Income Polarization Research Articles

Q-band polarizers for the LSPE-Strip correlation radiometric instrument

This paper reports the design, manufacturing and testing of the cluster of polarizers developed for the LSPE-Strip correlation receiver array working in the Q band (39–48 GHz). Since the LSPE experiment targets the measurement of the very faint B-mode component of the Cosmic Microwave Background, the electromagnetic design of the polarizers was conceived in view of minimizing the measurement uncertainties introduced by the polarizers in the LSPE-Strip dual-circular-polarization correlation receiving chain. To this end, the main figures-of-merit of the LSPE-Strip polarizers were derived in terms of the Mueller sub-matrices relating the relevant input and output Stokes parameters. As a result, a dual-ridge layout, in which stepped-ridge discontinuities are interleaved with grooved cavities, was selected. The heights of both the stepped discontinuities and the grooved cavities were considered as design degrees of freedom in order to minimize the differential phase-error between the two principal polarizations of the polarizer w.r.t. the ideal 90-deg value. The latter condition is the one required for converting the incoming circular polarizations into two linearly polarized ones. The polarizer design allows for a complete manufacturing route (mechanical layout, machining process and assembling) exhibiting high accuracy (< 10 μm) for all the units. As a consequence, the measured performance of the whole polarizer cluster is in tight agreement with predictions. Notably, the in-band mean value of the spurious conversion from the total intensity I to the two linearly polarized Stokes parameters Q and U introduced by the polarizers is smaller than -28 dB (mean value of fifty-one polarizers) with a standard deviation less than 1 dB.

Slave Past, Modern Lives: An Analysis of the Legacy of Slavery and Contemporary Life Expectancy in the American South

As questions about racial reparations have entered public and political discourse again, research about the long-term impact of chattel slavery—so called “legacy of slavery” research—has taken on new significance. Over the past two decades researchers have identified direct quantitative links between slavery and a number of contemporary social and economic outcomes, including income, poverty, home ownership, school segregation, crime, educational inequality, and political polarization. Recently, however, researchers have begun to connect slavery to contemporary health outcomes, showing the legacy of slavery seems to stunt the health of black Americans while bolstering the health of white Americans. This manuscript builds on that recent research by examining the connection between subnational variation in the density of slavery and life expectancy in the American South. Using a variety of data sources, such as the US Census, American Community Survey (ACS), the United States Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation County Health Rankings, and spatially robust OLS regression analysis, I find that in southern counties where slavery was denser black life expectancy remains proportionally lower and white life expectancy remains proportionally higher than in southern counties where slavery was less dense.

Broadband Absorption Antenna Based on High Refractive Index Tungsten Metal-Insulator-Meta Metamaterial Nano Ring Array

Antennas for solar energy collection, for the problem of complex antenna structure and narrow absorption band, a metal-insulator-metal (MIM) nano ring array antenna based on metamaterial is proposed, which has high-efficiency light absorption characteristics in the broadband range of visible light and near-infrared light. Based on surface plasma theory, the proposed antenna is only composed of two W layers of metal and one Al2O3 layer of insulator medium, and has an a verage absorption rate of 96.93% in the range of 400–1600 nm. In addition, it is found that this kind of super light-absorbing capability is independent of the incoming light polarization state and can maintain an average of 91% for an incident angle as large as±60°. Furthermore, the perfect absorption performance of MIM nano ring array antenna based on metamaterial can be explained by the synergistic effect of localized surface plasmon resonance enhancement and Fabry-Perot resonance.

Development and application of metamaterial-based half-wave plates for the NIKA and NIKA2 polarimeters

