Income In Taiwan Research Articles

Income inequalities in exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals among pregnant women in Taiwan

BackgroundExposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) is being rigorously studied in associations with various health outcomes, however less attention has been paid to its socio-economic determinants. This study investigated how EDCs exposure levels in pregnant women could differ on individual- and area- level income in Taiwan. MethodsUrinary measurements of phthalates, nonylphenol, bisphenol A, parabens and individual socio-economic variables (income, education, etc.) of pregnant women from Taiwan Maternal and Infant Cohort Study (TMICS) were linked via residence to area-level average annual household income. EDCs concentrations were compared between the four main Taiwan regions (North, Central, South and East) and between individual income groups. Lorenz curves were plotted to describe inequalities in EDCs exposure, and EDCs exposure related to income. Concentration indexes (CIx) were calculated and compared between the four regions. ResultsNo significant differences between EDCs concentrations adjusted for molar mass and creatinine across individual-level income groups were detected. Exposure inequalities were highest for parabens (CIx = 73.6 %), BPA (CIx = 73.6) and low molecular weight (LMW) phthalates (CIx = 63.3 %). Lorenz curve for LMW phthalates distribution across area-level income was significantly above the equality line (CIx = -21.9 %, p-value < 0.05). Stratification showed significant differences in inequality (p = 0.046) in LMW phthalates exposure across area-level income between South (CIx = -23.1 %), East (CIx = -35.3 %), North (CIx = -3.3 %) and Central (CIx = -6.5 %) regions. ConclusionInequalities in LMW phthalates exposure related to area-level income in East and South regions suggest target areas for public health interventions in terms of environmental regulations and health promotion. Using Lorenz curves and CIx to describe inequalities can be useful in case of inadequate sample sizes in costly human biomonitoring studies, however this method needs to be further developed and validated using human biomonitoring datasets in more diverse populations with larger socio-economic inequalities.

Effects of disability on income and income composition.

Income composition is highly associated with individual financial sustainability and income inequality at the macro level. Although studies have investigated the effects of disability on wage income, few studies have investigated the effects of disability on income composition or on various types of income other than wage income. We sampled 72,000 households using tax data sourced from the Taiwan Ministry of Finance in 2015. Data for each household member were traced back to 1999. We identified 23,346 individuals with disabilities and matched them with 34,145 individuals without disabilities. Eight income types were identified. A two-way fixed-effect analysis was performed to determine the effects of disability on changes in each income type. Fractional probit models were estimated to determine the effects of disability on the proportion of each income type in total income at different ages. Wage income constitutes the largest proportion of income in Taiwan. The total income is estimated to increase by 10.4% (P < 0.001) after disability onset. Moreover, most income categories did not experience a decline following the onset of disability. We also noted a significant interaction effect between disability status and age on the proportion of each income type in total income. The effect of disability on income varied across different sources of income. The income composition observed for the individuals with disabilities changed considerably at various ages. Accordingly, policies should be designed to ensure long-term sustainability of income sources for individuals with disabilities.

Nowcasting the GDP in Taiwan and the Real-Time Tourism Data

Abstract In this paper, we examined the relationship between tourism and GDP in Taiwan. The GDP in Taiwan is nowcasted with the real-time tourism data in Google Trends database. We used the high-frequency internet-searching tourism data to predict the low-frequency GDP data, for the real-time data with rich information could enhance prediction accuracy. Applying the Principal Components Analysis (PCA), we used the internet-searching tourism keywords in Google Trends database to construct the diffusion indices. Following the classification of the tourism keywords in Matsumoto et al. (2013), we classified those keywords into five groups and twentynine classifications. We focused on the reciprocal reactions between those diffusion indices with GDP to conclude which component has higher influence on GDP in Taiwan. Our empirical results indicated that the keywords in “Recreational areas, Grand tour, and Travel-related” group have significant effects on various concepts of national income in Taiwan via nowcasting. Among the components of those diffusion indices, “Amusement park, Hot spring, Farm, Working holiday, and Travel insurance” are important variables with higher weights in common. JEL classification numbers: C60, C80, E01, E60. Keywords: Nowcasting, the Principal Components Analysis (PCA), Internetsearching Keywords, GDP, Tourism.

