Regional Income Distribution Research Articles

Should Socioeconomic Health Effects be Includedin Risk Assessments?

Most analyses of health risks incident to the adoption of a product, process or facility treat only the effects of human exposure to pollutants. A growing body of research in the social sciences suggests strong linkages between health status and the economic status of populations. This paper considers the possibility that the effects of development on income distribution and employment may influence health as much as the resultant chemical exposures. The evidence presented in support of the socioeconomic linkage indicates adverse effects of transient economic growth and ultimately favorable effects of permanent expansions. A simple case study uses the development of coal mining in northern Wyoming to compare the effects of economic change with those of air pollution on local age adjusted mortality rates. The study area embraces counties with intensive mining activity, and the control area includes neighboring counties having similar terrain and climate, but with negligible mineral industry. This first order analysis relies upon both modeled and observed data. It concludes that the two influences on health status induced by the industrialization may be of the similar magnitudes. The paper closes by addressing the methodological challenge of producing a totally prospective analysis. Input-output models that can impute changes in regional income distributions to defined industrial developments will meet one of the main research needs.

Redistribution of Regional Incomes within the Framework of the System of Interbudgetary Relations in Russia

The authors analyze the equalization properties of the present system of resource allocation among budgets of different levels in Russia (allocation of tax revenue and intergovernmental transfers). They consider the actual impact of the following federal fiscal instruments on the regional income distribution: the system of intergovernmental transfers, the system of federal tax revenue sharing between federal and regional budgets and the federal net tax on the region.

Regional Economic Diversity and Regional Economic Stability: Research Results and Agenda

This article on regional economic diversity addresses several issues: (1) theoretical foundations for arguments forwarding increased economic diversity as a development goal, (2) common empirical measures of economic diversity, and (3) empirical literature on economic diversity and its effect on regional economic stability. This examination of the literature suggests four main directions in which future research on regional economic diversity could go. First, it is shown that research on the relationship between economic diversity and regional income distribution is scarce yet critical. Second, recent research suggests that applications of input-output analysis hold the potential for integrative research on issues related to economic diversity. Third, an examination of the local economic development literature indicates that regional scientists could use the concept of “diversified specializations” to classify economic regions and evaluate clusters. Fourth, the literature on ecological diversity suggests additional ways to look at the issue of economic diversity-stability.

Regional Convergence, Polarisation and Mobility in the EU, 1980-1996

The paper deals with three relevant questions for the European Union: the degrees of regional inequality, polarisation and mobility in the per capita regional income distributions between 1980 and 1996. Using different techniques, the paper shows that inter-regional inequality has slightly decreased, there is no apparent polarisation and the degree of mobility is relatively high. Despite this, the speed of all these three aspects has declined over time, which is interesting for polarisation but raises some worries about convergence and mobility for the future.

Spatial Empirics for Economic Growth and Convergence

This paper suggests some new empirical strategies for analyzing the evolution of regional income distributions over time and space. These approaches are based on extensions to the classical Markov transition matrices that allow for a more comprehensive analysis of the geographical dimensions of the transitional dynamics. This is achieved by integrating some recently developed local spatial statistics within a Markov framework. Insights to not only the frequency with which one economy may transition across different classes in the income distribution, but also how those transitions may or may not be spatially dependent are provided by these new measures. A number of indices are suggested as ways to characterize the space‐time dynamics and are illustrated in a case study of U. S. regional income dynamics over the 1929–1994 period.

REGIONAL INCOME DISTRIBUTION IN SOUTH KOREA

This work repudiates the claim that economic benefits are not distributed equally among provinces and cities in Korea because political elites have favoured the region of Youngnam from which most of them have come. It measures income distribution by estimating the relationship between the percentiles of income of the poorest and the richest, and using the Gini coefficient finds that regional income distribution in Korea has been relatively very fair. The study also examines patterns of poverty in the context of patterns in industrialization, finding a negative relationship between poverty rankings and rankings of the manufacturing share, a positive relationship between poverty rankings and rankings of the finance/insurance share and no uniform pattern between poverty rankings and rankings of the agricultural share. It offers several reasons for these findings.

