, which we show with interaction models. Socioeconomic status is unrelated to harm where stringency is low, but highly and negatively associated with harm where it is high. Our detailed policy analysis reveals that school closings, stay-at-home orders, and other economic restrictions were strongly associated with economic harm, but other non-pharmaceutical interventions—such as contact tracing, mass testing, and protections for the elderly were not.

Carbon inequality and support for carbon taxation

AbstractStringent policies that significantly increase the cost of greenhouse gas emissions, such as CO2, are increasingly necessary for mitigating climate change. Yet while richer individuals in society generate the most CO2 emissions and thus will face the largest absolute cost burden, they also tend to be more supportive of stringent environmental policies. In this paper, we examine how information about the distribution of carbon emissions by income affects support for carbon taxation. While carbon taxation is widely advocated as the most efficient policy for mitigating climate change, it faces significant political hurdles due to its distributional costs. Using original survey data, with an embedded experiment, we find that providing information about the actual distribution of household CO2 emissions by income significantly changes individuals' support for carbon taxation. These effects are particularly pronounced at the bottom of the household income distribution, leading to increased support for costly climate policies. However, individuals who believe that carbon taxes will reduce their income continue to hold their level of support for carbon taxation. Our findings have significant implications for understanding the public's response to the distributional consequences of the green transitions and ultimately their political feasibility.

Social Accounting Matrices: Challenges and Prospects of Use in Macroeconomic Statistics

The paper presents results of the first stage of research on the construction of social accounting matrices (SAMs) for the Russian Federation as part of the HSE University study on statistical assessment of households’ economic behaviour. The author analyses the methodological foun- dations of SAM compilation, their connection with the System of National Accounts (SNA) and their use in macroeconomic analysis. Special attention is paid to the application of SAM in evaluating exogenous impacts, including multiplier effects, arising in all spheres of the national economy at governing decision-making and implementation of economic policy projects.The paper reviews aggregated social accounting matrices for the Russian Federation for the year 2020 that were compiled according to the SNA methodology and based on the G. Pyatt and A. Roe modified model. The author proposes the scheme of accounts partial trans- formation enhancing the reflection of direct income flows between institutional sectors. The properties of SAM as a static economic impact evaluation model are reviewed, and for illustration purposes, results of experimental computation of the effect of changed demand from the Rest of the World are considered.Analysis of areas of SAM application and its development as a tool for macroeconomic research highlights the importance of development methods of a detailed representation of the structure of household incomes and expenditures in social accounting matrices. It will foster solutions to poverty, inequality and connected social problems. It is noted that, with increased attention to the social aspects of macroeconomic accounting, SAM can become a major tool for measuring well-being and household income formation and distribution processes in macroeconomic statistics.

Assessing the Effects of Place-Based Policy on Spatial Inequality and the Distribution of Household Income: Evidence from Tax Increment Financing

This research examines the effects of tax increment financing (TIF) on spatial inequality from 1990 to 2014 in Cook County, Illinois. The author explores the effects of TIF on real income and income distribution and examines whether the effects lead to a reduction in spatial inequality. To address the question of spatial inequality, dependent variables are constructed that assess the probability of TIF increasing upward mobility on the real income ladder and catching up with other areas. The results show beneficial distributional effects, but the effects are much attenuated when examining changes in the probability of moving up in the rankings, indicating that the effects of TIF are limited in reducing spatial inequality in the region.

A Comparative Analysis of Household Incomes of People with Different Levels of Education in Poland and the USA

Abstract Research background Household income is one of the most important economic categories depending on various factors, in particular on the level of education of the head of the household. Salaries are treated as the market valuation of graduates made by employers. Hence, the question arises of how the education system affects the distribution of household income, in particular in the group of people with higher education. Purpose The aim of the paper is to apply the Singh-Maddala model to describe the income distribution of people with primary, secondary and higher education in Poland and the USA. On the basis of numerical characteristics and measures of income inequality, the situation of education, in particular higher education, and its impact on household income in the analyzed countries were assessed. Research methodology The study used data from the Luxembourg Income Study Database (LIS) from 2020. All analyzes were based on the Singh-Maddala model. The maximum likelihood method was used to estimate the model parameters. Results The analysis showed that the higher the level of education, the better the income situation of the household. In Poland, salaries in the group of people with higher education are the most unequal, while in the USA the greatest income inequalities occur in the group of people with primary education. Novelty The paper describes the issue of household income distribution and income inequality, which is an important and current socio-economic problem. To describe and analyze the economic situation of the household incomes of people with different levels of education in Poland and the USA statistical data from the Luxembourg Income Study Database (LIS) was used. Empirical studies conducted for different samples add significantly to existing knowledge on the topic.

Risk perceptions of individuals living in single-parent households during the COVID-19 crisis: examining the mediating and moderating role of income.