The Distributional Effect of A Carbon Tax on Income in Taiwan

Environmental issues have become more important worldwide. A carbon tax is a strong tool for cutting carbon emissions directly through the internalization of the external costs of pollution. To mitigate the impact of carbon taxation, it is necessary to recycle the tax revenue into other taxes, subsidies, and transfers. In Taiwan, carbon tax policy has been under consideration. To analyze the effect of carbon tax and tax revenue recycling, this paper adopts a recursive dynamic computable general equilibrium (CGE) model—General Equilibrium Model for Energy, Environment, and Technology (GEMEET)—under a comprehensive economic systems framework. The results show that a suitable recycling mechanism is a key factor for the success of green tax reform for a significant improvement in the economy, environment, and in income distribution, simultaneously.

An Economy-Wide Analysis of Trade Liberalization Impacts on Farm Household Income in Taiwan

The impact of trade liberalization on Taiwan’s agricultural sector has been an important issue in policy debates. In this study, a case study of cross-strait trade liberalization is conducted. With the elimination of all tariffs on bilateral trade between Chinese Mainland and Chinese Taipei, the SAM-based computable general equilibrium (CGE) model and database are applied to simulate the impacts of cross-strait trade liberalization on Taiwan’s economy, agricultural output, non-agricultural income, farm household income and employment. Simulation results demonstrate that Taiwan’s GDP will increase by 1.78%, but total agricultural output will decrease by 0.9%. For per farm household income, although agricultural income decreases by NTD 1648, non-agricultural income will increase by NTD 10,580. In total, per farm household income increases by NTD 8,932 with cross-strait trade liberalization. With trade liberalization as the engine of growth and a trade adjustment assistance mechanism at work, economic growth in Taiwan’s agriculture may be maintained and in the long run, non-agricultural income and employment are likely to increase to provide a “safety net” for farm households.

Does the use of eco-labels affect income distribution and income inequality of aquaculture producers in Taiwan?

The purpose of eco-labels is to encourage a move towards more environmentally friendly consumption patterns. The eco-label has been recognized as a means of promoting products with lower environmental impact. A considerable body of literature has focused on consumer demand for eco-label use: however, little attention has been paid to producers. Because the adoption decision is voluntary, a better understanding of producers' adoption behaviors towards eco-labels could significantly determine the effectiveness of the program. This paper contributes to this policy issue by assessing the impacts of the Taiwan Good Agricultural Products program, a combined eco-label and food traceability system, on the distribution of aquaculture producers' income in Taiwan. Using a unique aquaculture producer survey in Taiwan, we examine the extent to which label use may affect the level of income, income variability and income inequality of the producers. Our findings suggest that eco-label use increases income and that the effect is more pronounced for producers at the higher percentile range of income distribution. Label use also increases income variability, but no significant effect on income inequality is evident.

Who gains from the demographic dividend? Forecasting income by age

Changes in the population age structure are known to influence the total income per person, but little is known about whether the changes are equally shared across the population or are concentrated on particular age groups and/or birth cohorts. The answer to this question has potentially important implications for income inequality, human capital investment, and fertility decision-making. We propose a new model of intergenerational transfers which distinguishes between the effects of changes in population structure and the effects of changes in family age structure. Using age-specific data from annual income and expenditure surveys of Taiwan between 1978 and 1998, we show that changes in age structure have had a very favorable effect on Taiwan's income growth. The gains are not equally shared by all age groups, however. Children and young adults have benefited the most, while the elderly have benefited the least. The population and family age structures have independent effects on per capita income; the effect of the population age structure is most important. Generational differences in per capita income are closely related to intergenerational differences in earnings, suggesting only a weak form of altruism. Finally, we predict that, on average, population aging will adversely influence the per capita income growth in Taiwan in the coming decades.

