South Africa is acknowledged as having the highest Gini coefficient in the world. The Gini coefficient is a measure of income inequality in a country. The eradication of all forms of inequality was probably the most important aspiration for people pre-democracy. After two decades of democracy, not only has the eradication of inequality not materialised, but inequality has worsened. The aim of the research is threefold. Firstly, to understand the origins and the ensuing reasons for inequality as it is experienced in South Africa in 2013 and secondly, to investigate what the effects of this inequality are on the lives of South Africans, socially, politically and economically. Lastly, the research aims to find what, if anything, South Africans can do to address the issue, in order to determine if the aspiration is indeed attainable. Qualitative exploratory research was conducted by interviewing 16 prominent South Africans with the requisite knowledge of the topic and experience in their respective fields. Semi-structured, in-depth face-to-face interviews were performed. Content and theme analysis were carried out on the transcripts, followed by the recording of the responses in logically ordered tables. The literature informed the interpretation of the results in the tables. The reasons for and causes of South Africa’s high Gini coefficient were identified, with the apartheid legacy and the present government’s governance style as the two greatest contributors. The effects of the high inequality in the South African context were considered far more detrimental to society, than to the politics and the economy of the country. The research yielded a number of actions that could be considered to reduce inequality, thereby improving the Gini coefficient. The two most important proposals were addressing the current poor education system and finding a solution for unemployment. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / pagibs2014 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted

La redistribución del ingreso como forma de alcanzar objetivos de equidad es una cuestión sumamente compleja y un tema que genera fuertes controversias. Entre los posibles instrumentos fiscales disponibles para modificar la distribución de recursos, el impuesto personal a la renta ocupa un lugar destacado. A medida que el impuesto a la renta adquirió importancia, el debate sobre la definición teórica más adecuada de su base imponible, su alcance efectivo, el nivel deseado de progresión y otros aspectos críticos, se intensificó. Uno de los aspectos más discutidos en el marco del impuesto personal a la renta es el de la progresividad del tributo, principalmente a causa de la relación existente entre elevadas tasas marginales de imposición y efectos sobre los incentivos. De acuerdo con estos argumentos, el exceso de carga resultante de estructuras muy progresivas, determina cambios en las decisiones que implican costos de eficiencia y un menor margen para la redistribución. Esto ocurre porque los contribuyentes, en un intento por minimizar su obligación impositiva, eligen opciones menos gravadas y adoptan mecanismos de elusión y evasión impositiva que, en definitiva, reducen la base gravable. De este modo, las posibilidades efectivas de redistribución se reducen también. Esta tesis sostiene que el impuesto personal y progresivo sobre la renta tiene una moderado efecto redistribuidor. El interés se centra en el caso de Argentina. De este modo, a través de indicadores, estimaciones y simulación de escenarios, se suman argumentos que muestran que, aunque existe algún margen de mejora en la redistribución mediante cambios en el impuesto, en general, el resultado que puede esperarse no es drástico. El cálculo de indicadores de concentración muestra que la distribución de ingresos no mejora significativamente luego de la liquidación del impuesto personal a la renta, VI entendiendo “mejora” como un acercamiento a la equidistribución. Cuando se incorporan los individuos pertenecientes a segmentos de altos ingresos, omitidos en las encuestas de hogares, la diferencia es un poco mayor, aunque no sustancial. La estimación de tasas marginales máximas que potencialmente podrían aplicarse a los contribuyentes de altos ingresos para optimizar la recaudación y, por ende, las posibilidades de redistribución, arroja resultados heterogéneos, que van desde alícuotas algo inferiores a las actualmente vigentes hasta tasas del 62,8%. Todo depende del tipo de escenario supuesto, según los valores de elasticidad del ingreso gravable, preferencias redistributivas del gobierno y parámetro de Pareto asumidos en cada caso. Las estimaciones resultan altamente sensibles a los valores de dichos parámetros. Las ganancias potenciales