Context.Large field-of-view imaging and polarimetry instruments operating at millimetre and sub-millimetre wavelengths are fundamental tools to understand the role of magnetic fields in channelling filament material into prestellar cores, providing unique insight in the physics of galactic star-forming regions. Among other topics, at extra-galactic scales, polarisation observations of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) will allow us to constrain the possible physical conditions of the emitting plasma from the jets and/or explore the physics of dust inside supernova remnants. The kilo-pixel New IRAM KIDs Array 2 (NIKA2) camera, installed today at the Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM) 30-m telescope, represents one of the best tools available to astronomers to produce simultaneous intensity and polarimetry maps over large fields at 260 GHz (1.15 mm).Aims.The polarisation measurement, in NIKA and NIKA2, is achieved by rapidly modulating the total incoming polarisation. In the end, this allows one to safely isolate the small science signal from the large, un-polarised, and strongly variable, atmospheric background.Methods.The polarisation modulation is achieved by inserting a fast rotating half-wave plate (HWP) in the optical beam. In order to allow wide field-of-view observations, the plate has to be large, with a diameter of 250 mm. The modulation of the polarised signal at 12 Hz also requires the waveplate to be sufficiently light. In addition, this key optical element has to exhibit optimal electromagnetic characteristics in terms of transmission and differential phase-shift. For this purpose, three metamaterial HWPs have been developed using the mesh-filter technology. The knowledge acquired in developing the first two single-band HWPs was used to achieve the more challenging performance requirements of the last dual-band HWP. The first and the third waveplates met the requirements for both the NIKA and NIKA2 instruments.Results.We first illustrate the design, the technical developments, the fabrication, and laboratory characterisation of the three mesh-HWPs. The deployment of two such elements in the NIKA and NIKA2 instruments at the 30-metre telescope is then described. We conclude with representative examples of astrophysical maps integrating polarimetry.

Regional Integration in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU): Complementarity or Competition?

This paper analyzes and characterizes the nature of the interactions between countries of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) over the period 1995–2015. The analysis uses sigma-convergence on the one hand and the Dendrinos-Sonis spatial competition model estimated by the SUR method on the other hand. The results show a lack of convergence of living standards and support the idea of income polarization in space; these results also support the idea of a very poorly integrated region with relatively competitive interrelationships. The paper suggests the acceleration of regional integration in the WAEMU region combined with the implementation of inclusive integration policies that promote each member’s comparative advantage.

Statistical Measures of Affluence: Macroregions in Poland

Objective: The paper presents an analysis of the affluence in macroregions of Poland based on statistical measures of income distribution.Research Design &amp; Methods: The analysis uses a group of measures based on the distribution of income in the population studied. The measures characterise a given population in terms of the extent and / or intensity of its affluence. Income inequality and income polarisation are also analysed. All computations are based on European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) from 2018.Findings: Income affluence is very differentiated across Poland’s macroregions. The Mazowieckie voivodeship macroregion has the highest share of the affluent. All of the other affluence measures likewise show this region to be the most affluent.Implications / Recommendations: Basic measures of income inequality and polarisation give a good initial picture of income affluence but obtaining detailed information about this phenomenon is possible thanks to specific measures of the extent and intensity of income affluence. The results show that affluence is highly differentiated in Poland. Poland’s government would be well-advised to take appropriate measures to encourage entrepreneurs to invest capital in less affluent macroregions.Contribution: The research conducted in this paper shows how to analyse the affluence in subpopulations taking into account the distribution of income. Analysis of income affluence fills the gap in income analyses focusing most of all on poverty. All the statistica measures used provide knowledge about how the affluent greatly influence the economy, policy, and other aspects of life.

Fleshing Out the Olive? On Income Polarization in China

Fleshing Out the Olive? On Income Polarization in China

Fleshing Out the Olive? On Income Polarization in China

In a rare example of an explicit national goal for income distribution besides reducing poverty, China’s leadership has recently committed to expanding the middle-income share—moving to a less polarized “olive-shaped” distribution. Recognizing the potential trade-offs, the paper asks whether China’s experience indicates that income-polarization was a by-product of past economic progress, including poverty reduction. The paper does not find robust time-series evidence of polarizing effects alongside either economic growth or population urbanization (including among those below the national median). There was strong co-movement between polarization and inequality. Larger urban-rural gaps in mean incomes are strongly polarizing in China.

