Income Position Research Articles

Relative deprivation in income and self-rated health in the United States

Absolute income is robustly associated with health status. Few studies have, however, examined if relative income is independently associated with health. We examined if, over and above the effects of absolute income, individual relative deprivation in income as well as position in the income hierarchy is associated with individual poor health in the U.S. Using three rounds of the Current Population Surveys (CPS), we analyzed the association between self-rated health (1=fair/poor, 0=otherwise) and the Yitzhaki index of relative deprivation in income and percentile position in the income hierarchy across 17 reference groups. Over and above the effects of absolute income, the odds ratio for reporting poor health among individuals in the highest quintile of relative deprivation compared to the lowest quintile ranged between 2.18 and 3.30, depending on the reference groups used. A 10 percentile increase in income position within reference groups was associated with an odds ratio of poor health of 0.89. Relative deprivation appeared to explain between 33 and 94% of the association between individual income and self-rated health. Relative deprivation in income is independently associated with poor health over and above the well established effects of absolute income on health. Relative deprivation may partly explain the association between income inequality and worse population health status.

What if Robin Hood is a social conservative? How the political response to increasing inequality depends on party polarization

This paper examines how political competition on a non-economic dimension affects redistribution. More specifically, the paper argues that a high degree of party polarization on a non-economic policy dimension modifies the political response to growing income inequalities. Data from the World Values Survey and the Comparative Manifesto Project are employed to show that party polarization on a traditional moral dimension of politics is associated with a weaker relationship between income and subjective position on the Left-Right scale. Because party polarization is associated with a weaker relationship between income and leftism, the paper claims that the political response to increases in inequality will be weaker in polarized countries. The empirical analysis using redistribution data from the Luxembourg Income Study demonstrates that the positive effect of increases in market inequality on redistribution is lower when party polarization on the non-economic dimension is high.

Gênero e jornada de trabalho: análise das relações entre mercado de trabalho e família

A Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios (Pnad) propicia, desde o início da década, informações sobre a existência e a extensão do trabalho em afazeres domésticos. Esta informação, acrescida da jornada no mercado de trabalho, possibilita a construção de um indicador sobre a intensidade da jornada total de trabalho no mercado e extramercado. Este ensaio analisa a intensidade da jornada total de trabalho para homens e mulheres, considerando as condições de inserção ocupacional, o rendimento familiar e o ciclo familiar. A análise explicita que mulheres em ocupações menos estáveis, de menor qualificação, maior renda e com filhos mais jovens tendem a ter jornadas totais mais longas quando comparadas às dos homens em situação ocupacional e familiar semelhante e às das mulheres com ocupações mais qualificadas, de mais alta renda e também com filhos jovens. Os resultados do ensaio indicam a necessidade de políticas públicas capazes de construir instrumentos de proteção às mulheres e que considerem a diferenciação social relacionada ao tipo de inserção no mercado. Ademais, o estudo aponta que as políticas de emprego não podem ficar restritas ao mercado de trabalho, necessitando também alcançar as condições de organização do núcleo familiar.

Review of the Fund's Income Position for FY 2009 and FY 2010

This paper reviews the Fund’s income position for FY 2009 and FY 2010. The proposals build on previous discussions relating to implementation of the new income model, the framework for accumulating precautionary balances, and the recent reform of the Fund’s lending toolkit. The paper is structured as follows: Section II reviews the income position for FY 2009 and explains the main changes from the projections at the midyear review; Section III makes proposals that pertain to the FY 2009 income position, including the disposition of investment income, the overall income position of the General Resources Account (GRA), and the annual reimbursement of the GRA for the expenses of conducting the business of the SDR Department and the MDRI-I Trust; Section IV reviews the FY 2010 income outlook, including the margin for the rate of charge; Section V reviews the burden sharing mechanism; and Section VI reviews special charges.