The COVID-19 crisis had severe social and economic impact on the life of most citizens around the globe. Individuals living in single-parent households were particularly at risk, revealing detrimental labour market outcomes and assessments of future perspectives marked by worries. As it has not been investigated yet, in this paper we study, how their perception about the future and their outlook on how the pandemic will affect them is related to their objective economic resources. Against this background, we examine the subjective risk perception of worsening living standards of individuals living in single-parent households compared to other household types, their objective economic situation based on the logarithmised equivalised disposable household incomes and analyse the relationship between those indicators. Using the German SOEP, including the SOEP-CoV survey from 2020, our findings based on regression modelling reveal that individuals living in single-parent households have been worse off during the pandemic, facing high economic insecurity. Path and interaction models support our assumption that the association between those indicators may not be that straightforward, as there are underlying mechanisms-such as mediation and moderation-of income affecting its direction and strength. With respect to our central hypotheses, our empirical findings point toward (1) a mediation effect, by demonstrating that the subjective risk perception of single-parent households can be partly explained by economic conditions. (2) The moderating effect suggests that the concrete position at the income distribution of households matters as well. While at the lower end of the income distribution, single-parent households reveal particularly worse risk perceptions during the pandemic, at the high end of the income spectrum, risk perceptions are similar for all household types. Thus, individuals living in single-parent households do not perceive higher risks of worsening living standards due to their household situation per se, but rather because they are worse off in terms of their economic situation compared to individuals living in other household types.

Assessing the Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Outcomes of Patient Admitted with Sickle Cell Disease

Introduction: Sickle cell disease (SCD) is an autosomal recessive hemoglobinopathy which affects millions of people worldwide. It is caused by a substitution of the glutamic acid (Glu) amino acid with valine (Val) at the sixth position of the β-globin gene, resulting in a mutated hemoglobin tetramer, HbS, in the erythrocytes of affected individuals. This morphology results in sickle-shaped red blood cells and hemolysis when deoxygenated and leads to vaso-occlusion with associated ischemia. SCD is characterized by repeated severe acute pain episodes, acute chest syndrome, and can be complicated by stroke, nephropathy, avascular necrosis, and more. Many studies have shown disparities in outcomes in racial/ethnic minorities as well as in those with lower socioeconomic status. These factors have also been linked to increased risk of COVID-19 infection and infection related mortality. In this study, we aim to explore the baseline characteristics of patients with SCD, prevalence of hospitalizations, and compare inpatient outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic with those prior to the pandemic. Methods: Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) was queried to determine adult hospitalized patients with a primary diagnosis of SCD using ICD-10 codes. They were stratified into two cohort groups based on year of admission, comparing admissions during 2016-2019 with admission during the year 2020. Primary outcomes assessed were inpatient mortality, length of stay (LOS), and total hospitalization charges. Secondary outcomes included respiratory failure, need for mechanical ventilation, cerebrovascular accident (CVA), myocardial infarction (MI), acute kidney injury (AKI), pulmonary embolism (PE), and need for blood transfusions. Multivariate linear and logistic regression analysis was performed to adjust for confounding variables. Results: A total of 456, 750 patients were hospitalized with SCD. 377, 285 were admitted between 2016-2019 and 79, 465 were admitted during 2020. Age distribution and sex were similar between the two groups. Patients admitted in the year 2020 were older and had more comorbidities when compared to patients admitted during prior years. Distribution of race, insurance type, hospital type, hospital size, hospital locations, and household income was not significantly different between the two groups. In 2020 patients admitted with SCD had greater odds of developing acute respiratory failure and PE, though the overall prevalence of these secondary outcomes were very low (3.6% and 0.80% respectively). Despite these outcomes, there was no significant difference in inpatient mortality (0.31% vs. 0.23%) for SCD patients admitted during 2020 when compared to prior years. In addition, the length of hospital stay was not significantly different in these two groups as well (5.1 vs. 4.9 days). Finally, patients admitted in 2020 incurred significantly higher hospital costs than SCD during pre-pandemic years ($42, 307 vs. $36, 087). Conclusion: SCD is the most common hemoglobinopathy in the United States. The African American population is most commonly affected by this disease. In addition, it is well known that this racial minority suffers inequities in accessing and receiving health care, which is associated with worse overall outcomes. During the COVID-19 pandemic, reduced access to hospital services combined with fear of exposure to the virus, led to a significant drop in overall access to healthcare and treatment. In this study, we found that those with SCD admitted during the COVID-19 pandemic overall had more comorbidities and more commonly had respiratory failure and pulmonary embolism, yet there was no change in inpatient mortality and LOS for these patients. Although disparities existed during the pandemic, it is fortunate that SCD itself did not serve as an additional risk factor for inpatient mortality and hospitalization duration.