en recaudación van desde prácticamente cero a 0,5% del PBI en el escenario más optimista. Finalmente el cálculo de tasas de marginales de imposición efectiva en el impuesto personal a la renta argentino revela que, incluso con tasas formalmente uniformes, las alícuotas que pagan en realidad distintas formas de renta son heterogéneas. Los valores se ubican en un rango que va desde -30% hasta 63%. Esto se asocia a una mayor elasticidad del ingreso gravable y, en definitiva, a un escenario menos optimista en términos de margen disponible para la redistribución. / The redistribution of income as a way to achieve equity purposes is a very complex issue and a topic of intense controversy. Among the possible fiscal instruments available to modify the distribution of resources, personal income tax has an important place. As the income tax became important, the debate about the most suitable theoretical definition of its tax base, its effective range, the desired level of progression and other critical aspects, intensified. One of the most discussed topics under the personal income tax is the progressiveness of the tribute, mainly because of the relationship between high marginal tax rates and incentive effects. According to these arguments, the excess burden resulting from very progressive structures, determines changes in decisions involving costs of efficiency and less margin for redistribution. This occurs because taxpayers, in an attempt to minimize their tax liability, choose less taxed options and adopt mechanisms for avoidance and tax evasion that, ultimately, reduce the taxable base. Thus, the real possibilities of redistribution are also reduced. This thesis argues that the progressive personal income tax has a moderate redistributive effect. The focus is on the case of Argentina. Thus, through indicators, estimates and simulated scenarios, the work adds arguments to show that, although there is some room for improvement in redistribution through changes in the tax, in general, the result can be expected will not be drastic. The calculation of concentration indicators shows that income distribution does not significantly improve after the liquidation of personnel income tax, where the "improvement" is interpreted as an approach to the equal distribution. When individuals belonging to high-income segments, omitted from household surveys, are incorporated, the difference is a little older, but not substantial. The estimate of maximum marginal rates that could potentially be applied to high-income taxpayers to optimize tax collection and, therefore, the possibilities of redeployment, gives mixed results, ranging from aliquots somewhat lower than the rates currently applied until 62.8 %. The results depend on the type of course scenario, based on the values of elasticity of taxable income, government redistributive preferences and Pareto parameter assume in each case. The estimates are highly sensitive to the values of these parameters. The potential gains in tax collection ranging from almost zero to 0.5% of GDP in the most optimistic scenario. Finally, the calculation of effective marginal rates of taxation on Argentinean personal income tax reveals that even with formally homogeneous rates, the aliquots actually paid by different forms of revenue are heterogeneous. The values are set in a range between -30% and 63%. This is associated with a greater elasticity of taxable income and, ultimately, to a less optimistic scenario in terms of margin available for redistribution.

yes / An expansion of row Markov matrices in terms of matrices related to permutations with repetitions, is introduced. It generalises the Birkhoff-von Neumann expansion of doubly stochastic matrices in terms of permutation matrices (without repetitions). An interpretation of the formalism in terms of sequences of integers that open random safes described by the Markov matrices, is presented. Various quantities that describe probabilities and correlations in this context, are discussed. The Gini index is used to quantify the sparsity (certainty) of various probability vectors. The formalism is used in the context of multipartite quantum systems with finite dimensional Hilbert space, which can be viewed as quantum permutations with repetitions or as quantum safes. The scalar product of row Markov matrices, the various Gini indices, etc, are novel probabilistic quantities that describe the statistics of multipartite quantum systems. Local and global Fourier transforms are used to de ne locally dual and also globally dual statistical quantities. The latter depend on off-diagonal elements that entangle (in general) the various components of the system. Examples which demonstrate these ideas are also presented.