Regional Economic Growth and Income Distribution: County-Level Evidence from the U.S. South

AbstractChanges in income distribution are estimated for the U.S. South over the 1970 and 1980 decades using Gini coefficients for county-level, real family income. To explicitly investigate causal relationships between economic growth and inequality, a two-stage least squares model was estimated. In the 1970s, more rapid increases in inequality were associated with a reduced income growth rate, ceteris paribus, while in the 1980s, the opposite was true. Faster rates of income growth were associated with more rapid increases in inequality during the 1980s, but rates of income growth had no effect on changes in inequality during the 1970s.

Determinants of Regional Income Distribution in the U.S. South, 1980–1990: Roles of Net Migration and Human Capital Accumulation

Determinants of Regional Income Distribution in the U.S. South, 1980–1990: Roles of Net Migration and Human Capital Accumulation

Changes in Regional Incomes 1986 to 1991

This paper shows the importance of occupational detail in analysis of regional income distributions in New Zealand. Changes in regional incomes are shown to be linked to two main effects, those associated with changes in the occupational and workforce structure of the population, and to changes in national patterns in occupational incomes. Once these structural features have been included, there is little scope for remaining economic effects associated with labour force participation, and other features of the labour force. These observations are consistent with a rationing model as a primary means of describing the operation of local labour markets.

Income Distribution Characteristics of Rural Economic Sectors: Implications for Local Development Policy

ABSTRACTRecent trends suggest increasing reliance on private markets to provide for local economic well‐being. This research demonstrates the study of regional household income distribution patterns associated with productive activities important to many rural areas. A social accounting matrix analysis was used to examine agricultural production, agricultural processing, forestry production, forest products processing, and tourism in a small rural region in Wisconsin to illustrate the variable distributional characteristics of private market structures and related local economic development policy. The results showed that while high income households comprised 22 percent of total regional households in the study area, they received between 57 percent and 63 percent of earned income associated with changes in sectoral factor income. Medium income households (34 percent of regional households) received between 32 percent and 41 percent of earned income, and low income households (44 percent) received between 2 percent and 6 percent. The ability of local policy to influence distributional patterns is implied to the extent that local action can facilitate variable growth rates of targeted economic sectors.

Regional convergence clusters across Europe

Per capita incomes across European regions are not equal and do not stay constant; regional income distributions fluctuate over time. Such a process could have many possible limiting outcomes: complete equality (convergence), stratification, and continually increasing inequality are but three distinct possibilities. This paper asks if nation-state, macro factors and physical-geography spillover effects help explain the observed distribution dynamics across European regions. Geographical factors are found to matter more than national ones; but both are important for explaining inequality dynamics.

China in the World Economy (review)