Socio-economic inequality as a key challenge of our modernity

The article is devoted to the study of the causes, essence and social consequences of socio-economic inequality in the modern world. On the basis of an economic-sociological approach, the author investigates the evolution of this phenomenon from the beginning of the implementation of neoliberal reforms to the present. The article proves that the key reason for the intensification of the polarization of income and wealth in recent decades has been the fundamental transformations of the sphere of labor and employment, as well as other economic and political measures implemented within the framework of introducing the principles of neoliberalism into economic practice. The declining share of the labor income within the national income, the blurring of the link between productivity and wage growth, the dismantling of the welfare state and weakening trade unions are the result of the neoliberalization of the global economic system and key drivers of income and wealth differentiation and our modernity of labor inequality.The article focuses on the study of inequality in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and the current COVID-crisis. The author comes to the conclusion that the growth of inequality and other social problems as a result of the pandemic was determined mainly by the socio-economic policies of the states of the pre-pandemic period. The COVID-19 pandemic acted as a social x-ray that revealed to the worlds population the real state of modern social institutions.

All-sky search for short gravitational-wave bursts in the third Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo run

This paper presents the results of a search for generic short-duration gravitational-wave transients in data from the third observing run of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo. Transients with durations of milliseconds to a few seconds in the 24–4096 Hz frequency band are targeted by the search, with no assumptions made regarding the incoming signal direction, polarization, or morphology. Gravitational waves from compact binary coalescences that have been identified by other targeted analyses are detected, but no statistically significant evidence for other gravitational wave bursts is found. Sensitivities to a variety of signals are presented. These include updated upper limits on the source rate density as a function of the characteristic frequency of the signal, which are roughly an order of magnitude better than previous upper limits. This search is sensitive to sources radiating as little as ∼10−10 M⊙c2 in gravitational waves at ∼70 Hz from a distance of 10 kpc, with 50% detection efficiency at a false alarm rate of one per century. The sensitivity of this search to two plausible astrophysical sources is estimated: neutron star f modes, which may be excited by pulsar glitches, as well as selected core-collapse supernova models.1 MoreReceived 8 July 2021Accepted 12 October 2021DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.104.122004© 2021 American Physical SocietyPhysics Subject Headings (PhySH)Research AreasGravitational wave sourcesGravitational wavesGravitation, Cosmology & Astrophysics

Кризові трансформації соціально-економічних систем

Crisis phenomena threats are growing on national and global scale against the background of tightened geopolitical and geo-economic competition. Such trends as destruction and degradation, are becoming integral parts of change in the vital function of economic agents, institutional structures at different levels. Therefore, the search for an alternative paradigm for the study and assessment of the transformations of socio-economic systems (SES) is one of the topical directions in the development of economic science. In the objective conditions of constant renewal of world economic relations, proceeding from the multilevel nature of social changes, the article substantiates the need for innovative ways to search, develop and implement strategic guidelines that exclude the raw type of economic development. From the standpoint of the self-organization theory, it specifies that an open system is, as a rule, in a state of unstable equilibrium. The article proves that the purpose of theoretical research and practical actions should be the implementation of controlled effective evolutionary and revolutionary qualitative changes. At the turn of the third millennium, under the increasing impact of periodic civilizational shocks at the stages of economic and political cycles, the determinants of SES stability change over a long period. The transformation of natural factors requires scientific understanding - from motive levers into constraints on the potential for economic growth. The growing volumes of services and the virtual economy are hardly comparable with the products of the industrial sector, while the excessive polarization of incomes hinders economic dynamics. Arguments are given that the processes of changing existing SES can be accompanied by their deformation. The forces of the fall are opposed by compensatory mechanisms of reimbursement for the loss of material, human, information resources. The author focuses on the need to organize and manage the new approaches to the management of SES changes, having in mind time and space scale of the development of integral, interconnected bodies of social and economic agencies at state, corporative as well as individual levels. Crisis shocks of SES transformation are mainly linked with reasons stemming from financialization processes, weakening of sovereignty due to the expansion of global value chains, as well as from major emergencies and disasters, unexpected climate changes, etc. The article suggests improving the conceptual apparatus of transformational changes. The leading trend in modern science is interdisciplinarity. Integration of various scientific disciplines should affect both economics and institutional, social, spiritual, ethnic, moral spheres of life.