Distribution, Development and Education: Taiwan, 1979-1994

This paper studies the mechanisms underlying the apparent stability of the income distribution in Taiwan. An original decomposition methodology based on micro-simulation techniques is proposed. Applied to the distribution of income in Taiwan since 1979 it permits isolating the respective impact of changes in: a) earning structure; b) labor-force participation behavior; and c) the socio-demographic structure of the population. It appears that the stability of the distribution in Taiwan is the result of various structural forces which happened to offset each other. At the individual level, the small drop observed in inequality resulted from the combination of unequalizing changes in the wage structure and the effects of changes in female labor-force participation as well as changes in the educational structure of the population. The same offsetting forces, together with changes in the composition of households, resulted in a small increase in the inequality of the distribution of equivalized household incomes.

International Real Estate Review

This paper examines the random group effect, which has usually not been considered in traditional housing demand studies. Frequently, group level variables are used in housing demand estimation due to the data constraint. For instance, the US Index of Housing Price per administrative area is often used to measure the housing price when estimating the US price elasticity of demand for housing, and the average household income is often used as a proxy for the individual income in Taiwan when estimating the income elasticity of demand for housing. Econometricians argue that the traditional OLS estimation, when the random group effect is ignored, has been considered to have a downward bias in the estimated standard error. By following Amemiya (1978) and Borjas and Sueyoshi (1994), we propose a two-stage estimation technique to estimate housing demand with the random group effect. Using Taiwan’s cross-sectional survey data, we found that the standard error of the estimated coefficient for the group level income variable is underestimated in the traditional unadjusted OLS specification. This finding suggests that there may be a danger of spurious regression in the traditional OLS housing demand estimation.

Fuel taxes and the distribution of income in Taiwan

Fuel taxes and the distribution of income in Taiwan

Fast Development With a Stable Income Distribution: Taiwan, 1979–94

This paper studies the mechanisms underlying the apparent stability of the income distribution in Taiwan. An original decomposition method based on micro‐simulation techniques is proposed. Applied to the distribution of income in Taiwan since 1979, it permits isolating the respective impact of changes in: (a) the earning structure; (b) labor‐force participation behavior; and (c) the socio‐demographic structure of the population. The stability of the distribution in Taiwan appears as the result of various structural forces which happened to offset each other. The small drop observed in the inequality of individual earnings resulted from the combination of unequalizing changes in the wage structure and the effects of changes in female labor‐force participation as well as in the educational structure of the population. However, the same offsetting forces, together with changes in the composition of households, resulted in a small increase in the inequality of the distribution of equivalized household income.

Changes in Female Roles in Taiwanese Women's Magazines, 1970–1994

Women in traditional Chinese society existed mainly to supply male heirs [1]. As Li noted, ‘Few societies in history have prescribed for women a more lowly status or treated them in a more routinely brutal way than traditional Confucian China’ [2]. Discrimination against women was institutionalized within all the usual structures of Taiwan’s society: family, the economy, education, culture and the political system [3]. Take the family, for example: an authoritarian hierarchy based on gender, generation and age have dominated life within the family in Taiwan. The oldest male had the highest status; women’s status, although it increased with the birth of sons and age, was lower than that of any man [4]. However, in the 1960s Taiwan’s economy began to take off, and the status of women improved signie cantly. Gallin summarizes the economic transformation of Taiwan in the last 30 years. Initially the government strengthened agriculture in order to provide a base for industrialization, pursued an import substitution policy in the 1950s, and then followed a policy of export-oriented industrialization [5]. Extremely rapid growth in industry caused incomes in Taiwan to skyrocket—from US$50 per year in 1950, to US$200 in 1964, to more than US$3000 by the mid-1980s. The annual per capita income in Taiwan passed US$10,000 in 1992 [6].

