This paper explores the relationship between household income inequality and macroeconomic uncertainty in the United States. Using a novel large-scale macroeconometric model, we shed light on regional disparities of inequality responses to a national uncertainty shock. The results suggest that income inequality decreases in most states, with a pronounced degree of heterogeneity in terms of the dynamic responses. By contrast, some few states, mostly located in the Midwest, display increasing levels of income inequality over time. Forecast error variance and historical decompositions highlight the importance of uncertainty shocks in explaining income inequality in most regions considered. Finally, we explain differences in the responses of income inequality by means of a simple regression analysis. These regressions reveal that the income composition as well as labor market fundamentals determine the directional pattern of the dynamic responses. / Series: Working Papers in Regional Science

Este trabalho se compõe de duas principais frentes de investigação, abordadas por meio de duas vias metodológicas. São investigados os impactos das instituições, especialmente das instituições financeiras, sobre a distribuição de renda no Brasil e os impactos subsequentes da distribuição de renda sobre o crescimento econômico brasileiro, ambos desde a abertura econômica e financeira dos anos 90, até os dias atuais. E são utilizadas como metodologias de abordagem, uma via histórico-institucional num primeiro momento e uma via analítico-teórica, num segundo momento. As principais categorias estudadas incluem os condicionantes históricos de uma estrutura distributiva desigual, a consolidação do setor financeiro no Brasil, as relações entre este último, o Estado e a sociedade, a hipótese de uma nova classe média e a proposta de um modelo que contempla parte desses aspectos, procurando contribuir para melhor lidar com eles. Conclui-se pela existência de uma desigualdade estrutural na distribuição de renda (apesar de recentemente atenuada), pela permanência cultural de um elemento de orientação pelo status e emulação de padrões de consumo, pelos riscos significativos de uma trajetória de endividamento dos trabalhadores e pelos privilégios assegurados ao setor financeiro através de sua adequação ao conceito sociológico de \"campo\". Finalmente, constatou-se que o movimento de melhoria do salário mínimo e formalização da mão-de-obra, nos últimos anos, constitui condição necessária, mas ainda não suficiente para assegurar a sustentação do crescimento econômico com progressivo avanço na estrutura funcional de distribuição de renda no país. / This work is composed by two main fronts of investigation, which are approached by means of two methodological perspectives. It investigates the impact of the institutions, especially the financial institutions, on income distribution in Brazil, as well as the subsequent impact of income distribution on Brazilian economic growth, from the economic and financial opening in 1990\'s up to the present time. The methodological perspectives used to address these questions are, first, historical-institutional, and then, analytic-theoretical. The main issues studied are: the historical restrictions of an unequal income distribution, the consolidation of a financial sector in Brazil, the relationship between the latter and the Estate and society and the hypothesis that a new middle class emerged in Brazil recently. Finally, I construct a theoretical model to help us analyse aspects of these issues. This model also allows us to derive policy prescriptions aimed at improving the negative aspects of income inequality and low economic growth. The conclusion we reached points to the existence of a structural income inequality (although recently mitigated), to the cultural persistence of a status orientation element and the emulation of consumption patterns, to the considerable risk of adebt path of the working-class and to the privileges secured to the financial sector (through its adequation to the sociological concept of \"field\" ). Finally we note that the recent improvement in minimum wage and in the formalization of employment constitute a necessary yet not sufficient condition to ensure long lasting economic growth combined with gradual advance in the functional structure of income distribution in the country.

Li, Nan. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 88-90). / Abstract also in Chinese. / Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Overview --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- Literature on Illegal Immigration --- p.2 / Chapter 1.3 --- Literature on Income Distribution --- p.4 / Chapter 1.4 --- Outline and Contribution --- p.5 / Chapter 2 --- The Solow Model of Illegal Immigration --- p.7 / Chapter 2.1 --- The Basic Model --- p.7 / Chapter 2.2 --- Equilibrium and Transitional Dynamics --- p.10 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Aggregate level --- p.10 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- Individual level --- p.12 / Chapter 3 --- Sensitivity Analysis in the Solow Model --- p.16 / Chapter 3.1 --- Benchmark Example --- p.16 / Chapter 3.2 --- Input Shares --- p.18 / Chapter 3.3 --- Share of Unskilled Labor 0 --- p.20 / Chapter 3.4 --- Different Initial Value of Capital --- p.21 / Chapter 4 --- The Ramsey Model of Illegal Immigration --- p.23 / Chapter 4.1 --- The Basic Model --- p.24 / Chapter 4.2 --- Transitional Dynamics and Equilibrium --- p.26 / Chapter 4.2.1 --- Transitional Dynamics --- p.26 / Chapter 4.2.2 --- Steady State --- p.27 / Chapter 5 --- Sensitivity Analysis in the Ramsey Model --- p.28 / Chapter 5.1 --- Benchmark Example --- p.29 / Chapter 5.2 --- Input Share --- p.30 / Chapter 5.3 --- Elasticity of Substitution 0 --- p.31 / Chapter 5.4 --- Penalty Ratio r --- p.32 / Chapter 5.5 --- Different Initial Value of Capital --- p.33 / Chapter 5.5.1 --- Case 1 k10 < k20 --- p.34 / Chapter 5.5.2 --- Case 2 k10 > k20 --- p.35 / Chapter 6 --- Comparison and Conclusion --- p.36