Status, affluence, and inequality: Rank-based comparisons in games of status

We examine the effects of changes in the income distribution in an economy where agents' utility depends both on consumption and on their rank in the distribution of conspicuous consumption. We introduce a new methodology to compare the behavior of agents that occupy the same rank in the two different income distributions but typically have different levels of incomes. Here, an increase in incomes of the least endowed improves their welfare, yet it also increases social competition, making those in the middle to be worse off—even if they have higher incomes as well. As social competition can be lowered by spreading agents apart in income space, we find that an increase in incomes for all, augmented by (weakly) increased income dispersion, constitutes a sufficient condition for Pareto-improvement. We also show that one can have an increase both in income and relative position but still be worse off.

Income development of General Practitioners in eight European countries from 1975 to 2005

BackgroundThis study aims to gain insight into the international development of GP incomes over time through a comparative approach. The study is an extension of an earlier work (1975–1990, conducted in five yearly intervals). The research questions to be addressed in this paper are: 1) How can the remuneration system of GPs in a country be characterized? 2) How has the annual GP income developed over time in selected European countries? 3) What are the differences in GP incomes when differences in workload are taken into account? And 4) to what extent do remuneration systems, supply of GPs and gate-keeping contribute to the income position of GPs?MethodsData were collected for Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Finland, France, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Written sources, websites and country experts were consulted. The data for the years 1995 and 2000 were collected in 2004–2005. The data for 2005 were collected in 2006–2007.ResultsDuring the period 1975–1990, the income of GPs, corrected for inflation, declined in all the countries under review. During the period 1995–2005, the situation changed significantly: The income of UK GPs rose to the very top position. Besides this, the gap between the top end (UK) and bottom end (Belgium) widened considerably. Practice costs form about 50% of total revenues, regardless of the absolute level of revenues. Analysis based on income per patient leads to a different ranking of countries compared to the ranking based on annual income. In countries with a relatively large supply of GPs, income per hour is lower. The type of remuneration appeared to have no effect on the financial position of the GPs in the countries in this study. In countries with a gate-keeping system the average GP income was systematically higher compared to countries with a direct-access system.ConclusionThere are substantial differences in the income of GPs among the countries included in this study. The discrepancy between countries has increased over time. The income of British GPs showed a marked increase from 2000 to 2005, due to the introduction of a new contract between the NHS and GPs.

Gut beraten? Die Online-Konsultationen der EU Kommission

Are the online consultations of the EU commission an instrument for policy advice? In contrast to lobbying, policy advice from non-state actors takes place, if they (a) bring up their positions in a deliberative mode, and if this is (b) the cause for a pareto-superior distribution of knowledge on the advised-side. The formal framework of the Commission’s online consultations is appreciated as an innovative instrument of policy advice which is compatible with democratic aspirations. Three empirical questions are raised: Who participates in these online consultations? What is the deliberative quality of the contributions of different types of actors? How is the Commission dealing with the incoming positions and recommendations?

Income disparities among hungarian micro-regions: The mover-stayer model

It is known that the simple Markov chain model overestimates the long run horizon mobility of the income distribution process. Dissolving the homogeneity assumption of the Markov model may lead to better forecasts. One generalisation of the Markov model, the Mover-Stayer model assumes heterogenous population: some units are moving according to a common Markov chain, but there are some (unknown) units that are not moving at all. They are called stayers.Based on the Frydman (1984) methodology if we compute both the Markov and Mover-Stayer models for Hungarian micro-regions income data, we find that the Mover-Stayer model fits better the regional relative income data than the simple Markov model. Using likelihood ratio test statistics we show that the difference is highly significant. The method is also applied for spatially conditioned data. The results show that the high persistence of relative income positions is a remarkable feature of the Hungarian economy in 1990–2003 both on a country-wide scale and local level. We also demonstrate that forecasts made on a less reliant model might lead to very ambiguous results.