TERRITORIAL COHESION OF MUNICIPALITIES IN POLAND IN 2005-2017 IN TERMS OF SYNTHETIC MEASURE, IN THE CONTEXT OF CONVERGENCE AND SPATIAL CLUSTERING

The concept of territorial cohesion has gained importance in the context of the development of the European Union’s regional policy, but definitions of the concept vary enormously. The article uses the concept of spatial development supporting economic and social aspects of cohesion and, on this basis, constructs a multidimensional index of territorial cohesion based on five dimensions (economic, demographic, infrastructural in two approaches and environmental) of the phenomenon. The measure was applied to the total population of municipalities (2175) in rural areas in Poland in the years 2005-2017. The aim of the study was to assess the territorial cohesion of municipalities in Poland in static and dynamic terms and use econometric tools to identify the potential convergence of cohesion and determine the effect of “catching up”, according to Jeffrey G. Williamson [1965], where municipalities with a higher level of cohesion are followed by municipalities with a lower level. The results of previous studies conducted at different regional levels indicate an increase in income polarization in rural areas and the creation of islands of convergence, where the regions with the highest and lowest wealth become similar intra-group but not inter-group. The results indicate a decrease in relative territorial cohesion in rural areas in Poland in 2005-2017 at a municipality level and a tendency to the formation of spatial clusters of entities with similar levels of the characteristic. They do not allow to confirm the view of convergence of cohesion between entities with different levels of the characteristic.

Efficient arbitrary polarized light focusing by silicon cross-shaped metaatoms

The functionality of most of the metasurfaces that have been investigated so far, especially in illuminations with arbitrarily linearly polarized incident light, are restricted to x- or y-polarized incoming light. In particular, filtering out one of the two orthogonal polarizations of the incoming electromagnetic wave loses the incident light energy and limits the potential performance of the metasurface. In this study, by utilizing the cross-shaped silicon metaatoms that support the simultaneous excitation of electric and magnetic dipoles under the illumination of both x- and y- orthogonal polarizations, we overcome the polarization-restricted functionality of the metalenses. By selecting the metaatoms arrangement in the metalens structure, which follows the hyperbolic phase profiles for both x- and y-polarized incoming light waves at the same time, we obtain the light intensity distribution with the extended depth of focus (EDOF) or enhanced intensities at the focal spot with the focusing efficiency 65% for the numerical aperture of 0.7. Utilizing metaatoms with the ability to control the two orthogonal incoming polarizations develops a new methodology for using the full potential and intensity of the arbitrary polarized incoming light. The present design concept of metaatoms has several advantages that are not limited to metalenses alone but can be applied in all metasurfaces realized to have good efficiency. Finally, the proposed metalenses are suitable for imaging, optical tweezers and lithography applications, where subwavelength light intensity distributions with EDOF are the most desirable property.

Income Inequality and Global Political Polarization: The Economic Origin of Political Polarization in the World

Both income inequality and political polarization have increased dramatically in much of the world over the past few decades. One might wonder how these two phenomena correlate with each other. Are there any striking similarities in the correlated patterns of income inequality and polarization across the globe? More importantly, how can improved equality in income distribution contribute to mitigate political polarization? Although the potential polarizing effects of income inequality is a growing concern, the evidence provided by the existing literature, however, has been mixed and incomplete. This research seeks to address the shortcomings of the current scholarship by using the repeated cross-sectional data from six waves of the World Values Survey from 1990 to 2020, to investigate whether and how widened income inequality and growing political polarization are linked globally. The findings indicate that there is a positive and statistically significant cross-country association between levels of income inequality and political polarization. The results remain robust to different specifications. This research has the potential for advancing the study of linkages between income inequality and its political consequences.

Regional polarization in Turkey

AbstractIn this study using household data, we aim to track the trends in regional income polarization in Turkey and focus on the extent of and trends in regional income disparity. With the help of classical and newly developed indexes and decomposition methodologies, we estimate the polarization level, temporal trends and the decomposition within and between regions of the western and eastern regions in Turkey. We also analysed the impact of being in the east or in the west on income polarization, controlling for other individual and household characteristics. To shed more light on the underlying mechanisms behind the polarization between two regions, we performed an ordered logit regression.

On the Fiscal Burden of Various Income Groups of the Population.