Research indicates a warming global climate leads to change in the spatial and temporal characteristics of precipitation. Although precipitation is inherently variable through time and space, for some water-sensitive stakeholders, the evenness with which precipitation is distributed through a time interval rivals the importance of total precipitation amount and frequency within that period. This study uses a relatively new approach of analyzing inequity in the temporal distribution of precipitation to examine the recent historical record of precipitation across the United States. The Gini coefficient (GC), which has been commonly used in the field of economics to measure wealth distribution, was used here to assess inequity in the temporal distribution of daily precipitation through seasonal and annual timeframes. Additionally, the Lorenz asymmetry coefficient (LAC) was used to assess the magnitude of daily precipitation events (light, heavy) associated with inequity in the temporal distribution of precipitation. The concept of using these two metrics together to quantify changes in the character with which precipitation occurs across a time interval has yet to be documented for areas within the United States. Therefore, this study expands upon previous research of long-term hydroclimatic change and variability by illustrating the combined ability of these two relatively under-utilized metrics, the GC and the LAC, to enhance quantification of recent change in the characteristics of the temporal distribution of daily precipitation across the United States. The first element of the research presented here is demonstration of the utility of the GC and LAC metrics using data from the physically diverse mid-Atlantic sub-region of the United States. This research used station-level daily precipitation data to compute historic time series of intra-annual and intra-seasonal precipitation amount, precipitation frequency, GC, LAC, variance (V), and interquartile range (IQR). The results of this portion of the research show that when compared to other simpler measures of characterizing variability (i.e., V and IQR), the GC is relatively robust to both the number of days with precipitation and the total precipitation received in a temporal increment (i.e., season or year). The research expanded in scale to the continental United States, requiring data integration to a regional level to facilitate data analysis and physical understanding. The analysis used gridded seasonal means (1981 – 2010) of four precipitation characteristics: precipitation amount, precipitation frequency, GC, and LAC to delineate regions of homogenous precipitation characteristics. To accomplish this, a multi-step regionalization technique was employed. Specifically, the historic seasonal means were subjected to a Principal Components Analysis (PCA), and the resulting component scores were subjected to several cluster analysis techniques. The average linkage clustering technique produced the most logical clustering solution, indicating that 15 regions of homogenous precipitation exist within the contiguous United States. It is argued that the regions better serve hydroclimatic analyses than the nine climate regions designated by the United States National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI). The third element of the research integrates the first two research elements in study of recent United States hydroclimate variability and change. For the 15 United States hydroclimate regions, regionally averaged water year time series (1949 – 2018) of precipitation amount, precipitation frequency, GC, and LAC were computed using in-situ precipitation data gathered from the NCEI's Global Historical Climatology Network (GHCN)-Daily database. The time series of all precipitation characteristics for each region were then subjected to the nonparametric Mann-Kendall trend test to assess the significance of each trend, and the Sen's slope estimator was used to quantify the magnitude of the trend. Time series that characterize two key atmospheric characteristics, total column water vapor and static stability, were also computed for each region. For most of the 15 study regions, water year total precipitation and precipitation frequency increased through the latter half of the 20th century. The largest magnitude of change in water year total precipitation and precipitation frequency occurred in the time series of regions located within the eastern and northern portions of the contiguous United States. Results also show that inequity in the temporal distribution of water year precipitation increased through the 70-year study period for most of the 15 study regions. Combined, these results indicate that days with light and heavy precipitation are becoming more prevalent at the expense of days with moderate precipitation. Furthermore, variability in the time series of some precipitation characteristics for several regions coincide with variability in the atmospheric variables that characterize total column water vapor and static stability, however the dominant driver of hydroclimatic change across the contiguous United States remains elusive. / Doctor of Philosophy / Research indicates a warming global climate leads to change in the spatial and temporal characteristics of precipitation. These changes could adversely affect some water-sensitive stakeholders who are concerned not only with the amount of precipitation received over time, but also with the manner in which the precipitation is distributed through time – all at once, or spread evenly. The Gini coefficient (GC), which has been commonly used in the field of economics to measure wealth distribution, was used here to assess inequity in the temporal distribution of daily precipitation through seasonal and annual timeframes. Additionally, the Lorenz asymmetry coefficient (LAC) was used to assess the magnitude of daily precipitation events (light, heavy) that were primarily responsible for inequity in the distribution of daily precipitation amounts through each time interval. The research presented here used gridded seasonal means (1981 – 2010) of four precipitation characteristics: precipitation amount, precipitation frequency, GC, and LAC to delineate regions of homogenous precipitation characteristics. Through this process, 15 hydroclimatic regions were delineated within the contiguous United States. Regionally averaged annual time series (1949 – 2018) of precipitation amount, precipitation frequency, GC, and LAC were computed for each region using station-level precipitation. The time series of each precipitation characteristic, and for each region were then examined for statistical trends through the 70-year study period. Regional time series which characterize two key atmospheric characteristics, total column water vapor and static stability, were also computed for each region. For most of the 15 study regions, water year total precipitation and precipitation frequency increased through the latter half of the 20th century. The largest magnitude of change in water year total precipitation and precipitation frequency occurred in the time series of regions located within the eastern and northern portions of the contiguous United States. Results also show that precipitation became less evenly distributed across the water year through the 70-year study period for most of the 15 study regions. Combined, these results indicate that days with light and heavy precipitation are becoming more prevalent at the expense of days with moderate precipitation. Furthermore, variability in the time series of some precipitation characteristics for several regions coincide with variability in the atmospheric variables that characterize total column water vapor and static stability, however the dominant driver of hydroclimatic change across the contiguous United States remains elusive.