The Fund's Income Position for FY 2009-Midyear Review

This paper reviews the outlook for the Fund’s income position for the financial year 2009 taking into account developments through the first half of the year. The FY 2009 income outlook has improved, mainly as a result of new lending activity associated with the turmoil in global financial markets, together, to a lesser extent, with stronger-than-projected returns in the Investment Account (IA) in the first half of the financial year. The updated projections indicate that the net income position would be slightly positive in FY 2009. However, the actual outcome remains subject to considerable uncertainty related to the timing and amounts of disbursements under current arrangements, as well as potential new arrangements and the performance of the IA

Social inequalities in the incidence and case fatality of cancers of the lung, the stomach, the bowels, and the breast

In order to examine health inequalities in terms of incidences and case fatalities in a German health insurance population. Lung cancer, stomach cancer, intestinal carcinoma, and breast cancer were considered. Social differentiation was depicted by income and occupational position in order to examine which one is more strongly associated with incidence and case fatality. Analyses were performed using data from a statutory health insurance (n = 170,848). Incomes were divided into quintiles, and subjects were grouped according to occupational status. For lung cancer incidence a gradient between the highest and the lowest 20% of the income distribution emerged. The relative risk of the lowest category was RR = 7.03, for occupational position the figure was RR = 6.98. For stomach cancer the relative risks were RR = 5.33 for income and RR = 7.11 for occupational position. For intestinal carcinoma only income was significantly related with incidence (RR = 4.37 for the lowest 20% of the income distribution), and for breast cancer incidence no social inequalities were found. For case fatality increased relative risks emerged for lung cancer, but only for income. Income and occupational position were associated with cancer incidence with the exception of breast cancer. Apart from lung cancer, case fatalities were unrelated to measures of social differentiation.

Review of the Fund's Income Position for FY2008 and FY2009

This paper provides the basis for the annual review of the Fund’s income position, including a review of the system of special charges. The paper also sets out proposed decisions relating to the Fund’s income position for FY 2008 and FY 2009. The review takes account of the recent discussions in the Executive Board on the new income model for the Fund. The paper is structured as follows: Section II reviews the Fund’s FY 2008 income position, provides an explanation of key variances from projections, and discusses the impact of restructuring costs on the income position; Section III makes proposals for the disposition of investment income and the General Resources Account (GRA) income position; Section IV outlines updated projections and proposes a margin for the rate of charge for FY 2009; Section V provides an update on the burden sharing mechanism; and Section VI reviews special charges.

Risk Avoidance and Risk Taking under Uncertainty: A Graphical Analysis

Using a graphical approach, we characterize explicitly variations in optimizing behavior from risk avoidance (e.g., insurance buying) to risk taking (e.g., “gambling”) in terms of risk preferences, market insurance terms, and exogenous changes in endowed incomes. An individual who is a “risk avoider” at one income position may become a “risk taker” at another income position. Moreover, both low- and high-income risk-averse individuals may engage in risk-taking activities at the same time. These results imply that predictions about attitude towards risk cannot be made independently of income positions or economic opportunities.

Keeping up with the Schmidt's – An Empirical Test of Relative Deprivation Theory in the Neighbourhood Context

Abstract We test empirically whether people's life satisfaction depends on their relative income position in the neighbourhood, drawing on a unique dataset, the German Socioeconomic Panel Study (SOEP) matched with micro-marketing indicators of population characteristics. Relative deprivation theory suggests that individuals are happier the better their relative income position in the neighbourhood is. To test this theory we estimate micro-economic happiness models for the years 1994 and 1999 with controls for own income and for neighbourhood income at the zip-code level (roughly 9,000 people). There exist no negative and no statistically significant associations between neighbourhood income and life satisfaction, which refutes relative deprivation theory. If anything, we find positive associations between neighbourhood income and happiness in all cross-sectional models and this is robust to a number of robustness tests, including adding in more controls for neighbourhood quality, changing the outcome vari...

The Power of Positional Concerns

People care a great deal about their relative economic position and not solely about their absolute economic position. However, behavioral evidence is rare. This paper provides evidence on how the relative income position affects professional sports performances. Our analysis suggests that if a player?s salary is below the average and this difference increases, his performance worsens. Moreover, the larger the income differences, the stronger positional concern effects are observable. We also find that the more the players are integrated, the more evident a relative income effect is. Finally, we find that positional effects are stronger among high performing teams.