The rise of earnings inequality in the United States has garnered attention in both the political and academic spheres. Recently progressive politicians have pointed towards the divergence of wages and labor productivity as a source of this inequality. known as the productivity-pay gap as a source of the rise in inequality. This paper analyzes that divergence with a regression model that evaluates the change in compensation that is attributable to increases in productivity. Results were somewhat surprising with productivity accounting for a larger portion of the growth in wages for the period after 1972 when the divergence in the two growth rates began than in the time between 1948 and 1972 when they were said to grow together. Additionally, results showed more wage growth was attributable to increases in productivity in goods producing sectors like manufacturing, utilities, and construction than financial intermediation in the services sector. However standard errors across our model were relatively large making it difficult to say with certainty the size of effects observed. Future research should seek to better define productivity in the service sector to determine whether other factors like education, occupation or area of residence affect the level of wage growth attributable to compensation.

While the long run productivity of federal highway infrastructure spending has been well researched, their short run effects and effects on income inequality. This dissertation explores those under-researched unconventional effects. In the first chapter, I investigate the effects of federal infrastructure grants on income inequality. I find that grants reduce inequality in both recipient and neighboring states. The reduction is driven by greater income among the bottom three income quintiles. I explore two mechanisms using person level data and find that the reduction in inequality is attributable to higher income for low-skilled workers and workers working in low-skilled industries. In the second chapter, I investigate the role of implementation lags in the ARRA. I find that the employment effects after six months were nearly twice as high in short lag counties compared to long lag counties. However, these effects quickly fade. I find no evidence of implementation lags impacting employment after one year. In the third chapter, I examine the effect of the business cycle on completion times of federally financed transportation infrastructure projects. I find that projects that begin construction during periods of economic slack are completed more quickly, suggesting an alternative mechanism for state dependent fiscal multipliers.

This thesis examines income inequality in Taiwan from three perspectives: economic development, political democracy, and world-system/dependence. Education, population growth, population structure, unemployment, savings, and export growth are treated as variables. Below are the important conclusions. Economic development has an effect on income inequality. The level of development is crucial. In the 1950s and 1960s, the relationship was significant, but in the next two decades economic development did not further decrease income inequality. Sector dualism was not a good predictor. Democratization did not have an obvious relation with income inequality. But the stable political environment and the endeavors of government to keep the society stable were crucial to economic development and improvement in income inequality. Foreign capital and export dependence did not retard economic development and worsen income inequality. But the influence of foreign capital did not contradict the world-system/dependence argument. Expansion of education had a negative relation with income inequality. The most important thing was the expansion of primary school education and junior high school education. The predicted relation between population growth and population structure and income inequality was not totally supported. Export expansion and savings expansion had an important influence on economic development and, like the relation between the economic development and income inequality, the relation between the expansion of exports and savings and income inequality was stronger in the 1960s than in the 1950s. Unemployment had almost the same change pattern as income inequality. This implies that employment had a negative relation with income inequality and, after 1970, the low unemployment helped keep inequality at a low level in the 1970s and 1980s. In the late 1980s and early 1990s income inequality increased slightly as radical changes in economic structure, political environment, and other social factors transformed Taiwan. Other developed countries also show an increase in income inequality associated with similar changes. Thus income inequality in Taiwan is predicted to increase further.