174 China Review International: Vol. 2, No. 1, Spring 1995 Nicholas R. Lardy. China in the World Economy. Washington, D.C.: Institute for International Economics, 1994. xi, 156 pp. Paperback $16.95. The stated purpose of China in the World Economy is "to examine the implications of China's rise as a major player on the international trade and financial scene" (p. 3). In this slim, five-chapter book, a thorough analysis of this important topic is not possible. What Lardy gives us is an overview of China's current economic position in the world and the probable future trends. The strongest thread throughout the book is China's economic relations with the United States. The last chapter lays out specific proposals for the U.S. that are a valuable source of ideas for those who make policy in this arena. Lardy analyzes China's economic rise in the world economy using a balanced and realistic approach. In chapter 1, he summarizes the estimates ofhow large China's economy really is. In terms of gross domestic product at parity prices, these estimates range from .36 trillion dollars to 2.9 trillion dollars. To Lardy, 1.25 trillion dollars seems the most reasonable figure, which would put per capita output at $1,100 (p. 18). In chapters 2 and 3, Lardy explains China's impressive export growth with several variables, although there is no analytical model presented to generate these results. He argues that the main export impetus was petroleum in the first half of the 1980s. By the second half of the 1980s, exports represented a product mix more compatible with China's supposed comparative advantage in labor-intensive manufactured goods. By then, foreign-invested firms were generating nearly all of China's export expansion. Lardy argues that if China is a newly industrializing country (NIC), it is an NIC with important differences. China's reliance on foreign capital, its bankrupt state-owned sector, and its unequal regional income distribution set it apart from the export growth patterns of countries like Taiwan and South Korea. The implication is that while China is a fast-growing economy with great export potential, it is also unlikely to become the world's largest economy by the year 2010, as estimated the Economist (28 November 1992, p.24; Lardy, p. 5). Even if China becomes the largest economy, China's population growth will keep per capita output at modest levels at best. Placing China in a realistic place in terms of growth and export potential sets the background for chapter 4, where Lardy discusses how China's trade will affect the U.S. From the U.S. perspective, bilateral trade has led to a trade deficit. This© 1995 by University deficit is so large that it is expected soon to surpass the U.S. deficit with Japan. ofHawai'i PressLarge trade deficits tend to create pressure for bilateral negotiations to find ways for the trading partner to buy more imports from the U.S. China is no exception to this kind of development. Trade talks are complicated by the fact that China Reviews 175 believes the deficit is much smaller than does the U.S. For example, in 1992 the U.S. reported that its trade deficit with China was almost $19 billion while China 's data showed a small surplus for the U.S. In the most technical part ofthe book, Lardy carefully explains the main reasons for this discrepancy. Lardy estimates that the U.S. Commerce Department overstates the U.S. trade deficit with China by a third largely because ofhow each country treats the trade between China and the U.S. that passes through Hong Kong. Lardy points out that even when Hong Kong returns to China in 1997, this problem will persist because Hong Kong will remain a separate customs area. However, as a result ofnegotiations begun at the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings in Seattle in late 1993, in 1994 the two governments began an official reconciliation of trade statistics that should narrow the reported differences in the future. Even with adjustments, the U.S-China trade imbalance is large and growing. Lardy briefly discusses two reasons for this...