Yes / Coherent subspaces spanned by a finite number of coherent states are introduced, in a quantum system with Hilbert space that has odd prime dimension d. The set of all coherent subspaces is partitioned into equivalence classes, with d 2 subspaces in each class. The corresponding coherent projectors within an equivalence class, have the 'closure under displacements property' and also resolve the identity. Different equivalence classes provide different granularisation of the Hilbert space, and they form a partial order 'coarser' (and 'finer'). In the case of a two-dimensional coherent subspace spanned by two coherent states, the corresponding projector (of rank 2) is different than the sum of the two projectors to the subspaces related to each of the two coherent states. We quantify this with 'non-addditivity operators' which are a measure of quantum interference in phase space, and also of the non-commutativity of the projectors. Generalized Q and P functions of density matrices, which are based on coherent projectors in a given equivalence class, are introduced. Analogues of the Lorenz values and the Gini index (which are popular quantities in mathematical economics) are used here to quantify the inequality in the distribution of the Q function of a quantum state, within the granular structure of the Hilbert space. A comparison is made between Lorenz values and the Gini index for the cases of coarse and also fine granularisation of the Hilbert space. Lorenz values require an ordering of the d 2 values of the Q function of a density matrix, and this leads to the ranking permutation of a density matrix, and to comonotonic density matrices (which have the same ranking permutation). The Lorenz values are a superadditive function and the Gini index is a subadditive function (they are both additive quantities for comonotonic density matrices). Various examples demonstrate these ideas.

Yes / Lorenz values and the Gini index are popular quantities in Mathematical Economics, and are used here in the context of quantum systems with finite-dimensional Hilbert space. They quantify the uncertainty in the probability distribution related to an orthonormal basis. It is shown that Lorenz values are superadditive functions and the Gini indices are subadditive functions. The supremum over all density matrices of the sum of the two Gini indices with respect to position and momentum states is used to define an uncertainty coefficient which quantifies the uncertainty in the quantum system. It is shown that the uncertainty coefficient is positive, and an upper bound for it is given. Various examples demonstrate these ideas.

