Inequality In Distribution Of Wealth Research Articles

Has the digital economy improved the consumption of poor and subsistence households?

Using Chinese Family Panel Studies (CFPS) database from 2012 to 2018, this paper examines the impacts and transmission mechanisms of the digital economic growth on the consumption of the poor and subsistence households. The results show that the digital economy negatively affects the consumption of the poor and subsistence households, with a more prominent effect on the poor families. Mechanism analysis indicates that digital economic development reduces the consumption of poor and subsistence households mainly by exacerbating the uncertainties they face in labor market (higher unemployment risk and expected income uncertainty) and the inequality of wealth distribution (higher deprivation of income and wealth). Further analyses reveal that the digital economy has greater negative impacts on households with less material, human and social capital endowments, and leads no significant improvements in the consumption environment for the disadvantaged households.

Analysis of MSME Capital Using Sharia Fintech Peer to Peer Lending

As one of the pillars of the economy in Indonesia, it is proven that MSMEs are able to survive the Covid-19 pandemic with various innovations they have implemented, but there are still several obstacles in the development of MSMEs themselves. MSMEs, especially for the micro business scale in Indonesia, are still classified into segments that have limited access to formal financial institutions (unbankable population). The results of the PWC survey in 2019 The biggest problem of MSMEs is the problem of capital, and in an effort to obtain additional capital, around 74% of the micro segment cannot access financing from the formal financial sector. Increasing access to finance itself is one of the strategies to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Based on previous research, Islamic fintech has a role in driving SDGs targets, especially the targets to (1) eradicate poverty and (2) hunger, and (3) reduce inequality in wealth distribution. In this study we conducted indepth interviews with several MSME players and Islamic fintech companies. The lack of literacy related to fintech with the sharia peer to peer lending scheme makes MSMEs afraid to do business financing with this scheme, even though this scheme is very suitable for the unbankable population because the financing requirements are easy and fast in the disbursement process.

Fiscal policy and inequality in a model with endogenous positional concerns

We investigate the dynamics of wealth inequality in an economy where households have positional preferences, with the strength of the positional concern determined endogenously by inequality of wealth distribution in the society. We demonstrate that in the long run such an economy converges to a unique egalitarian steady-state equilibrium, with all households holding equal positive wealth, when the initial inequality is sufficiently low. Otherwise, the steady state is characterised by polarisation of households into rich, who own all the wealth, and poor, whose wealth is zero. A fiscal policy with government consumption funded by taxes on labour income and wealth can move the economy from any initial state towards an egalitarian equilibrium with a higher aggregate wealth.

Economic attributes and childhood stunting in Rwanda: case study of the City of Kigali.

Introductionstunting in under five children is a great concern in low and middle-income countries including Rwanda. While over the past decades different developing countries have made remarkable efforts improving their economic growth, there is mixed evidence and lack of consensus on the impact of economic development on nutrition improvement. The objective of this study was to assess the relationship between economic attributes and childhood stunting in the City of Kigali.Methodsthis was a retrospective cross-sectional and comparative study documenting the period 2010-2017. Stunting in under five children was analyzed in relation to the economic attributes which include the household consumption per capita, annual household income and level of poverty. The analysis was done at the level of district. Official reports from the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda provided data on both economic attributes and stunting.Resultsin some situations, the improvements in economic attributes such as increase in average household consumption per capita and increase in annual household income are followed by the reduction of stunting in under five children. However, in some other situations, the reduction of the level of poverty and the increase of annual household income was not translated into the reduction of stunting.Conclusionimprovements in some economic attributes do not necessarily translate into reduction of stunting in under five children. Further studies are needed to understand possible lead forces underlying this situation including establishing the proportion of household income spent on children´s nutrition as well as possible inequity and inequality in wealth distribution.

The Study of a Wealth Distribution Model with a Linear Collision Kernel

The wealth substitution rate, which describes the substitution relationship between agents’ investment in wealth, is introduced into the collision kernel of the Boltzmann equation to study wealth distribution. Using the continuous trading limit, the Fokker–Planck equation is derived and the steady-state solution is obtained. The results show that the inequality of wealth distribution decreases as the wealth substitution rate increases under certain assumptions. The wealth distribution has a bimodal shape if the wealth substitution rate does not equal one.

The Association between Wealth Inequality and Socioeconomic Outcomes

We investigate whether inequality in wealth distribution is broadly associated with adverse socioeconomic outcomes across countries. There are few studies that investigate these relationships, likely due to data limitations. On the other hand, a substantial body of work suggests that income inequality correlates with undesirable outcomes. This paper evaluates the relationship between measures of wealth inequality and a number of outcomes across countries in a unified estimation framework that circumvents publication bias. While we fail to find support for a broad negative association, we do find a negative correlation between wealth inequality and institutional quality.

