Chapter 1 of this thesis analyzes the determinants of income inequality in Canada using micro-level data from Canada’s censuses (1991, 1996, 2000, 2006, 2016). First, it is shown that market-income inequality is higher than inequality based on other types of income (annual wage, annual pre-tax income and annual income after-tax). Inequality is highly driven by the gap between the income shares held by the top 1% income group compared with other income percentiles. It is also explained by the large gap between income percentile of the top 25% income group and the bottom 75% income group. The top 30% income group held 60% of the population total income, while the bottom 30% income group held under 9% of the population total income. Inequality is different by province across Canada. From the findings, within-group inequality dominates between-group inequality, regardless of whether groups are defined by education, occupation, gender, age, language, marital status, or citizenship status. Second, analyzing the determinants of inequality, the results suggest that they vary significantly across income groups. The results highlight the contribution of any explanatory factor to inequality and the proportion of inequality explained by all observable characteristics. The largest part (between 64% and 74%) of income inequality is not explained by individual observable characteristics. Third, these determinants are modified by redistributive policies such as taxes and transfers. Chapter 2 brings further light on income inequality dynamics by gender and inves tigates its determinants from static and dynamic points of view. Using Canada income data, this research uses different measures of inequality to provide evidence on the changes in inequality by gender from 1991 to 2016. In this study, unconditional quantile regression based on the Re-entered Influence Function (RIF) is used to assess the impact of individual characteristics on income quantiles. The contribution of each relevant covariate on the Theil index by gender is documented by applying regression-based decomposition of inequality. Finally, RIF-Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition is used to investigate the composite and income structural effects on the changes in inequality measures by gender. Results show that, before 2001, inequality was higher among females than among males, and starting from 2001, the inverse process is observed. The changes in the interquantile differences are not homogeneous along the income distribution for both males and females. The pattern of the effects of covariates on quantiles along the income distribution is gender specific. The findings provide evidence that, in most cases, the income structural effect explains the higher part of inequality. dynamics by gender, even if the size of the impact differs by gender. Furthermore, the composite effect counterbalances the income structural effect most of the time, even if, in some cases, they contribute to the change in inequality measures in the same direction. Chapter 3 investigates the spillover effects of corporate tax across the provinces using Canada’s corporate provincial aggregate data from 1981 to 2019. A dynamic panel model is used to assess the incidence of tax competition within the country. The results show that an increase of statutory taxes in other provinces has a positive effect on the corporate taxable income of a specific province. The results provide the evidence of spillover effects of corporate tax across provinces in Canada. This chapter supports the recommendations proposed by Smart and Vaillancourt (2021) on formula allocation mechanism and by Boadway and Tremblay (2016) on the modernization of business taxation mechanism in Canada.

This master thesis aims to find out the socio-economic factors, which most affect the level of income inequality in society. The aim is to quantify the contribution of each social groups to the overall income defferentiation by decomposition of some income inequality indicators. The thesis is focused on a group of people based on their social status in society and their level of education, and so it is determined in relation the social background and income level. Income distribution strongly affects the value of risk-of poverty, and therefore this thesis put emphasis on the relationship between income inequality and poverty rate of each group. Development of various indicators measuring income inequality provides a comprehensive overview of the situation of income differentiation in the Czech Republic and also indicates the trend for income distribution in the last period.

Structural adjustment measures adopted during the early 1990s considerably altered the rural landscape throughout Zambia. Households responded and continue to respond in a variety of ways, although many do so under highly inequitable terms. Poverty rates, food insecurity, and income inequality all remain unacceptably high in Zambia, particularly in rural areas. Using a biocultural and livelihoods approach, this alternate "publication in scholarly journals" format dissertation examines some of the complexities that condition livelihoods and differentially shape biologies in rural Zambia today. Three main problems are explored: 1) the relationship between food insecurity and adult mental health; 2) piecework (casual labor) as a coping strategy and indicator of household vulnerability to food insecurity; and 3) the association between relative deprivation and adult physical health. Research for the dissertation took place in a rural area in Eastern Province, Zambia in 2009. The research employed a mixed methodology, collecting qualitative and household-level survey data during the rainy and dry seasons. Various statistical analyses were utilized in the three papers appended to the dissertation. The results were further explored using the findings from the qualitative data. In paper one, a positive relationship between food insecurity and poor mental health was found. Food insecurity during the dry season had a greater effect on mental health than in the rainy season. In paper two, the results demonstrate the importance of piecework labor as a coping strategy and the need to adopt a multi-period lens to robustly assess whether participation in piecework reflects a household's vulnerability to food insecurity. In the third paper, a negative association was established between relative deprivation and adult nutritional status. Together, the results from the dissertation provide clear evidence that both the material and relative circumstances of people play important roles in patterning variation in mental and physical health outcomes in rural Zambia.