本研究以2002至2013年11個球季NBA聯盟的球隊，來探討球隊內薪資不平均化程度，分別與球隊的例行賽及季後賽戰績的關聯性如何?以及球隊總薪資超越豪華稅門檻多寡，分別與例行賽及季後賽戰績的關聯性如何? 實證結果發現在控制球員人數、觀眾人數、總教練因素以及球隊過去的戰績，薪資不平均程度與例行賽勝率、晉級季後賽有著顯著的正相關，但與季後賽的戰績則沒有顯著的關聯，且將球隊以薪資不平均程度(以HHI作為衡量指標)分為高低中三個群組，在最高的群組，付出的豪華稅越多，越能幫助球隊晉級季後賽。同時根據logistic 廻歸研究結果發現HHI指標及GINI係數每增加1%，打進季後賽的機率分別會增加1.152%及1.049%的機率打進季後賽，另外就HHI就最不平均組別而言，球隊總薪資超過豪華稅門檻時，每多支付100萬美元的薪資可增加1.002%機率打入季後賽。本研究認為決定球賽的勝負，薪資策略固然重要，但只運用薪資策略本身來提升球隊例行賽勝率有限，必須考慮球隊本身特質、有效利用相關資源才能增加球隊勝率。 / This research uses NBA’s past 11 seasons (2002 to 2013 season) to explore the association with NBA team's salary structure and its performance. The research also tries to analysis the association between luxury tax and NBA team’s performance. The empirical results show that after control the number of players, audience, coach, and the last season’s winning percentage, the regular season’s performance has positive highly corrected with salary’s HHI and GINI index. However, the playoff’s performance does not associate with salary’s HHI and GINI index. The logistic regression model predicts that when a team increases 1 percent of HHI and GINI index, then the team increases 1.152% and 1.049% opportunity to make in the NBA playoff. The highest HHI group’s logistic model predicts that when a team increases 100 million salaries over luxury tax cap, the team can increase 1.002% opportunity to make in the NBA playoff. We believe that although the strategy of NBA’s salary is important, however, the salary strategy itself is not enough to dramatic increase team’s performance. In order to improve the performance of a team, the characteristic of a team, the coach, audience and the team winning history maybe play the more important role in increasing winning percentage.

Esta pesquisa visa realizar uma radiografia da desigualdade de renda no estado de São Paulo a partir da base de dados disponibilizada pelos Censos de 1991 e 2000. Nesse sentido, avaliar-se-á qual o valor dos indicadores de desigualdade de renda para os diferentes níveis de agregação existentes no Estado disponibilizados pelo Censo. No caso, a metodologia aplicada é a mesma utilizada por Bourguignon e Morrisson em seu trabalho seminal \"Inequality among world citizens: 1820 - 1992\" (2002), que ressalta o fato de que os estudos sobre a desigualdade mundial são, em sua maioria, simplistas demais ao só considerarem a desigualdade de renda entre países, mas não levar em conta desigualdade dentro dos mesmos. Assim, baseados nos indicadores tratados em Bourguignon (1979), os autores estimam a desigualdade entre países e dentro dos países, dado que a soma de ambas seria igual à desigualdade de renda total. A presente pesquisa faz a mesma análise, mas tendo como foco o estado de São Paulo ao invés do mundo e utilizando-se da variável rendimento mensal domiciliar - dada pelo Censo - dividida pelo número de moradores por domicílio. A radiografia da desigualdade de renda no Estado é feita nos seguinte níveis de agregação: Mesorregiões, Microrregiões, Municípios. Além disso, a presente pesquisa visa descrever a desigualdade de renda existente entre diferentes tipos de áreas existentes em um território - sendo essas delimitadas pelo IBGE - tentando avaliar como a dicotomia Urbano\\Rural se refletiria no que diz respeito à evolução da desigualdade de renda nesses setores. Por último, a presente pesquisa visa avaliar a desigualdade de renda domiciliar total existente entre domicílios com um mesmo número de moradores, visando mensurar a variação de bem-estar entre os anos de 1991 e 2000, a partir da pressuposição que a renda é uma boa proxy de bemestar. / This research aims to hold a radiography of the income inequality in the state of Sao Paulo from the database provided by the Censo of 1991 and 2000. Accordingly, it would assess what are the values of the wealth inequality indicators for the different levels of aggregation existing in the State - provided by Censo. In the case, the methodology is the same as used by Bourguignon and Morrisson in his seminal work \"Inequality among world citizens: 1820-1992\" (2002), which underscores the fact that the studies on global inequality are, in their majority, too simplistic to only consider the inequality of income between countries, but does not take into account inequality within the same. Thus, based on indicators treated in Bourguignon (1979), the authors estimate the inequality between countries and within countries, since the sum of both would be equal to the total inequality of income. This research makes the same analysis but focusing on the state of Sao Paulo instead of the world and using the variable household monthly income - given by Censo - divided by the number of residents per home. A radiograph of the wealth inequality in the state is made in the following levels of aggregation: Mesorregiões, Microrregiões, and Municipalities. Moreover, this research aims to describe the inequality of income between different types of areas existing in a same territory - these were defined by IBGE - trying to assess how the dichotomy Urban \\ Rural is reflected with regard to the evolution of income inequality in these sectors. Finally, this research aims to assess the home income inequality between households with the same number of residents, to measure the variation of well-being between the years of 1991 and 2000, from the assumption that the income is good proxy of welfare.