Housefly Maggot Meal as a Potent Bioresource for Fish Feed to Facilitate Early Gonadal Development in Clarias gariepinus (Burchell,1822)

Food security is threatened by the global increase of human population, climate change, inequality of wealth distribution, the state of natural resources, peace and sustainability, among others. Aquaculture has become an important part of the food supply, hence contributing to food security. Sustainable fish production, which represents an important affordable protein supply, should therefore involve feed formulation and production techniques that are not dependent on fish meal as the protein source. It is on this basis that bioeconomy becomes very important to promote the resourceful use of biomass for feed, food, biomaterials, and bioenergy. This study presents housefly maggot meal as an efficient alternative protein source to fishmeal and a valuable bioresource. Clarias gariepinus fingerlings (male and female) were fed maggot meal supplemented diets for 24 weeks and we assessed their growth and gonadal development. The findings of this study revealed that maggot-meal-enhanced diets promoted growth and faster gonadal development in fish. Maggot meal represents a quality alternative protein source to fish meal and an excellent bioresource, which can help us attain sustainable aquaculture production.

Socioeconomic-related inequalities in self-rated health status in Kermanshah city, Islamic Republic of Iran: a decomposition analysis.

Socioeconomic-related inequalities in health are a major public health challenge in both developed and developing countries. Little evidence is available on socioeconomic-related inequalities in health in different regions of the Islamic Republic of Iran. This study aimed to determine socioeconomic-related inequality in poor self-rated health in adults in Kermanshah city, western Islamic Republic of Iran. This cross-sectional study with stratified sampling obtained data on socioeconomic status, demographic characteristics, behavioural risk factors and self-rated health of 2040 adults (≥ 18 years) in Kermanshah city. A self-administrated questionnaire was used to collect data from the participants. The concentration (C) index and C curve were used to determine the socioeconomic-related inequality in poor self-rated health. A decomposition analysis of the C index was done to identify the factors explaining socioeconomic-related inequality in poor self-rated health. The crude and age-adjusted prevalence of poor self-rated health was 13.8% and 18.1%, respectively. The estimated C for the whole sample was -0.295, indicating that poor SRH was concentrated in the poor. The decomposition results suggested that socioeconomic status (45.5%), having a chronic health condition (11.9%) and smoking (7.3%) were the main factors contributing to the concentration of poor self-rated health among those of lower socioeconomic status. The concentration of poor self-rated health among the poor in Kermanshah city warrants policy attention. Policies aimed at reducing inequality in wealth distribution and risky health behaviour and preventing chronic health conditions among the poor may mitigate socioeconomic-related inequalities in poor self-rated health in Kermanshah.

DEVELOPING ENGINEERING WORKFORCE, DESIGNING A BETTER FUTURE

In this paper, various trends and challenges facing the world, due to the coming of the new Digital Revolution or commonly known as the Fourth Industrial Revolution, are discussed. These include urbanisation and inequality in wealth distribution, clean air and clean water, food distribution, energy, global warming and climate change, aging population, and physicalspace and cyber-space security. To tackle the challenges, we require new ideas and inventions which will only be possible with excellent knowledge workers. New technological breakthroughs will require brand new skill sets, particularly Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) skill sets, in the engineering workforce. Good engineering workforce (engineer, engineering technologist and engineering technician) is considered as the driver for the success of any nation in this globalised world. The paper also touches on the challenges faced by future engineers vis-à-vis globalisation and mobility of engineers, and what skills young engineering graduates should acquire to face the challenges. Some issues and challenges of STEM education in Malaysia are also presented. What is important now is for the educators to train future graduates who can embrace life-long learning and possess strong basic fundamentals of natural sciences and engineering, and who are ready-to-evolve rather than graduates who are just ready-to-market as many of the graduates will be entering a whole new sea of employment. Finally, the paper deals with the mobility of the engineering workforce globally and how the Institution of Engineers Malaysia (IEM) as a professional body could work with the institutions of higher learning and the Ministry of Education in the training of the required engineering workforce.

Populism, globalisation and social media

Since the 2010s, we witness the rise of populism and nationalism as part of a reaction against the global policies of the last 30 years in Western liberal democracies and beyond. This article seeks to unpack the rise of populism and nationalism and its relationship to social media. We review the relevant literature relating to the globalization paradigm and assess how it has influenced communication studies. The rise of the globalization theory coincides with key advancements in the post-Cold War world, such as the growth of international trade, the global movement of people, the increase in the number of international laws and forums, economic liberalism, as well as the rise of the internet and global digital communication networks. But while the global era denotes a cosmopolitan vision, economic insecurity, growing inequality in wealth distribution, as well as cultural change and shifts in traditional values and norms have brought about a broader concern that globalization is associated with a shift of power to transnational elites, whose impact upon common people’s life and experiences is not fully acknowledged. Contemporary populism has been associated with nationalism, but also with the active use of social media platforms as alternative communication sites to mainstream media which is seen as having been captured by elite consensus politics. This complicates the relationship between truth and free expression in an age of social media, meaning that we need to account for the role of such platforms in the rise of populism and ‘post-truth’ politics, as well as its scope to advance the goals and strategies of progressive social movements.