This dissertation includes three essays on growth, the housing market, and inequality. In the first essay, I analyze the effects of government consumption and government debt on long-run economic growth by considering the economic characteristics of the countries investigated. Linear regressions reveal that government consumption has a much bigger negative impact on long-run growth compared with the negative (and sometimes insignificant) effects of government debt. Nonlinear analyses further show that such effects are highly impacted by the economic characteristics of the countries investigated. In the second essay, I study time-series fluctuations in the United States housing market from 2010 to 2016 using the Gordon growth model. Using variance decomposition analysis, I find that the housing premium is the main driver of housing market fluctuations. Motivated by previous studies and using impulse response functions, I show how different components of the housing market respond over time to a shock in the interest rate in regions with different levels of income or demographics. My findings suggest that the impact of monetary policy is smaller (and less persistent) in the U.S. housing market when households have more females, more African Americans, or fewer well-educated members; a combination of these demographics and a lower income in households results in a smaller impact of monetary policy in the housing market, due to the necessity of housing for these families. In the third essay, I use Internal Revenue Service (IRS) annual data and Zillow median housing price data, to analyze the impact of income inequality on housing price to rent ratio from 2005 to 2015 for more than 12,700 zip codes. Employing various specifications, I find a consistent positive and significant relationship between the Gini coefficient and housing affordability index. My results are robust to different methods of estimating the Gini index. Moreover, the empirical results of this study suggest a larger impact of inequality in zip codes with higher levels of income.

L’objectif de cette thèse est d’analyser les liens entre le taux de change réel, l’inégalité des revenus et la pauvreté rurale en Chine. Nous visons à répondre à deux principales questions, à savoir : (i) dans quelle mesure la variation du taux de change réel a-T-Elle influencé l’inégalité des revenus en Chine? (ii) la variation du taux de change réel contribue-T-Elle à expliquer l’évolution de la pauvreté rurale chinoise? Pour ce faire, la thèse s’organise autour de quatre chapitres. Le premier chapitre présente une vue d’ensemble de l’évolution du système de change chinois, en tenant compte de la situation internationale en pleine mutation et des conditions économiques, politiques et institutionnelles de ce pays durant ses différentes phases du développement. Le chapitre 2 décrit l’évolution de l’inégalité des revenus et de la pauvreté rurale en Chine. On constate que depuis 1978 la Chine a connu des progrès remarquables dans la réduction de la pauvreté mais cette réduction s’est accompagnée par un accroissement des inégalités. Par ailleurs, il s’avère qu’en Chine, la variation du taux de change réel joue un rôle important dans l’évolution de l’inégalité des revenus et de la pauvreté rurale. Le chapitre 3 fournit une analyse théorique sur les liens entre le taux de change réel et la répartition des revenus. Il a été mis en évidence que ces liens sont complexes, impliquant un grand nombre de canaux de transmission (directs et indirects). Enfin, le chapitre 4 est consacré à l’estimation économétrique des liens entre le taux de change réel, l’inégalité des revenus et la pauvreté rurale en Chine à l’aide de données de panel au niveau des provinces chinoises. Les résultats de nos estimations économétriques montrent que l’appréciation réelle de la monnaie chinoise contribue à réduire l’inégalité des revenus et la pauvreté rurale en Chine au cours de la période des réformes. / The present dissertation investigates the relationship between real exchange rate, income inequality and rural poverty in China. We attempt to answer two principal questions: (i) to what extent will the variation of real exchange rate affect income inequality in China? (ii) how will the variation of real exchange rate impact the evolving pattern of China’s rural poverty? For this purpose, the present dissertation is organized into four chapters. Chapter One reviews the evolution of China’s exchange rate regime, by taking into consideration the fast-Changing international situations as well as the internal economic, political and institutional conditions of this country. Chapter Two describes the changing pattern of income inequality and the evolution of rural poverty in China. It is observed that since 1978 China has achieved remarkable progress in the alleviation of poverty, which has been accompanied, however, by rising inequalities. In addition, there is growing evidence that the variation of real exchange rate plays an important role in affecting China’s distribution of income. Chapter Three provides a theoretical analysis on the linkage between real exchange rate and income distribution. Such an linkage has been shown to be complex, involving various transmission channels (direct and indirect). Finally, with the help of panel data at provincial level, Chapter Four empirically estimates the nexus between real exchange rate, income inequality and rural poverty in China. The econometric results show that the real appreciation of the Chinese currency significantly contributes to the reduction of income inequality and the alleviation of rural poverty in post-Reform China

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<p>Using 1991-2003 yearly statistical data from 66 counties in China’s Fujian province, we examine the relationship between GDP/capita levels and the rural-urban income gap, to see whether there exists any statistical relationship between these variables, and if such a relationship bears resemblance with the Kuznets’ “inverted U” hypothesis, predicting inequality to first rise, and then fall, as economic development proceeds. Our results point in the opposite direction; the income gap falls at the early stage of economic growth, but rises again as growth proceeds. This is the opposite of a Kuznets curve. In addition, the income gap is smaller in counties with access to coast, rivers, and highways and a higher proportion of illiterate. Moreover, the income gap is larger in counties with rugged terrain and a higher proportion of ethnic minorities.</p>