Economic Development and Income Inequality: An Overlooked Regression Constraint

Previous articleNext article No AccessEconomic Development and Income Inequality: An Overlooked Regression ConstraintRati RamRati Ram Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Economic Development and Cultural Change Volume 43, Number 2Jan., 1995 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/452157 Views: 27Total views on this site Citations: 24Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 1995 The University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Yuhao Sun, Shengyue Hao, Xiaofeng Long A study on the measurement and influencing factors of carbon emissions in China's construction sector, Building and Environment 229 (Feb 2023): 109912.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2022.109912Martin Ravallion, Shaohua Chen Is that really a Kuznets curve? Turning points for income inequality in China, The Journal of Economic Inequality 20, no.44 (Aug 2022): 749–776.https://doi.org/10.1007/s10888-022-09541-xCHI MINH HO, QUAN THAI-THUONG LE, ANH THE VO, DUC HONG VO, DAO THI-THIEU HA DOES GOVERNMENT SPENDING ON EDUCATION AFFECT PROVINCIAL INCOME INEQUALITY IN VIETNAM?, The Singapore Economic Review 66, no.0404 (Oct 2020): 1105–1123.https://doi.org/10.1142/S0217590820490065Martin Ravallion, Shaohua Chen Is that Really a Kuznets Curve? Turning Points for Income Inequality in China, SSRN Electronic Journal 1 (Jan 2021).https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3913848Branimir Jovanovic When is there a Kuznets curve? Some evidence from the ex-socialist countries, Economic Systems 42, no.22 (Jun 2018): 248–268.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecosys.2017.06.004Ivan Lyubimov Income inequality revisited 60 years later: Piketty vs Kuznets, Russian Journal of Economics 3, no.11 (Mar 2017): 42–53.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ruje.2017.02.003Annie Tubadji, Nataly Gnezdilova The German miracle or the miracle of the cultural attitude, International Journal of Social Economics 41, no.1111 (Nov 2014): 1014–1037.https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSE-11-2012-0211Devashish Mitra, Yiagadeesen Samy, Jean Daudelin Globalization and inequality: insights from municipal level data in Brazil, Indian Growth and Development Review 6, no.11 (Apr 2013): 128–147.https://doi.org/10.1108/17538251311329586Mohammad Zulfan Tadjoeddin Miracle that never was: disaggregated level of inequality in Indonesia, International Journal of Development Issues 12, no.11 (Apr 2013): 22–35.https://doi.org/10.1108/14468951311322091Joël Hellier, Stéphane Lambrecht Inequality, Growth and Welfare: The Main Links, (Jan 2013): 274–311.https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137283306_10Udaya R. Wagle The economic footing of the global poor, 1980-2005: The roles of economic growth, openness and political institutions, Journal of International Development 24 (Sep 2010): S173–S197.https://doi.org/10.1002/jid.1740Benaabdelaali Wail, Said Hanchane, Abdelhak Kamal A New Data Set of Educational Inequality in the World, 1950-2010: Gini Index of Education by Age Group, SSRN Electronic Journal (Jan 2011).https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1895496Jong-eun Lee Inequality in the globalizing Asia, Applied Economics 42, no.2323 (Sep 2010): 2975–2984.https://doi.org/10.1080/00036840801964781Douglas O. Walker Patterns of income distribution among world regions, Journal of Policy Modeling 29, no.44 (Jul 2007): 643–655.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpolmod.2007.05.012Chun-Hung A. Lin Education Expansion, Educational Inequality, and Income Inequality: Evidence from Taiwan, 1976–2003, Social Indicators Research 80, no.33 (Aug 2006): 601–615.https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-006-0009-8Timothy Patrick Moran Kuznets’s Inverted U-Curve Hypothesis: The Rise, Demise, and Continued Relevance of a Socioeconomic Law, Sociological Forum 20, no.22 (Jun 2005): 209–244.https://doi.org/10.1007/s11206-005-4098-yRaymond Raab, Pradeep Kotamraju, Stephen Haag Efficient provision of child quality of life in less developed countries: conventional development indexes versus a programming approach to development indexes, Socio-Economic Planning Sciences 34, no.11 (Mar 2000): 51–67.https://doi.org/10.1016/S0038-0121(99)00013-0Ravi Kanbur Chapter 13 Income distribution and development, (Jan 2000): 791–841.https://doi.org/10.1016/S1574-0056(00)80016-0Takahiro AKITA, Rizal Affandi LUKMAN, Yukino YAMADA INEQUALITY IN THE DISTRIBUTION OF HOUSEHOLD EXPENDITURES IN INDONESIA: A THEIL DECOMPOSITION ANALYSIS, The Developing Economies 37, no.22 (Mar 2007): 197–221.https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1746-1049.1999.tb00231.xOctavian Ngarambé, Stephan J. Goetz, David L. Debertin Regional Economic Growth and Income Distribution: County-Level Evidence from the U.S. South, Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics 30, no.22 (Apr 2015): 325–337.https://doi.org/10.1017/S1074070800008324 Martin Ravallion A Comment on Rati Ram's Test of the Kuznets Hypothesis Ravallion, Economic Development and Cultural Change 46, no.11 (Jul 2015): 187–190.https://doi.org/10.1086/452327 Rati Ram Reply to the Comment on Rati Ram's Test of the Kuznets Hypothesis Ram, Economic Development and Cultural Change 46, no.11 (Jul 2015): 191–195.https://doi.org/10.1086/452328P. J. Dawson On testing Kuznets' economic growth hypothesis, Applied Economics Letters 4, no.77 (Jul 1997): 409–410.https://doi.org/10.1080/135048597355159Zaki Eusufzai The Kuznets hypothesis: An indirect test, Economics Letters 54, no.11 (Jan 1997): 81–85.https://doi.org/10.1016/S0165-1765(96)00900-7

Convergence and Divergence of Regional Income Distributions and Welfare

Regional income distributions are analyzed and tested for convergence and divergence in the 1970s. The methodology is the same as that recently used to show the almost complete convergence of the South and non-South. This paper disaggregates the non-South into major regions consisting of the West, Midwest, and Northeast. Tests for rank dominance reveal surprising results. Income distributions in the major regions of the non-South were equivalent in 1969, and the South was uniformly dominated. Fundamental changes in the 1970s resulted in the West rank dominating the Midwest, which dominated the South, which in turn dominated the Northeast. Copyright 1994 by MIT Press.

