[pt] Eu desenvolvo um modelo de empreendedorismo com escolha ocupacional em que os agentes se deparam com restrições ao crédito. Eu mostro que em economias em que os mercados financeiros são mais apertados, a distribuição de riqueza é caracterizada por níveis mais elevados de desigualdade. O modelo é consistente com resultados documentados na literatura acerca de perdas de PTF e outros resultados agregados. Eu também analiso a dinâmica de transição da distribuição de riqueza depois de um choque permanente e negativo no crédito disponível às famílias e mostro que a acumulação de riqueza pode mitigar a má-alocação decorrente de tais choques. / [en] I develop an entrepreneurship model with occupational choices in an environment where agents face binding credit restrictions. I show that in economies where financial markets are tighter, the distribution of wealth is characterized by higher levels of inequality. The model is consistent with documented results in the literature concerning losses in TFP and other aggregate outcomes. I also analyze the transition dynamics of the wealth distribution in the aftermath of a once-and-for-all credit crunch shock and show that wealth accumulation might mitigate the misallocation implied by such adverse shocks.

CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeÃoamento de Pessoal de NÃvel Superior / Esta dissertaÃÃo à composta de trÃs artigos, sendo que cada um se torna um capÃtulo. No primeiro capÃtulo intitulado âRelaÃÃo entre Desigualdade de Renda e Crescimento EconÃmico no Brasilâ analisa-se esta relaÃÃo a partir da hipÃtese do U-invertido de Kuznets no perÃodo de 1995 a 2012. A suposiÃÃo do U-invertido â hipÃtese de Kuznets (1955) â alude, no curto prazo, que hà uma conexÃo positiva entre a desigualdade de renda e o nÃvel de renda per capita. Jà no longo prazo, percebe-se uma relaÃÃo de U-invertido, pois hà uma inversÃo desta relaÃÃo. Para tanto, utiliza-se um modelo de estimaÃÃo para dados em painel dinÃmico e o mÃtodo de estimaÃÃo empregado à o dos Momentos Generalizado-sistema (MMG-sistema), desenvolvido por Arellano-Bond (1991), Arellano-Bover (1995) e Blundell e Bond (1998). Dentre outros resultados, conclui-se que a hipÃtese de Kuznets à confirmada nos Estados brasileiros. Fundamentando-se nas teorias que procuram relacionar pobreza, desigualdade, crescimento econÃmico e bem estar, o capÃtulo dois tem por objetivo decompor a variaÃÃo da pobreza, baseando-se nos seguintes fatores: efeito tendÃncia, efeito crescimento, efeito desigualdade e efeito residual, para os estados brasileiros entre 2001 e 2012. Para isso, partiu-se da estimaÃÃo de um modelo estatÃstico com dados em painel, utilizando as variÃveis pobreza, renda familiar per capita e o coeficiente de Gini, extraÃdas da PNAD. Os resultados estimados do modelo permitem inferir que na maior parte dos estados, o efeito crescimento se sobressaiu em relaÃÃo aos demais em se tratando da explicaÃÃo da reduÃÃo da pobreza no perÃodo analisado. NÃo obstante, o efeito distribuiÃÃo tambÃm teve sua importÃncia nesse processo, seguido do efeito tendÃncia. PorÃm, o efeito residual foi de pouca relevÃncia. Assim, finalizando este trabalho, no capÃtulo trÃs realiza-se uma anÃlise da pobreza de tempo para o Brasil, tendo por parÃmetro o uso da alocaÃÃo do tempo como um indicador de bem estar, em que a pobreza de tempo à mensurada adaptando as medidas de pobreza de renda da classe Foster, Greer e Thorbecke (1984) â FGT, especificamente para a pobreza de tempo, utilizando como indicadores a proporÃÃo de pobres de tempo ( ), o hiato de pobreza de tempo que mede a sua intensidade ( ) e o hiato de pobreza de tempo ao quadrado que mensura sua severidade ( ). Com isso, parte-se da estimaÃÃo de um modelo estatÃstico com dados em painel, utilizando as variÃveis ârendimentos de todos os trabalhosâ, âidadeâ, âanos mÃdios de estudoâ para explicar a pobreza de tempo nos estados brasileiros. Os resultados encontrados indicam que havendo uma elevaÃÃo nos rendimentos, diminui-se a pobreza de tempo; quanto mais elevada for a idade do indivÃduo, maior a chance de ser pobre de tempo; e quanto maior o nÃvel de escolaridade das pessoas, maior serà sua privaÃÃo de tempo em detrimento aos de menor escolaridade. / This dissertation is composed by 3 papers which, where each paper is a dissertation chapter. This first chapter entitled âRelationship between wealth inequality and economic growth in Brazilâ analyses the relationship from Kuznets inverted U hypothesis from 1995 to 2012. The inverted U supposition â Kuznets hypothesis (1955) â deals, in short term, exists a positive connection among wealth inequality and the per capita income level. In the long term, we observe a inverted U relationship, because there is a inversion of this relation. Thus, we use dynamic panel model and the Generalized method of moments system estimation method, developed by Arellano-Bond (1991), Arellano-Bover(1995) and Blundell e Bond (1998). The results show that the Kuznets hypothesis was confirmed. Based in the theories which seek relates poverty, inequality, economic growth and welfare, the chapter two aims to decompose the poverty variation, basing in the following factors: trend effect, growth effect, inequality effect and residual effect, for Brazilian states between 2001 and 2012. To reach this objective, we estimated a statistic model with panel data, using poverty variables, per capita familiar income and gini coefficient, extracted from PNAD. The results estimated allow to infer which in the most of Brazilian states, the growth effect stood out in relation to another effects regarding the explanation of poverty reduction in the period analyzed. Nonetheless, the distribution effect too had its importance in this process, followed by trend effect. However, the residual effect had low explanation power. Thus, finishing this dissertation, the chapter three analyses the poverty time for Brazil, using indicators as ratio of poor in time ( ), the time poverty gap, which measures its intensity ( ) and the squared poverty time, who measures its severity ( ). Then, from estimation of statistical model with panel data, using the variables âall labor incomeâ, âageâ, average years of study to explain the poverty time in the Brazilian states. The results indicate the a increase in the income have been occurring, reducing the poverty in time; how much higher is the individual age, higher the chance of they being poverty in time; and, higher education level of people, greater their privation of time in comparison to people with lower education level.