This thesis consists of three chapters that analyze theoretically the role of income inequality in consumer markets. Each chapter introduces distributional considerations into an economic model where previously inequality did not play a major role. Chapter one uses a consumer search model to show under what conditions the distribution of income within a community is related to the type of firms that exist within that community, impacting the level of prices. We show that if time and money costs of search are high enough, only the middle class have incentive to search and therefore are the most aggressive shoppers. Using a supply side model, we argue that firms located in more informed communities are more likely to enter the market as large low-priced retailers. Connecting these two results, the model shows under what conditions the size of the middle class can have a negative relationship with the level of prices. Chapter two demonstrates how firm pricing strategy and determinants of household location can interact to determine city structure. In this city, consumers and firms live on a continuous line interval. The model consists of two types of firms; many high-cost perfectly competitive firms located in the Central Business District, and one large low-cost "Superstore", choosing its price strategically. We show how the shopping habits of the consumer population, as determined by the relative price of the Superstore and the Corner Stores, can contribute to the various income segregation outcomes described in previous literature. In addition we consider the impact of city population structure on the pricing decision of a monopolist facing a competitive fringe. Chapter three uses a simple model of banking services to consider how deposit-taking banks price for their services and choose the type of deposit customers that they target. This chapter goes beyond previous theoretical work on consumer banking, identifying the role of household income in the access to deposit services. We show that a higher rate of return on investments available to banks lowers financial exclusion, increasing the profitability of low-income consumers for deposit-taking institutions. This suggests that the possibility of financial exclusion increases in periods of recession. The chapter demonstrates how an increase in income dispersion can lead to a greater proportion of consumers excluded from mainstream banking.

This paper studies the contribution behavior and cooperation of subjects in different immigration situations via a dynamic public good game. This dynamic environment, in which a subject’s income at the end of the decision will become an endowment for the next decision, also offers an opportunity to study growth as measured by group income and inequality via the Gini coefficient. Overall, contribution does not converge to zero, nor does it decrease over time, and subjects are very contributive in nature. The best scenario to boost contributions among subjects is when immigrants reduce a subject’s income in the current period, but promise to increase growth in the future. In all treatments, inequality significantly increases over time for the unsuccessful group (below the median group income), while the successful group (above the median group income) mostly has lower inequality with a constant, or slightly increasing, trend. There is a positive relationship between growth and inequality in the treatment where immigrants have no impact on subjects’ income, and also where immigrants reduce subjects’ income without future promise. This positive relationship implies that the group growth can be achieved only with an increase in inequality (or less cooperation between subjects). However, a slightly negative relationship occurs in the scenario where the immigrants reduce subjects’ income in the current period, but promise to increase growth in the future. This negative relationship implies that group growth can be achieved without any inequality (or more cooperation between subjects). The overall findings in this paper provide insights into the contribution behavior and cooperation of subjects, when considering the different economic impacts of immigrants in their society.

This thesis is focused on questions of state redistribution and income inequality in the Czech republic. It explains the main ideas of state redistribution, income inequality and relation between them. It anlyzes the particular instruments of state redistribution such as tax systems and systems of social transfers which the government uses to achiave more equal distribution of incomes in society. The object of the thesis is to find out how the particular instruments contribute to filling the essentials goal - lower the income inequality in society. It is based on the data from years 2006 until 2008 from the statistics of household accounts published on the web site of the Czech statistical office. Finally, it is devoted to the trends of state redistribution and income inequality in OECD countries.

Under 2000-talets början har inkomstojämlikhet ökat i världen. Det är omdebatterat vilka faktorer som ligger bakom och vilka medel som ska hantera problematiken. Uppsatsen undersöker ett av de vanligaste verktygen för att stävja inkomstojämlikhet, nämligen inkomstskatt. Syftet är att mäta vilken effekt inkomstskatt har på inkomstojämlikhet. För att uppfylla syftet tillämpas en instrumentvariabel regressionsanalys för att studera om inkomstskatt kan förklara inkomstojämlikhet i svenska kommuner under tidsperioden 2003–2017. Studien utmärker sig från tidigare studier inom området då en instrumentvariabel regressionsanalys använts för att exkludera att inkomstojämlikhet kan påverka nivå av inkomstskatt i en region. Statistiskt signifikanta resultat påvisar att inkomstskatt har negativ effekt på inkomstojämlikhet. Där en 1 procentenhets ökning i inkomstskatt leder till 2,08 procents minskning i inkomstojämlikhet. / During the beginning of the 21st century, income inequality has risen in most countries. What has caused this and how it should be solved is well debated. This paper intends to research one of the most well-known instruments to decrease income inequality, income tax. Our aim is to measure what effect income tax has on income inequality. To reach this aim we have applied an instrument variable regression analysis on income tax and income inequality, with Swedish municipalities during the timespan 2003-2017 as our selection group. This study distinguishes itself from previous studies in the area since we have used an instrument variable analysis to exclude the fact that income inequality can affect the level of income tax in a region. We have found significant results that income tax have a negative effect on income inequality and have concluded that a 1 percent increase in income tax will decrease income inequality with 2,08 percent.