Improving Income Positions of Primary Producers in International Marketing Channels: The Lake Victoria—EU Nile Perch Case

Although fair distribution of incomes within marketing channels and systems receives increasing attention in companies' corporate social responsibility policies, the marketing literature offers few insights that may be helpful to initiate projects that improve incomes of primary producers in mainstream marketing channels. This article deals with the question of how projects that aim at increasing primary producers' incomes can be initiated in mainstream marketing channels: Who is the channel member that is best suited to take initiative, and why should it be this partner? The study analyzes problems at primary levels of a fresh fish channel from East Africa to the European Union, and it examines from downstream whether channel partners are aware of the problems and how responsible they feel for them, and it assesses their willingness to take action. Propositions on the initiation of projects that improve primary producers' incomes are developed and implications are discussed.

Prodi's Narrow Victory and Italian Politics: One Year on

The general election of April 2006 marked a further milestone, and possibly a turning point, in the recent trajectory of Italian politics. Unexpectedly narrow, the election outcome brought to government a coalition which, in the immediate aftermath of the campaign, appeared to face one of two possibilities: that either it would find the very precariousness of its position to be, paradoxically, its strength, giving it a degree of cohesion it might otherwise not have had, or that it would succumb to opposition attempts to exploit the divisions in its ranks and therefore fail to last for any length of time. Early indications pointed in both directions. In the second place, if the immediate consequence of the outcome appeared to be a strengthening of the position of Berlusconi (since he had been expected to lose by a wide margin and had instead apparently staged a dramatic comeback) then the 2006 defeat appeared to create the need for a redefinition of the Casa delle libertà, with a reduction in the role of Berlusconi himself and a new prime-ministerial candidate. Third, in bringing about the second alternation in government since the party-system upheavals of the early 1990s, the outcome appeared to represent the consolidation of a bi-polar party system based on fragmented coalitions. However, precisely because of the system's fragmentation and the seeming precariousness of the in-coming government's position, there appeared to be room for considerable doubt about the likely direction of future party-system developments. In short, if the election appeared to represent the confirmation of past trends, in other respects it looked as though it might also represent the start of a new period of uncertainty in Italian politics.

What shapes player performance in soccer? Empirical findings from a panel analysis

In this article, we investigate the pay–performance relationship of soccer players using individual data from eight seasons of the German soccer league Bundesliga. We find a nonlinear pay–performance relationship, indicating that salary does indeed affect individual performance. The results further show that player performance is affected not only by absolute income level but also by relative income position. An additional analysis of the performance impact of team effects provides evidence of a direct impact of team-mate attributes on individual player performance.

Review of the Fund's Income Position for FY2007 and FY200

The review of income for the year ended April 30, 2007 (FY07) builds on the midyear income review and the February 2007 meeting of the Committee on the Budget

The Fund's Income Position for FY 2008 - Midyear Review

This paper provides the basis for the Executive Board’s midyear review of the Fund’s income position based on developments in the first half of FY 2008. Under Rule I-6(4) of the Fund’s Rules and Regulations, the Executive Board should consider whether the margin over the SDR interest rate used to calculate the rate of charge as determined at the beginning of the year should be changed in light of the actual income position for the first six months.

Determinants of economic well‐being among U.S. farm operator households

AbstractParticipation in government programs has a mild impact on the economic well‐being of U.S. farm households. Major factors that determine farm household prosperity are the primary operator's education level and ethnicity, education level of the spouse, and other characteristics such as forward purchasing of inputs, use of contract shipping of products, having a succession plan, farm ownership, and location in a metro area. This article uses the 2001 Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS) as well as relative and an absolute measure to assess U.S. farm households' economic well‐being. The relative measure compares the income and wealth position of farm households relative to median income and median wealth of the general population. The absolute measure adds annualized wealth to a farm household's income.