This thesis is concerned with inequality, redistribution and taxation, in particular the taxation of labour income and the distribution of wealth. Most of the analysis is focused on Sweden. The thesis consists of four self-contained essays. Essay 1: “Analyzing tax reforms using the Swedish Labour Income Microsimulation Model”. Labour income taxation is a central policy topic because labour income makes up the majority of national income and most taxes are in the end taxes on labour. In order to quantify how behavioural responses of labour income earners affect tax revenue, the Swedish Labour Income Microsimulation Model (SLIMM) is constructed and used to evaluate tax reforms. Elasticities are calibrated to match midpoints of estimates found in the quasiexperimental literature. The simulations indicate that the earned income tax credit has increased employment by 128,000 and has a degree of self-financing of 21 percent. Almost half of the revenue increase from higher municipal tax rates would disappear due to behavioural responses. Tax cuts for the richest fifth of working Swedes are completely self-financing. Essay 2: “The Laffer curve for high incomes”. An expression for the Laffer curve for high incomes is derived, assuming a constant Pareto parameter and elasticity of taxable income. Microsimulations using Swedish population data show that the simulated curve matches the theoretically derived Laffer curve well, suggesting that the analytical expression is not too much of a simplification. A country-level dataset of top effective marginal tax rates and Pareto parameters is assembled. This is used to draw Laffer curves for 27 OECD countries. Revenue-maximizing tax rates and degrees of self-financing for a small tax cut are also computed. The results indicate that degrees of self-financing range between 28 and 195 percent. Five countries have higher tax rates than the peak of the Laffer curve. Essay 3: “Political preferences for redistribution in Sweden” (with Spencer Bastani). We examine preferences for redistribution inherent in Swedish tax policy 1971–2012 using the inverse optimal tax approach. The income distribution is carefully characterized with the help of administrative register data and we employ behavioral elasticities reflecting the perceived distortionary effects of taxation. The revealed social welfare weights are high for non-workers, small for low-income earners, and hump-shaped around the median. At the top, they are always negative, especially so during the high-tax years of the 1970s and ’80s. The weights on non-workers increased sharply in the 1970s, fell drastically in the late ’80s and early ’90s, and have since then increased. Essay 4: “Wealth inequality in Sweden: What can we learn from capitalized income data?” (with Daniel Waldenström). This paper presents new estimates of wealth inequality in Sweden during 2000–2012, linking wealth register data up to 2007 and individually capitalized wealth based on income and property tax registers for the period thereafter when a repeal of the wealth tax stopped the collection of individual wealth statistics. We find that wealth inequality increased after 2007 and that more unequal bank holdings and housing appear to be important drivers. We also evaluate the performance of the capitalization method by contrasting its estimates and their dispersion with observed stocks in register data up to 2007. The goodness-of-fit varies tremendously across assets and we conclude that although capitalized wealth estimates may well approximate overall inequality levels and trends, they are highly sensitive to assumptions and the quality of the underlying data sources.