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.

Minas Gerais é um dos estados que mais se destaca pelas disparidades regionais. Coexistem no estado regiões dinâmicas e modernas em contraste com regiões atrasadas e estagnadas. Neste contexto, o objetivo deste trabalho foi de analisar a distribuição de renda e pobreza em Minas Gerais, destacando as desigualdades regionais do estado, considerando a divisão do estado em 12 mesorregiões. Cada mesorregião apresenta um nível de desenvolvimento medido pelo Índice de Desenvolvimento Humano Municipal (IDH-M). Para a análise foram usadas medidas de desigualdade, medidas de posição e modelos de regressão múltipla. A principal base de dados utilizada é o Censo Demográfico de 2000 do Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística. Para o cumprimento dos objetivos, foram analisados dois tipos de distribuição: do rendimento domiciliar per capita e das pessoas ocupadas com rendimento. Verificou-se que a desigualdade da distribuição da renda domiciliar per capita tende a ser menor nas mesorregiões mais desenvolvidas do que nas mesorregiões menos desenvolvidas. O rendimento domiciliar per capita foi dividido em 7componentes: rendimento do trabalho principal; rendimento demais trabalhos; aposentadorias e pensões; aluguéis; pensão alimentícia, mesada, doação; renda mínima, bolsa escola, seguro desemprego e outros rendimentos. Dessas 7 parcelas, 3 delas (rendimento trabalho principal, aposentadorias e pensões e renda mínima/bolsa escola e seguro desemprego) contribuem para diminuir a desigualdade, enquanto as 4 restantes (demais trabalhos, aluguéis, pensão alimentícia/mesada/doação e outros rendimentos) contribuem para aumentar a desigualdade. Na análise regional, constatou-se que as razões de concentração do rendimento do trabalho principal e dos aluguéis estão negativamente correlacionados com o nível de desenvolvimento das mesorregiões, medido pelo IDH-M. Por outro lado, as razões de concentração do rendimento dos demais trabalhos e de outros rendimentos estão positivamente correlacionados com o nível de desenvolvimento regional. Na mensuração da pobreza observou-se que as mesorregiões Jequitinhonha, Vale do Mucuri e Norte de Minas estão em situação crítica de pobreza, sendo que mais da metade da população é considerada pobre. O número de pessoas pobres atendidas pelos programas de renda mínima, bolsa escola e seguro desemprego nessas mesorregiões é ainda pequeno, sugerindo a expansão desses benefícios. Analisando a distribuição do rendimento das pessoas ocupadas, observou-se que a educação se destaca como o principal condicionante da desigualdade entre elas. Também foi destacado que a taxa de retorno da educação não é constante para todos os níveis de escolaridade. Notou-se que, além da taxa de retorno da educação ter acréscimos maiores com a obtenção de um diploma, há um nítido aumento nessa taxa a partir dos 10 anos, devido ao "threshold effect". Observou-se que a taxa de retorno da educação está relacionada com a participação do setor de serviços nas mesorregiões, mas não se constatou a existência de uma relação monotônica entre essa taxa e o nível de desenvolvimento das mesorregiões. / Minas Gerais is one of the states that shows large differences among regions. On the one hand, there are dinamic and modern regions; on the other hand, backward and stagnated ones. In this context, the aim of this study was to analyze income distribution and povety in Minas Gerais, focusing on the regional inequalities in the state, dividing the state into 12 regions. The level of development of each region was measured by the Municipal Human Development Index. To carry out the analysis, measures of inequality, measures of position and multiple regression models were used. The main database used is the Demographic Census of 2000 from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics. Two types of income were considered: per capita household income and earnings of employed workers. It was noticed that the inequality of the per capita household income distribution tends to be smaller in more developed regions than in the less developed ones. The household income was divided into 7 components: earnings from the main job; earnings from other jobs; pensions; rents; alimony and donations; government income transfers and other incomes. Out of these 7 components, three of them ( earnings from the main job, pensions and government income transfer) contribute to reduce inequality, while the other 4 (earnings from other jobs, rents, alimony/donations and other incomes) contribute to increase inequality. In the regional analysis, it was observed that the concentration ratios of earnings from the main job and rents are negatively related to the level of development of the regions, measured by IDH-M. On the other hand, concentration ratios of earnings from other jobs and from other incomes are positively related to the level of regional development. In measuring poverty, it was noticed that the regions of Jequitinhonha, Vale do Mucuri and North of Minas Gerais are in a critical condition of poverty, with the majority of the population considered poor. The number of poor people assisted by the government income transfers programs in these regions is still too small, suggesting the expansion of such benefits. Analysing income distribution of employed people, it was observed that education is as the main determinant inequality. It was also highlighted that the education return rate is not constant for all levels of education. It was observed that, besides being higher at levels that correspond to a diploma, the education return rate shows an expressive increase from 10 years on, due to a "threshold effect". It was noticed that the education return rate is related to the participation of the service sector in the regions, but the dada did not show the existence of a monotonic relation between this rate and the level of development of the regions.

