This paper examines the effect of governance on inequality, specifically if improvements in the World Bank’s Worldwide Governance Indicators affect inequality as measured by two Gini coefficients: Market Gini, before taxes and redistribution, and Net Gini, after taxes and redistribution. The data for the Gini measurements was taken from the Standardized World Income Inequality Database (SWIID) and the data for the Worldwide Governance Indicators was taken from the World Bank. Data for fifteen (15) years, from the start of the Worldwide Governance Indicators until 2013, was combined with data from SWIID for the same years. In all, data from one hundred fifty-six (156) countries with a full set of six (6) indicators for the years that had at least one corresponding Gini measurements were used in this study: in total one thousand seven hundred and forty-seven (1747) observations. In a pooled OLS regression, controlling for growth with the variable GDP per Capita expressed as a per cent (%) change on an annual basis, the individual indicators gave the following results, where a positive sign indicates increased inequality and vice versa: Control of Corruption and Regulatory Quality showed a positive sign for both Gini measurements. Rule of Law, Government Effectiveness, Political Stability and the Absence of Violence/Terrorism, gave a negative sign for both Gini measurements. Voice and Accountability showed a positive sign for Market Gini and a negative sign for Net Gini. The fact that an improvement in Control of Corruption increased inequality both before and after taxes and redistribution was unexpected and should be further researched.

The aim of this thesis is to investigate possible improvement of scoring models prediction power in retail credit segment by using structural models estimating the future development of behavioral score. These models contain the informa- tion about past development of the behavioral score by parameters which take into account the sensitivity of clients' probability of default on individual market and life changes. These parameters are estimated by Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods based on score history. Eight different types of structural models were applied to real data. The diversification measure of individual models is compared using the Gini coefficient. These structural models were compared with each other and also with the existing scoring model of the credit institution which provided the underlying data. 1

The role of inequality in development has been the subject of long-standing debates in academic and policy circles. Notwithstanding disagreements about exactly how the two are linked, conventional wisdom agrees that inequality is an objective 'fact' that can be measured free from ideological considerations. New data detect trends towards higher inequality, weaker economic positions for those at the bottom, and a concentration of wealth at the very top of the distribution in most regions. Inequality studies as currently practiced are ill-equipped to accommodate the empirical changes and the resulting theoretical implications. Putting an end to over half a century of mainstream consensus assuming that inequality would automatically recede with developmental progress, the discipline needs rethinking. My thesis proposes a new research agenda for studying inequality that is not only able to integrate these empirical developments, but which also challenges what has been taken for granted: that inequality just is, independently of context, time and observer. Instead, it proposes that along with its objective existence, inequality is a relational phenomenon subjectively experienced relative to a particular context. In five interconnected Sections, my dissertation challenges conventional views of how inequality looks, how it is seen, and what can be done about it, especially in developing countries. The study focuses on the ways in which inequality is perceived, and how it is perpetuated. After an introduction to the subject in Section I, Section II investigates how inadequate measurement perpetuates inequality, proposing a new indicator that shows that inequality is largely defined in the extreme ends of the income distribution. Section III examines the reproduction of inequality at the bottom, contrasting minimum wage policies over recent decades in Mexico with those of other countries in Latin America. In light of a political economy resistant to change, Section IV scrutinizes Mexican elites, exploring how inequality is perceived from the very top of the income distribution, how this affects policy-making and, subsequently, measured inequality levels. Section V concludes by outlining the theoretical and practical implications of my findings.

The aim of the presented work is to investigate possible improvement of scor- ing models prediction power in retail credit segment by using structural models estimating the future development of behavioral score. These models contain the information about past development of the behavioral score by parameters which take into account the sensitivity of clients' probability of default on in- dividual market and life changes. These parameters are estimated with Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods based on score history. Eight different types of struc- tural models were applied on the real data. The diversification measure of indivi- dual models is compared using the Gini coefficient. These structural models were compared with each other and also with the existing scoring model of the credit institution which provided the underlying data. 1

Income inequality and its relationship to long-term GDP per capita growth has been researched for decades since the development of the Kuznet’s Curve. Theoretical and empirical research has shown mixed results including positive, negative, non-existent, or statistically insignificant relationships. Empirical research on income inequality and economic growth in the United States has also shown mixed results. In addition to using existing data, this paper uses originally-constructed Gini Coefficients from 2005 to 2009. A statistically significant negative correlation between income inequality, and both short-term growth and long-term growth is found in the analysis of this data. Finally, this paper attempts to justify a causal relationship between income inequality and long-term growth.