Modern rice technology and regional wage differentials in the Philippines

ABSTRACTFear has been widely expressed that the modern rice varieties have created large disparities in regional income distribution, as the productivity gap between favorable and unfavorable rice‐production environments widened due to differential technology adoption throughout South and Southeast Asia over the last two decades.Technology affects the income of farm population directly through its effects on productivity and factor use, and indirectly through its effect on factor prices. In particular, the ultimate distributional impact of modern varieties will critically depend on the interregional labor‐market adjustments through migration in response to regional wage differentials created by the differential technology adoption, since labor is the main resource of the majority of the rural population.We studied favorable and unfavorable rice‐growing villages in the Philippines, and found that adoption of modern varieties during the 1970s was positively related to population growth rate. Contrary to popular belief, no association was observed between wage rates and adoption of modern varieties as of 1986. These findings support the hypothesis that the differential adoption of modern rice varieties induced interregional labor migration toward equalization of wage income across different production environments.

Modern rice technology and regional wage differentials in the Philippines

Fear has been widely expressed that the modern rice varieties have created large disparities in regional income distribution, as the productivity gap between favorable and unfavorable rice-production environments widened due to differential technology adoption throughout South and Southeast Asia over the last two decades. Technology affects the income of farm population directly through its effects on productivity and factor use, and indirectly through its effect on factor prices. In particular, the ultimate distributional impact of modern varieties will critically depend on the interregional labor-market adjustments through migration in response to regional wage differentials created by the differential technology adoption, since labor is the main resource of the majority of the rural population. We studied favorable and unfavorable rice-growing villages in the Philippines, and found that adoption of modern varieties during the 1970s was positively related to population growth rate. Contrary to popular belief, no association was observed between wage rates and adoption of modern varieties as of 1986. These findings support the hypothesis that the differential adoption of modern rice varieties induced interregional labor migration toward equalization of wage income across different production environments.

A Social Welfare Approach to Regional Convergence

The discussion of regional convergence has been carried out without attention to the question of regional income distributions. To a large extent this has reflected the importance attached to per capita income in models of national and regional growth. From such a vantage point, distribution is of secondary importance. We wish to broaden the discussion of regional comparisons to include the entire regional income distribution.

THE OPTIMAL CONVERGENCE OF REGIONAL INCOMES*

ABSTRACTFor many policy considerations it is assumed that the convergence of regional mean income will improve national equity by reducing overall inequality. The literature on decomposability of social welfare functions implies that this assumption is unwarranted. This paper develops a notion of optimal regional convergence. In general, the point of optimal convergence depends on the shapes of the regional income distributions, the inequality index used, and the rule for distributing interregional transfers. These concepts are illustrated with data on the regional income distributions of the Southern and Northern United States.

Long-Run Effects of the Canadian National Energy Agreements

For the last decade Canadian energy policy and oil pricing policy have been subjects of heated debate, dividing the country into several interest groups. The debate began when the federal government shielded the Canadian consumer from rapid world oil price increases by freezing domestic wellhead prices and subsidizing oil imports. This created a single price for oil across the entire country (except for transportation cost differences). The subsidy was to be paid by an export tax equivalent to the difference between domestic price and the world price. This policy was seen as an immediate response to a short-term problem: either world prices would return to lower levels or domestic prices could slowly adjust to the higher level without creating a price shock. Once a subsidy is established, however, it is hard to withdraw. Industries and consumers that rely on low-cost oil can be expected to lobby for continued subsidies. By observing real costs, moreover, the Canadian subsidy destroyed incentives to conserve costly fuels (e.g., imported oil). And there was no incentive to increase domestic production of such valuable commodities. By intervening, the federal government appeared to take on the responsibility of maintaining a status quo with respect to regional income distribution. Thus the scene was set.

Internal Migration and Regional Income Distribution in a rapidly developing Economy The Case of Spain, 1960–1969

Changes in regional income distribution in Spain during the 1960s are examined and the interrelations among such changes and internal and international migration are analyzed. In the first section of the paper the author questions whether income differentials among provinces followed convergent or divergent growth patterns. The effects of migration on wages and income in the primary secondary and tertiary sectors of the economy are then examined. (summary in FRE SPA) (ANNOTATION)