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[pt] Introduzimos escolha de portfólio em um modelo com agentes heterogêneos para avaliar como isso afeta a desigualdade de riqueza. Para tanto, alteramos o modelo de Krusell e Smith (1998), incorporando uma tecnologia de produção com retornos decrescentes de escala, de forma que a firma representativa emite títulos de dívida para levantar capital para produção e depois distribui os lucros (ou prejuízos) para os acionistas. Também fazemos uso de preferências Epstein-Zin para aumentar o equity premium do modelo, aumentando a aversão ao risco dos agentes. O modelo é capaz de replicar fatos estilizados: (i) agentes mais pobres praticamente não participam do mercado de ações; (ii) os agentes investem proporções maiores de suas poupanças em ações, conforme ficam mais ricos; (iii) o retorno esperado da poupança dos agentes aumenta com a riqueza. A desigualdade de riqueza aumenta com a incorporação de escolha de portfólio dos agentes. No entanto, o impacto na desigualdade é pequeno devido ao baixo nível de equity premium gerado pelo modelo. Esse resultado se mantém mesmo quando estabelecemos valores muito altos para a aversão ao risco, e está relacionado à falta de volatilidade de consumo gerada por essa classe de modelos. Finalmente, documentamos que levar em conta decisões endógenas de portfólio potencializa os efeitos de outras fontes de desigualdade. / [en] We introduce households portfolio decisions in a heterogeneous agents model to evaluate how this affects wealth inequality. To do so, we alter the Krusell and Smith (1998) model, incorporating a decreasing returns to scale technology, so that the representative firm issues risk-free bonds to raise capital for production and distributes profits (or losses) to equity holders.We also make use of Epstein-Zin preferences to augment the model s equity premium, by increasing households risk aversion. The model is able to replicate stylized facts: (i) poorest households seldom participate in the equity markets; (ii) households allocate higher proportions of their savings to equity investments as they get wealthier; (iii) households expected return on savings increases with wealth. Inequality of wealth does increase in the model with portfolio decisions. Nevertheless, the effect on wealth inequality is small due to the low level of equity premium generated by the model. The result in unchanged even when we set very high values for risk aversion, and it is related to the lack of consumption growth volatility delivered by this class of model. Finally, we document that taking into account endogenous portfolio decisions enhances the effects of other sources of inequality.

Violent crime has many long-lasting negative consequences for society. This thesis aims to explore the relationship between economic inequality and violent crime, represented by the level of intentional homicides in forty-nine countries over the period of nine years from 2010-2018. We delve into several theories and representative works in the fields of criminology, sociology, psychology, and economics that provide important perspectives on the subject and offer a theoretical foundation for the analysis. Previous research has usually pointed to a positive association between inequality and crime rates, albeit with some notable outliers. Our objective was to provide an updated view on the subject, employing recent data and statistical methods. We use fixed-effects estimators to account for time-invariant determinants, provide random-effects estimators for control and apply a generalized methods of moments model for possible inertia regarding the dependent variable. Economic inequality in the form of income inequality does seem to cause more harm than what might be suspected at first, influencing the intentional homicide levels in a society. It is the duty of public and private bodies to foster policies that aim to reduce this trend, and thus diminish the societal costs associated with it.