This diploma thesis deals with the problematics of redistribution of public finance. The factors interfering in the process of redistribution are described here. The attention is paid to equality of redistribution of incomes within the group of monitored households. Since the level of redistribution is influenced by different factors, their analyses are carried out here. The levels of incomes redistribution inequality here are measured in monitored Czech hoseholds in the years 2005 until 2007. Calculations comprise analyses of individual types of incomes and items which influence equality of redistribution. A part of conclusion consists of comparison of the results from the mentioned statistics with the data published by OECD. The main aim of the thesis is confirmation or negation of the following hypothesis: "Tax system and social security system markedly influences redistribution of incomes in Czech households.".

The goal of the master thesis titled "Trade openness and income inequality in Eastern Europe" is to analyze the effects on income inequality changes in the population in the period of transformation from centrally planned economies to market economies in the last decade of the twentieth century. The first part of the thesis focuses on the development before the individual countries started to join the European Union. The subsequent liberalization in the early 21st century is evaluated in the second part of the thesis. The multiple regression analysis is used to estimate the effects. The data were provided by the World Bank for the period of from 1989 to 2014. The objective of the thesis is to enlighten the factors which are influencing the changes in income inequality.

The purpose of this study is to estimate the relationship between income inequality and immigration in Sweden. To do so, data from the data base Kolada with observations from all 290 municipalities in Sweden is used. As a proxy for income distribution the Gini coefficient is used and as a proxy for immigration the share of foreign born of working age is used. The model also controls for income tax, education level and unemployment level. The dependent variable the Gini coefficient is bounded by a unit interval and it is therefore not possible to simply run a linear regression. Such a model could potentially predict outside the interval. To properly estimate the relationship two approaches are made. Firstly a model is estimated with Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) after the dependent variable is transformed on to the real line through log-odds. Then a model is estimated using beta regression. The study concludes that there is a statistically significant positive correlation between income inequality and immigration in Sweden. The OLS estimated model shows that a 1 unit increase in immigration, on average increases the log-odds of 0.28336 units, ceteris paribus. Beta regression provides perhaps more intuitive results. If immigration increases with 1% the income inequality increases with on average 0.1046%, ceteris paribus. Because of the easier interpretation, among other things, beta regression is determined to be a better estimation method in this study.

The essential cornerstone of society and the state is political support. Studying political support is therefore very important in political sciences. The purpose of this study was to research political support and its interrelation with the economic indicators of unemployment and relative income inequality. The study built on previous research. Using social data from the ESS, the results from 15 European countries were in line with previous findings in the field. Decreased unemployment is at all times found interrelated and increases political support. Income inequality is likewise found interrelated to a great extent with political support. When one of the two economic conditions notably decreases while the other increases, unemployment weighs heavier on citizens’ political support. Unemployment may have more direct effects on individuals' lives, life satisfaction and personal well-being. Income inequality has solid results of interrelation to political support when looking at the longest 12 year period. This may be due to income inequality not being as directly discernible for citizens as unemployment. Income inequality may need more time to result in negative effects and eroded political support.

本文主要的研究目的，在於衡量與分析外來投資在中國大陸各地區及各產業間分佈不均的程度。研究的資料主要是《中國統計年鑑》、《中國對外經貿統計年鑑》、與中國大陸商務部所提供的外來投資的中國大陸官方資料，並採取Mookherjee and Shorrocks（1982）修改後的吉尼係數（Gini coefficient），做為衡量外資分佈不均的方法。本文主要的研究發現為，在1985∼2002年間，外資在中國大陸各地區的分佈有著相當不均衡的狀況。並且，外資在中國大陸的地區分佈高度不均的情況，主要來自於外資在中國大陸七大經濟區域間的分佈不均。此外，1997∼2002年間外資在產業分佈不均衡的程度比地區分佈更為嚴重。中國大陸目前外資投資在各地區及各產業存在「雙重不均衡」的問題。 / This paper aims to measure and analyze the unequal distribution of foreign investment among regions in China. Using official data from China Statistical Yearbook, Almanac of China's Foreign Economic Relations and Trade, and website of Ministry of Commerce of PRC, and modified Gini coefficient, a measurement of inequality proposed by Mookherjee and Shorrocks (1982), the primary finding of this study is that foreign investment has been quite unequally distributed among regions of China during 1985~2002. In addition, this inequality is primarily from the unequal distribution among seven economics areas, which is so called between-area difference. Like geographical distribution, the unequal distribution of FDI among China’s industries was quite serious during 1997~2002.