Effect of Demographic and Environmental Factors on Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia(CLL) in the State of Colorado

Various publications have examined the relationship between environmental risk factors and the development of CLL. Factors such as household income, race, altitude and air pollution have been explored. Results have been inconclusive. In this study, we examine these four factors and their possible relationship to the prevalence of CLL. We accessed the state of Colorado all payer claims database of about 3.6 million people with dates of service from Jan 2017 to June 2020. We calculated age and sex in CLL patients. We used propensity score matching based on age and sex to generate our comparator group on a 1:1 matching scheme. We accessed US EPA 2022 data to get air quality index (AQI) for all zip codes in Colorado and US census data for household income and racial distribution by zip code. We accessed US geological survey data to determine average elevation by zip code. We assess these four factors in relation to CLL and the comparator group. We found 3622 cases of CLL in the total population. The average age of CLL patients was 69 and the sex distribution was 74% male. After propensity matching, we identified an equal number of non CLL patients as the comparator. In analyzing CLL patients versus the comparators, we found no relationship between average elevation, racial makeup, average household income, or air quality by zip code (P=NS). In this large statewide population, there was no effect of race distribution, household income, elevation or air quality on the prevalence of CLL.

A study of agro-economic development and its impact on socio-economic inequality in Ukraine

In today’s world, the problem of inequality is gaining global significance, and numerous international institutions set among their main tasks the fight against its manifestations – economic, social, etc. The study of economic inequality during martial law is extremely relevant, as it primarily negatively affects people’s lives and well-being, provokes crises and additional social tensions, and, as a result, destabilizes the state system and the national economy, which are already in a state of crisis due to military operations. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the causes of social and financial stratification of Ukrainian society in the context of agro-economic development. The dynamics of salary in Ukraine, in particular, in the agricultural sector, was studied using the method of statistical analysis, and the index of general economic stratification was calculated using the Gini coefficient method. Statistical data on the development of the agricultural land market was analysed, starting from the end of the moratorium in July 2021 and until June 2023. As a result, the current key indicators of the land market in Ukraine, and information on salary in various sectors of the economy in the period from 2014 to 2022 were obtained, and the incomes of agricultural employees were analysed, which turned out to be below average. For a more objective assessment, statistics on the largest agricultural countries of the European Union were used and compared with their inequality indicators. The calculation of the Gini coefficient showed a 10% increase in the inequality of income distribution of Ukrainian households between 2014 and 2022, but it was still lower than the current indicators of such European countries as Germany, Sweden, and Poland. The practical significance of the work lies in the development of recommendations for reducing the gap between rich and poor in Ukraine, in particular in the agricultural sector, which can be used by the relevant authorities to redistribute the agricultural market and optimize tax legislation

Income Distribution Analysis of Livestock Farmer Households in Karst Area of Girisubo Sub-District, Gunungkidul District

This study was conducted to analyze the distribution of household income of livestock farmers in Girisubo District, Gunungkidul Regency. The basic method of research is descriptive. The method of determining the location in the study was purposive on the consideration that Girisubo District has a large number of cattle population with a small population compared to other districts. The data sample used was 100 respondents. The data analysis method used was The Gini ratio and Lorenz curve. The characteristics of livestock farmer households in Girisubo sub-district are majority male, aged < 30 to ≥ 60 years, have 3-4 household members, cultivate 4 agricultural commodities (rice, corn, beans, cassava), and have 1-5 livestock. The highest contribution of farm household income is in livestock income of 48.68%. The resulting Gini ratio value is 0.496, which means the inequality level is moderate.

A micro-macro-economic modelling approach to major welfare system reforms: The case of a Universal Basic Income for Scotland

This paper develops – and applies – a micro-macroeconomic modeling approach for assessing major welfare system reforms. With a growing interest in the value of bold welfare reforms in the light of persistent and widening inequalities, we demonstrate the value of a comprehensive analysis of both the (micro) impact upon the distribution of household incomes and wider (macro) impacts upon national income, unemployment and government spending. By combining microsimulation with CGE modeling, we argue that our findings demonstrate the importance of any major social welfare or broad fiscal reform being the subject of a micro-macro modeling approach. We illustrate this through an application to the introduction of a universal basic income in Scotland.

법인세의 분배효과에 관한 연구

This study analyzes the effect of corporate income tax on income distribution in Korea. Studies on the economic effects of corporate income tax have mainly focused on investment and employment effects. This research trend is due to the prevailing idea that the investment effect of corporate income tax is decisive, employment and wages are determined incidentally, and that companies are merely conduits for distributing profits to shareholders. However, corporate income tax also affects the labor income share and household income distribution through changes in employment and wages, dividends, and internal reserve fund of a company. If corporate income tax cuts increase investment, but employment growth is weak and real wage growth rates falls short of labor productivity growth rates, the labor income share will decrease and household income inequality will widen. According to the results of the empirical research, the effects of corporate income tax rate on investment and employment are weak. The expanded investment is also capital-intensive, so the employment effect is not significant, and more the real wage increase does not keep up with labor productivity. As a result, a reduction in the effective corporate income tax rate lowers the labor income share and increases income inequality. Therefore, to increase the distribution effect of corporate income tax, corporate income tax should be reformed in a way that supports employment growth and real wage increases while including investment.

Digital Inequality and Household Income Distribution: Evidence from Rural China

Digital Inequality and Household Income Distribution: Evidence from Rural China