Contribution inequality in the spatial public goods game: Should the rich contribute more?

Scale-free property exists in resource distribution, and the rich pay more in public goods is commonplace in reality. What will happen if the rich are expected to contribute more in the spatial public goods game? This paper therefore proposes a new contribution paradigm, in which individual contribution is determined by his payoff in the last evolution step. Tunable parameter w is used to characterize the contribution rate of nodes whose payoff is larger than the average. The results of simulations reveal that the impact of w on cooperation is associated with the enhancement factor r. When r is low, the higher w is, the lower the cooperation rate is. With the increment of r, the value of w to optimize cooperation rate increases with r. The relationship of cooperation rate and wealth on the network has also been investigated. Interestingly, higher cooperation rate does not always lead to higher wealth. Finally, the impact of w on the wealth distribution on the network is explored. The higher w reduces the inequality in wealth distribution by the shrinking of lower-class, which is enhanced by a higher r.

A Brief History of Computing in Mexico

Although Mexico has a common border with the United States, on account of its enduring inequities in distribution of wealth and often rickety economy, Mexico's technological advances have been a step behind. Nevertheless, Mexico has had quite a few interesting high-end technology locations that helped stimulate the acquisition and spread of computing knowledge. This article briefly describes how Mexican computing has evolved-depending significantly on developments in the US and often hindered by the Mexican politics that have led to long periods of economic crisis. In the 1990s, an international treaty helped boost the Mexican computer industry, although this relatively recent event still left Mexico far behind its neighbor to the north. The treaty made it easy to import computers into Mexico and to produce them in Mexico, and the economy became more stable over the following decades. In time, computing developments in Mexico started catching up with the US, coinciding with cheaper consumer electronics products, a good economy, high productivity, and globalization.

Paretoos Distribution and the Laws Of Network Organization

Free-Market theories of economics date back to the latter half of the eighteenth century. In his book, Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith introduced the concept of the “invisible hand” and with that, he revolutionized economic thinking. Although Smith’s “invisible hand” is the very center of Western economic thinking, a new approach has recently emerged, one that addresses the complexities of economic reality rather than pushing them into the background to simplify the mathematics. The field of behavioral economics, which acknowledges the existence of human irrationality and tries to found economic theories on a more realistic appraisal of people’s behaviors, is becoming more popular among economists. These economists are stimulated by the realization that in large networks of interacting agents, the intricacies of people’s behavior may have little effect on some of the most basic economic realities. For example, economists for centuries have tried to explain Vilfredo Pareto’s pattern of unequal distribution of wealth through classical explanations of wealth distribution. From a mathematical point of view, such explanations have not been satisfactory. Physicists Jean-Philippe Bouchaud and Marc Mezard of the University of Paris formulated a set of equations trying to explain Pareto’s distribution through the laws of network organization. Bouchaud and Mezard have discovered that economic life is highly influenced by the organizational feature of a network, and that it is the network that contributes to the inequality in wealth distribution. Such a model can serve as an important tool to test political arguments of policies designed to create greater equality.

Endogenous Property Rights, Conflict Intensity and Inequality in Asymmetric Rent-Seeking Contest

Does less inequality in wealth distribution imply better property rights protection? In this paper we show that this impact is non monotonous and is conditional on a) equilibrium type: conflict (rent-seeking) or peace, b) the reasons of changes in wealth distribution, and c) the size of the ruling class, “elite”. In the conflict stage, institutional quality positively depends on the wealth of the elite, but negatively – on the size of the elite class. However, the transition from conflict to peace stage (with no rent-seeking and fast growth) requires the reduction of inequality. This generates an institutional trap. Moreover, the intensity of rent-seeking behavior increases both with progressive redistribution of wealth and with widening of the ruling class. Our results allow characterizing wealth distributions, wherein it is better to redistribute wealth or to expand the ruling class in order to improve institutions and limit rent-seeking incentives.

