...grateful for helpful comments and insights from Rhoda Reddock, Christine Barrow, Caren Grown, three anonymous referees, and participants at the Building Capacity for Gender Analysis in Policy Making, Programme Development, and Implementation: Research Seminar and Workshop, University of West Indies, Barbados, November 2007. Micro-Macro Linkages Between Gender, Development, and Growth: Implications for the Caribbean Region Abstract Over the last two decades, scholars have investigated the two-way relationship between gender inequality on the one hand, and economic development and growth on the other. Research in this area offers new ways to address the economic stagnation and crisis developing countries have experienced over the last two decades. This paper contributes to that literature, exploring the channels by which gender inequality affects, and in important ways, constrains economic development and growth in the Caribbean region. It further explores the endogeneity of gender inequality to the macroeconomic policy environment. The paper concludes with a discussion of economic policies that can promote a win-win outcome—greater gender equality and economic development and growth. Key Words: gender, inequality, development, household economics, macroeconomic policy, Caribbean. 1 Micro-Macro Linkages Between Gender, Development, and Growth: Implications for the Caribbean Region I. Introduction Since the 1970s, developing countries have...
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...INSTITUTIONS AND WAGE INEQUALITY WINFRIED KOENIGER, MARCO LEONARDI, and LUCA NUNZIATA* The authors investigate how labor market institutions such as unemployment insurance, unions, firing regulations, and minimum wages have affected the evolution of wage inequality among male workers. Results of estimations using data on institutions in eleven OECD countries indicate that changes in labor market institutions can account for much of the change in wage inequality between 1973 and 1998. Factors found to have been negatively associated with male wage inequality are union density, the strictness of employment protection law, unemployment benefit duration, unemployment benefit generosity, and the size of the minimum wage. Over the 26-year period, institutional changes were associated with a 23% reduction in male wage inequality in France, where minimum wages increased and employment protection became stricter, but with an increase of up to 11% in the United States and United Kingdom, where unions became less powerful and (in the United States) minimum wages fell. W age inequality is substantially lower in continental European countries than in the United States and United Kingdom, and its evolution over time has differed greatly across countries. The same holds true for the skill (or education) wage premium. Changes in the supply of and demand for skills are unlikely to fully account for these marked differences (Acemoglu 2003). A substantial amount of research on wage inequality has examined...
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...Running head: INCOME DISTRIBUTION IN THE UNITED STATES Income Distribution in the United States and the Lorenz Curve 1 Market economies are favored and well-known for generating macroeconomic growth and progress in industrialized nations, such as the United States. Numerous academic studies and economic research have been done not only to measure economic growth, but also to analyze any disparities in income distributions among the general American population. This paper will examine trends and patterns of American wages since the 1970s, focusing on shifts in income distributions to see if these shifts can be interpreted as income inequality across different sectors of our society. Furthermore, this paper will study two important and interlinked methods of measuring income inequality, which are the Lorenz Curve and the Gini Coefficient Index. The Executive Branch of our federal government and the U.S. Congress keep a close eye on income distributions throughout the entire nation. These bodies rely heavily on data collected and analyzed by non-partisan agencies such as the U.S. Census Bureau, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), and academic institutitions that provide data and statistical analysis to assist in economic and budgetary decisions made by elected officials concerning a wide array of policy issues such as taxes, social insurance programs and other issues that impact the overall economy...
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...THE GLOBALIZATION RORSCHACH TEST: INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC INTEGRATION, INEQUALITY AND THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT NANCY BRUNE and GEOFFREY GARRETT* November 2004 Forthcoming in Annual Review of Political Science vol. 8, 2005 In this review essay, we address the three principal questions that have dominated the debate over the distributive effects of globalization. First, how has globalization affected inequality among countries? Second, how has globalization affected inequality within countries? Third, how has globalization affected the ability of national governments to redistribute wealth and risk within countries? We conclude that despite the proliferation of social science research on the consequences of globalization, there is no solid consensus in the relevant literatures on any of these questions. This is because scholars disagree about how to measure globalization and about how to draw causal inferences about its effects. Keywords: globalization, inequality, economic growth, government spending, privatization ___________________________________________________________ * Nancy Brune is a doctoral candidate at Yale University. She can be reached at nbrune@isop.ucla.edu. Geoffrey Garrett is Vice Provost and Dean of the International Institute, Director of the Ronald W. Burkle Center for International Relations, and Professor of Political Science at UCLA. He can be reached at ggarrett@international.ucla.edu. The authors Alexandra Guisinger, David Nickerson and Jason Sorens...