The distribution of the tax burden between different income groups of the population is closely related to the implementation of the principle of fairness of taxation. In Russia, the largest tax burden falls on the poorest groups of the population. The growing polarization of incomes of the population, aggravated by the pandemic, entails the need to reform the tax system, primarily in the area of taxation of personal income. A fairly large number of studies have been devoted to this problem, but the authors of papers on this topic have not yet succeeded in forming a unified opinion. In connection with the above circumstances, the authors of this article are making an attempt to propose possible directions for transforming the domestic tax system, which would make it possible to more evenly distribute the tax burden between different groups of the population. The results of the research, conclusions and individual proposals can be useful to state bodies in the development of the main directions of reforming the tax policy of the Russian Federation.

Macroeconomic Implications of Inequality and Income Risk

&amp;lt;ns3:p&amp;gt;We explore the long-run relationship between income risk, inequality, and the macroeconomy in an overlapping-generations model in which households face uncertain streams of labor income and returns on their savings. To manage those risks, households can apportion their savings to a bond, whose return is safe and identical across households, and a productive asset, whose return is uncertain and can differ persistently across households. We find that greater polarization in households’ labor income and returns on their savings generally accentuates households’ demand for risk-free assets and the compensation they require for bearing risk, leading to higher measured income and wealth inequality, a lower risk-free real interest rate, and higher risk premiums. These findings suggest that the factors behind the observed rise in inequality over the past few decades might have contributed to the observed fall in the risk-free real interest rate and widening gap between the risk-free real interest rate and the rate of return on capital. We also find that the magnitude of the decline in the risk-free real interest rate and offsetting rise in risk premiums depend importantly on the source of income polarization, with the effects being especially large when greater inequality is caused by increased dispersion in returns on risky assets. Thus, the macroeconomic implications not only depend on the amount of inequality, but also the source of this inequality.&amp;lt;/ns3:p&amp;gt;

The Decline of the Middle Class: New Evidence for Europe

: This article examines how the middle class has fared in twenty-six European countries between 2004 and 2014 based on European Survey on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) data. We define individuals living in households with a median equivalized disposable household income between 75% and 125% to be middle class. We find that the middle class has decreased in eighteen out of twenty-six countries, which is accompanied by an increase of income polarization. Income redistribution is most influential for explaining differences in the size of the middle class across European countries. Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/00213624.2021.1982338

Electroproduction of heavy vector mesons using holographic QCD: From near threshold to high energy regimes

We develop a non-perturbative analysis of the electro-production of heavy vector mesons ($\phi$, $J/\Psi$) from threshold to high energy. We use the holographic construction with bulk confinement enforced through a soft wall. Using Witten diagrams, we evaluate the pertinent cross sections for heavy vector mesons ($\phi$, $J/\Psi$) production and study their dependence on both the incoming virtual photon polarization as well as the outgoing polarization of the heavy meson. Our results for $J/\Psi$ electro-production compares well with the available HERA data at low and intermediate $Q^2$, and for a wide range of momentum transfer. We also predict the quasi-real electro-production of $J/\Psi$ near threshold.

The diversity and spatial polarisation of own incomes of the Polish gminas

Own incomes are considered one of the most important sources of financing for local governments in Poland. Although own incomes have been the subject of numerous analyses, extensive research focusing on their spatial aspect is rarely conducted. This article aims to identify the changes in the spatial diversification and polarisation of gminas (communes’) own incomes. Data from the Local Data Bank of Statistics Poland, the National Bank of Poland and the World Bank were used. The analysis covered the years 1995–2019. The study used the global spatial autocorrelation coefficient and the LISA method to identify the process of spatial dependence and to determine the degree of spatial polarisation. The Gini coefficient was applied to assess the level of diversity. The results of the analysis confirmed that an increasing spatial autocorrelation occurred in the studied period, leading to the spatial polarisation of the Polish gminas in terms of their own incomes. Gminas with a high level of own income formed spatial clusters within large urban agglomerations, in regions where natural resources were exploited, along the western border and the coastal belt. The findings show that the area of these clusters was expanding. On the other hand, low-own-income gminas were located in eastern and south-eastern Poland. The analysis has not confirmed that the dynamics of the gross domestic product or the level of inequality in gminas’ own income per capita had any effect on the changes in the spatial autocorrelation coefficient, nor, consequently, on the process of spatial polarisation.