<p>Economic inequality is increasing in Canada and throughout the world. In addition to the equity concerns of distributive justice, growing economic inequality negatively impacts poverty, social cohesion, and the stability of the economy. This master’s thesis undertakes a major literature review to explore the trends in economic inequality and the policies that influence it.</p> <p>The current increase in economic inequality has been dominated by an increase in the income and wealth of the 1% to which the Occupy movement has drawn significant attention. Policies to directly counter this rise in both before- and after-tax top incomes are critical to combatting economic inequality. In addition to highlighting policies that target the very rich, this thesis examines intersections between traditional social policy and broader public policy in the field of economic inequality. It also argues for increased consideration of economics in social work research and policy practice. Economic inequality should be a concern to social workers alongside poverty.</p> <p>Policies in four areas are considered: income taxes and transfers, public services, labour market institutions, and capital market interventions. Recommendations are made for the future. Addressing economic inequality through national policy is both possible and advantageous. A comprehensive policy package involving policies from the four areas explored has the potential to reduce economic inequality.</p> / Master of Social Work (MSW)

本文藉由 2001 年至 2015 年遺產稅申報資料，並利用死亡率倒數法將死亡者的遺產，還原推算在世者財富分配情形，分析臺灣財富分配不均及財富組成情形，發現財富分配不均程度近年來逐漸增加，與金融資產集中於富人相關；除此之外，財富集中得分配不均情形，不僅發生在貧富之間，單就富人族群，也可觀察到財富集中化的現象。另一方面，財富組成部分則觀察到，相較於不動產與其他非金融資產，國人逐漸偏好金融資產，其可能原因在於，遺產稅有效稅率下降，減少持有不動產以規避租稅的誘因。雖然金融資產占財富總額比例增加，但土地仍為國人主要持有財產。 本文另外以迴歸模型探討遺產稅有效稅率與財富組成的關係，其結果顯示，遺產稅有效稅率對於土地占財富總額比例為顯著正相關，對於存款與投資占財富總額比例則為顯著負相關，代表個體面對較高的租稅負擔，傾向利用稅制之下土地評價低估的方式獲取租稅利益。稅制扭曲個人對於資產種類的選擇，也影響個體資產配置的決策。 / Based on estate tax returns from 2001 to 2015 and using the estate multiplier method to blow up the sample of decedents to represent the number of livings, this pa-per analyzes wealth inequality and wealth composition in Taiwan. The results suggest that the degree of wealth inequality has gradually increased in recent years, in accord-ance with the observation that financial assets became more concentrated in the rich. In addition, the concentration of wealth and the resulting inequality is not only between the rich and the poor, it also happens within the group of the rich. On the other hand, in wealth composition, the results suggest the tendency of holding more financial assets as opposed to real estates and other non-financial assets. One of the possible explanations is that the decreasing effective tax rate of the estate tax reduces incentives to hold real estates for tax benefits. Despite the increasing in the proportion of financial assets, land is still the major choice of property holdings as measured by the ratio of wealth. The second part of the study uses regression analyses to explore the relationship between the effective tax rate (of the estate tax) and the composition of wealth. Results show that the estate tax effective rate is positively correlated with the ratio of land to total wealth, and negatively correlated with the ratio of deposit and investment. These results represent that when facing a higher tax burden, individuals tend to take ad-vantage of the undervaluing of land in the current tax system to obtain tax benefits. This adds to existing evidence that tax distorts individuals’ choice of asset types, and affects individuals’ decisions on asset allocation.

The dissertation is a compilation of three empirical papers on the effects of financial development. In the first paper, we examine finance's effect on long-term economic growth using Bayesian model averaging to address model uncertainty. Our global sample findings indicate that the efficiency of financial intermediation is robustly related to long-term growth. The second and third papers investigate the determinants of wealth and income inequality, capturing various economic, financial, political, institutional, and geographical factors. We reveal that finance plays a considerable role in shaping both distributions.