Differential effect of wealth quintile on modern contraceptive use and fertility: evidence from Malawian women

BackgroundHigh fertility and wide inequality in wealth distribution are phenomenal problems in sub-Saharan Africa. Modern Contraceptives (MC) are useful for limiting fertility, but are not always easily accessible in Malawi. This study examines the gap in MC use and fertility between women in the richest and poorest Wealth Quintile (WQ).MethodsThe study was cross-sectional in design and utilized Malawi DHS dataset, 2010. It focused on women of reproductive age. The dependent variables are ever and current use of MC. Chi-square and multinomial logistic regression were used for the analysis.ResultsMean children ever born by women in the poorest and richest WQs were 3.94 ± 2.7 and 2.82 ± 2.3 respectively (p < 0.001). The adjusted total fertility rate (Adj.TFR) was higher among women in the poorest (Adj.TFR = 7.60) WQ than the richest (Adj.TFR = 4.45). The prevalence of ever use of MC was higher among women in the richest WQ (82.4%) than the poorest (66.8%) (p < 0.001). Similar pattern exists for current use of MC; 58.5% and 45.9% for women in the richest and poorest WQs respectively (p < 0.001). Women in the richest WQ were more likely to ever use (OR = 2.36; C.I = 2.07-2.69, p < 0.001) and currently using (OR = 1.66; C.I = 1.40-1.97, p < 0.001) MC than their counterparts in the poorest WQ. Slight reduction in odd-ratio of MC use among women in richest WQ resulted when socio-demographic variables were used as control.ConclusionFertility was higher and the use of MC was lower among women in the poorest than their counterparts in the richest WQ. Ensuring availability of MC at little or no cost may bridge the gap in contraceptive use between women in the poorest and richest WQ in Malawi.

Italian Households' Saving and Wealth During the Crisis

This paper investigates trends in Italian households' saving and wealth in the last twenty years, with a special emphasis on the period immediately following the financial crisis in 2008. The analysis is based on data from the Italian Survey on Household Income and Wealth (1991-2010. The crisis has intensified the trends already under way, as confirmed by the further decline in the saving rate and the deterioration in the financial situation of low-income households, young people and tenants. Overall inequality in wealth distribution has increased. Poverty indicators based on income and wealth summarize these developments: in 2010 nine per cent of Italian households were on a low income and in the event of job loss, had sufficient financial asset to survive at the poverty line for barely six months. This percentage increases to 15 per cent for young people and to 26 per cent for tenants.

Evolutionary prisoner’s dilemma game on weighted scale-free networks

This paper investigates the evolutionary prisoner’s dilemma on weighted scale-free networks. The weighted networks are generated by adopting Barabási–Albert scale-free network and assigning link weight with w i j = ( k i × k j ) β . Simulation results show that the cooperation frequency has a strong dependence on β . The value of β which is associated with the maximal cooperation frequency has been sought out. Moreover, Gini coefficient and Pareto exponent of the system’s wealth distribution are investigated. The inequality of wealth distribution is minimized at β ≈ − 1 .

Erbschaften und ihr Einfluss auf die Vermögensverteilung

Summary: In this paper, we present an analysis of the influence of inheritances on the distribution of wealth alongside selected recent findings on current trends in inheritances and gifts. The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) is used from a longitudinal perspective to study the extent to which the wealth transferred through inheritances accrues to households that already had some capital stock, and whether this wealth creates the starting point for households without any previous assets to begin building up their capital assets. The paper shows, based on the usual method of relative inequality measures used in the research on poverty and wealth, that inheritances do not increase inequalities in the distribution of wealth. Rather, they enable households that would otherwise possess no capital stock to begin accumulating (even modest amounts of) assets. The increase in wealth through inheritances among the group of households that had previously possessed capital assets is relatively less important by contrast, and thus does not lead to greater inequality in the overall distribution of wealth.

Emergence of Wealth Inequality in China: Evidence from Rural Household Survey, 1986-2000

Based on relatively recent household survey data (1986-2000) in rural China, this paper analyzes the composition and inequality in non-land wealth. We first document the evolution of rural households wealth during the sample period. Our results show that the housing assets have played a dominant role in their wealth composition although the share of the assets tends to decrease during the period. We also observe that financial and fixed assets have become relatively important in their wealth composition. Based on various inequality measures we are able to provide consistent evidence that the inequality of wealth distribution has worsened in rural China. We find that financial asset holdings appear to have significant unequalizing effect on the total non-land wealth distribution, mostly due to the growing differential in rural non-farm opportunities.

Emergence of Wealth Inequality in China: Evidence from Rural Household Survey, 1986 -2000

Based on relatively recent household survey data (1986 2000) in rural China, this paper analyzes the composition and inequality in non-land wealth. We first document the evolution of rural households wealth during the sample period. Our results show that the housing assets have played a dominant role in their wealth composition although the share of the assets tends to decrease during the period. We also observe that financial and fixed assets have become relatively important in their wealth composition. Based on various inequality measures we are able to provide consistent evidence that the inequality of wealth distribution has worsened in rural China. We find that financial asset holdings appear to have significant unequalizing effect on the total non-land wealth distribution, mostly due to the growing differential in rural non-farm opportunities.