Šiuolaikinėje visuomenėje didėjanti ekonominė nelygybė neretai suvokiama kaip neišvengiamas pasaulio šalių modernizacijos ir ekonominio vystymosi padarinys. Tačiau naujos tendencijos patvirtino, kad ekonominę nelygybę galima (bent iš dalies) valdyti, taikant tikslines ekonomines-socialines politikos priemones. Siekiant minėto tikslo, itin svarbu analizuoti pajamų nelygybės atsiradimo prieţastis ir jos dinamiką, ieškoti priemonių, galinčių sumažinti ekonominės nelygybės mastą šalyje. Šiame darbe analizuojama gyventojų pajamų nelygybės samprata, jos prieţastys, problemos, ryšys su ekonomikos augimu, tiriama Lietuvos gyventojų pajamų nelygybė Europos Sąjungos šalių kontekste. / In modern society, the growing economic inequality is often seen as an inevitable world modernization and economic development outcome. However, new trends have proven that economic inequality can be (at least partially) operated, through targeted social-economic policies. In achieving this objective it is essential to analyze the causes of income inequality and its dynamics, look for measures that can reduce the extent of economic inequality in the country. This paper analyzes the concept of income nequality and its causes, problems, relationship with economic growth. The research in the analysis is income inequality in Lithuania in context of European Union countries.

FREITAS, Luzineide de Andrade de. Os efeitos da desigualdade social na mortalidade infantil no Brasil (1992 a 2011). 2017. 28f. - Dissertação (mestrado) – Universidade Federal do Ceará, Faculdade de Economia, Administração, Atuária e Contabilidade, Mestrado Profissional em Economia do Setor Público, Fortaleza (CE), 2017. / Submitted by CAEN PROGRAMA DE PÓS-GRADUAÇÃO EM ECONOMIA (mpe@caen.ufc.br) on 2017-11-10T17:41:34Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2017_dis_lafreitas.pdf: 416072 bytes, checksum: 1dfc7bc971dfdbb2a40cc834bfe41de8 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Márcia Araújo (marcia_m_bezerra@yahoo.com.br) on 2017-11-13T11:11:20Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2017_dis_lafreitas.pdf: 416072 bytes, checksum: 1dfc7bc971dfdbb2a40cc834bfe41de8 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-11-13T11:11:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2017_dis_lafreitas.pdf: 416072 bytes, checksum: 1dfc7bc971dfdbb2a40cc834bfe41de8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017 / The paper aims to analyze the effects of income inequality on the infant mortality rate, analyzing for other determinants such as the level of education, poverty and per capita income for all units of the federation in Brazil from 1992 to 2011. The infant mortality rate is a social indicator that reflects the quality of life of a given population. For this purpose, econometric models of panel data were used. It was verified that the income inequality and all analyzed variables affect the infant mortality rates in the analyzed period. Thus, among the main conclusions obtained, the need for public investments geared to economic growth combined with income deconcentration and poverty reduction followed by better levels of education are essential in the process of reducing the infant mortality rate. / O trabalho tem como objetivo principal analisar os efeitos da desigualdade de renda no indicador de saúde mortalidade infantil, considerando outros determinantes como o nível de educação, pobreza e renda per capita para todas as unidades da federação no Brasil no período de 1992 a 2011. A taxa de mortalidade infantil é um indicador social que reflete a qualidade de vida de uma determinada população. Para essa finalidade, utilizou-se modelos econométricos de dados em painel. Verificou-se que a desigualdade de renda e todas as variáveis analisadas afetam as taxas de mortalidade infantil no período analisado. Assim, dentre as principais conclusões obtidas, constata-se a necessidade de investimentos públicos direcionados para o crescimento econômico aliado com desconcentração de renda e redução da pobreza seguidos de melhores níveis de educação são essenciais no processo de redução da taxa de mortalidade infantil.