Exports, Imports and Income in Taiwan: An Examination of the Export Led Growth Hypothesis

Cointegration and vector autoregression are used to examine relationships among exports, imports, and income in Taiwan from 1971 to 1995. These three series are cointegrated. There is bidirectional Granger causality between exports and imports, and between imports and income. Impulse responses and variance decompositions uncover only weak links from exports to income. The export led growth hypothesis is not supported for Taiwan during this period of rapid growth. [F1, F4, O0]

A dominance evaluation of Taiwan's official income distribution statistics, 1976–1992

Statistical tests for Lorenz dominance and related tests for first order dominance are applied to Taiwan's official income distribution statistics for the period 1976–1992. Inference tests for Lorenz dominance reveal whether significant changes in income inequality have occurred, while first order dominance comparisons show the effects of growth on economic well-being across time. Several conclusions emerge from the study: (1) correcting for sampling errors and considering entire income distributions leads to insights into changes in Taiwan's income distribution that are not revealed by descriptive summary statistics that are relied upon in official reports; (2) Lorenz dominance analysis reveals that, on the whole, income inequality in Taiwan has become significantly more unequal across time; (3) the so called U-shaped inequality experience is not confirmed for the 1976–1992 study period; (4) first order dominance analysis reveals highly significant improvements in the standard living in most year-to-year comparisons; and (5) whether overall social welfare has improved since 1976 depends upon the specific welfare criterion applied and the time period considered.

The Role of Informal Finance in Household Capital Accumulation: Evidence from Taiwan

Economies that experience rapid growth also experience major changes in their consumption patterns, particularly for consumer durables. This paper studies the diffusion of durables in Taiwan between 1977 and 1991. We focus on the link between household accumulation of durables and participation in informal financial institutions. While growth in per capita income in Taiwan had been great, many households still reply on traditional forms of finance. We test the idea that rotating savings and credit associations, which are found worldwide, exist to lower the cost of saving for durables. Our analysis finds evidence of that link.

Market Structure and Income Distribution: Evidence from Taiwan

ABSTRACT This article investigates whether market structure (degree of industrial concentration) is a significant determinant of income distribution in the manufacturing sector of Taiwan which, in 1986, accounted for 40% of net domestic product. Regression results based on 1986 census data provide no solid evidence for this hypothesis. One can conclude, therefore, that market structure is not an important factor in explaining Taiwan's income inequalities.

Mickey Mouse numbers and inequality research in developing countries

The usage of unreliable statistics is common in development economics, particularly in research on income distributional issues. It is widely believed, for example, that the distribution of income in Taiwan equalised dramatically between the early 1950s and about 1980. Under close examination it is clear much of the evidence advanced is flawed, the treatment of data by a number of analysts is puzzling, and links between export‐orientation and inequality trends are flimsy. It is argued that economists should be far more concerned about data problems in their research.

Export-led growth and import dependence: The case of Taiwan, 1969–1981

Taiwan provides a notable example of successful export-led growth in recent years. This paper explores the prospects for her continued growth by examining past changes on the supply side. The Leontief input-output framework is employed. It is found that the level of import content in exports increased during the course of Taiwan's export-led growth. On a sectoral level, the level of import dependence also increased for all but some leading export sectors. Linkage effects of exports are not large enough to offset the price effect and the effect of the spreading of import-dependent technology to other sectors. The decline in export's domestic content has been more than offset by the increase in quantity of exports, so that Taiwan's income has been growing. This decline in the domestic content slowed from 1976 to 1981, but so did the growth in export volume, which reflects the effects of protectionism and the difficulty of finding enough new exportables.

Is Inequality Demographically Induced? The Family Cycle and the Distribution of Income in Taiwan

Is Inequality Demographically Induced? The Family Cycle and the Distribution of Income in Taiwan