Essa dissertação é composta por dois ensaios empíricos que relacionam variáveis macroeconômicas e desigualdade de renda. No primeiro ensaio, o objetivo é avaliar o impacto de uma mudança da taxa inflação na distribuição de renda, medida pelo índice de Gini. Para isso, usa-se um painel com aproximadamente 80 países e dados anuais entre 1987 e 2006. Então, estimam-se modelos estáticos e dinâmicos em que a desigualdade de renda é explicada pela inflação, sempre controlando a existência de efeitos fixos para países e anos. Quando modelos não-lineares são usados, para diminuir a influência dos outliers, encontra-se uma robusta relação positiva entre as variáveis, indicando que inflação tem um impacto positivo no índice de Gini. A magnitude do efeito estimado, porém, é inferior ao obtido por estudos anteriores. Os resultados apontam que um aumento no IPC de zero para 10 pontos percentuais ao ano aumentaria o índice de Gini, que está numa escala de zero a 100, em, no máximo, 0,05 pontos percentuais. Essa discrepância em relação à literatura parece decorrer do uso de estimadores de efeitos fixos, pois os trabalhos anteriores baseavam-se em dados em cross section. No segundo ensaio, sugere-se que o impacto de uma democratização sobre o crescimento econômico depende negativamente da desigualdade de renda do país em questão. Isto significa que uma democratização pode estimular o crescimento em países mais equânimes, mas este efeito é menor em sociedades mais desiguais. A fim de avaliar este argumento empiricamente, usa-se um painel de 76 países com dados qüinqüenais entre 1977 e 2006. Com estes dados, também se estimam modelos estáticos e dinâmicos que sempre controlam a existência de efeitos fixos para países e tempo. Nesses modelos o crescimento do PIB per capita é explicado por uma variável que mede a qualidade das instituições democráticas do país e por sua interação com o índice de Gini, de modo que o efeito marginal da democracia dependa do Gini. Em todos os modelos estimados os coeficientes sempre apresentaram os sinais esperados. O resultado mais robusto é que para países com elevada desigualdade de renda (do quartil superior da nossa amostra, com índide de Gini acima de 45 pontos) a democratização tem um impacto negativo sobre o crescimento econômico. / This dissertation consists of two empirical essays relating macroeconomic variables and income inequality. The aim of the first essay is to evaluate how a change in the inflation rate affects the income distribution. In order to do this, a panel of yearly data for about 80 countries between 1987 and 2006 is used. Then static and dynamic models in which income inequality is explained by inflation are estimated, always controlling for country and year fixed effects. A robust positive relation between the variables is found when non linear models are used to reduce the influence of outliers. This is evidence that inflation has a positive effect in the Gini index. The size of the estimated effect, however, is inferior to those obtained by previous studies. Results point that a an increase in the CPI from zero to 10 yearly percentage points would increase the Gini index in at most 0,05 percentage points, on a scale that lies in between zero and 100. Such a difference seems to derive from the use of fixed effects estimators, while previous work was based in cross section data. The second essay suggests that the impact of democratization in economic growth depends negatively on the countrys income inequality. This means that democratization might encourage growth in more equal countries, but this effect diminishes in more unequal societies. In order to empirically assess this argument, I use a panel with 76 countries and five-year averages between 1977 and 2006 and estimate static and dynamic models that also control for country and time fixed effects. In these models, per capita GDP is explained by a variable that measures quality of democratic institutions and its interaction with the Gini index, so that democracys marginal effect depends on the latter. Coefficients have the expected signs in all estimated models. The most robust result is that for highly unequal countries (those that belong to the highest quartile in the sample, with Gini index above 45 percentage points) democratization has a negative impact on economic growth.