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...Income Inequality in America: An Analysis of Policies from Reagan to Obama and What Policies Can Help Close the Gap Income inequality in America has been of great importance in recent election cycles. Candidates from both sides of the political aisle have addressed the growing economic and social concern of increasing income and wealth inequality throughout the country. However, policies to address this growing concern are vastly different. This paper seeks to examine policies from Reagan to Obama that contributed to today’s massive income and wealth inequality. Was it tax reform throughout the 1980s and 1990s that contributed to inequality? Did the Federal Reserve perpetuate policies through massive quantitative easing that led to...
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...The flexibility of labour markets and the elite-orientated education of liberal market economies in the UK and the US result in higher degrees of inequality compared to coordinated market economies. Discuss. Student ID: 0956592 Word count (excluding references): 2492 This paper will discuss and analyze whether the flexibility of labour markets and the elite orientated education in liberal market economies, found in the UK and the US are the only reasons for higher degrees of inequality, compared to coordinated market economies. In order to understand the labour markets of liberal market economies and coordinated market economies, they must be defined in terms of their differences, which can affect the flexibility of their labour markets. Furthermore, it is important to note that there are numerous inequalities which may emerge in this analysis. Namely, gender inequality, class inequality, and wage inequality as well as some other perspectives will be examined. The aim of this paper is recognize which inequalities are more prominent in either liberal market economies or coordinated market economies, in relation to the flexibility of relevant labour market. Drawing on the work of Polanyi (1994), Esteves-Abe et al. (2001) suggest that market failures in economies can be avoided depending on the type and the extent of the social protection offered from national institutions. Liberal market economies, such as the US and UK, have an institutional framework which accents...
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...Globalization and Income Inequality in U.S. Globalization is the process of international integration, which the nation-states culturally, political, and economically interact with each other, creating a global society. Developing countries are modernizing, economies are constantly shifting, and technologies are advancing; however, as fascinating as globalization can be, it has several side effects. One of the key problems that is caused by globalization is income inequality between and within nations. The rich are getting richer and the lower class people are struggling to survive in this world. One example is the United States. Since the 1970s, its income inequality has been worsening, causing several major problems. This paper looks at US income inequality demonstrating the existence of this problem, the importance of addressing it, and the connection between such disparity and globalization, particularly economic and technological globalization. According to the data retrieved from the U.S. Census Bureau (See Appendix 2), it can be proved that income inequality exists. The real family data show that before 1975, all classes shared the prosperity, growing at a similar rate. Starting from 1973, the 95th Percentile (the level separating the 5 percent of the richest from the rest) rose at the same pace and increased approximately 60 percent; however, the growth of both the median (the level separating the half of the richer families from the other half) and the 20th Percentile...
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...[Type the company name] | Gender discrimination in workplace in Pakistan | Research Methods | | HIRA ARSHAD | 3/30/2013 | [Type the abstract of the document here. The abstract is typically a short summary of the contents of the document. Type the abstract of the document here. The abstract is typically a short summary of the contents of the document.] | Introduction: Nature has always maintained a balance in the objects of this world in order garnish it with a beauty, and so it produced a balancing factor for each and every object. These balancing factors vary in the proportion of the support they provide to their counterpart. In the very same context, ALLAH created man and woman as the supporting counterparts for each other. When a baby boy is born in a family, everyone congratulates the parents but if it is found out that the baby is a girl, the reaction is opposite, there is no happiness, either the baby is killed or accepted with least happiness. Gender discrimination is something in which a woman is discriminated and given less rights and opportunities as compared to males. Importance of the study with respect to the world: Gender discrimination has been a problem not just in this era but since the beginning of humanity. It doesn’t matter that which part of the world we look at, we will always find that woman are at the disadvantage. The major drawback is that this problem has become so common that it is considered normal now and accepted as a part...
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...2. MEASURING CO-MOVEMENTS OF INCOME IN BRAZIL AND THE ROLE OF MACROECONOMICS In this paper we investigate the dynamics of income inequality among Brazilian states by applying the Bayesian Dynamic Factor Model described in (OTROK; WHITEMAN, 1998) and (KOSE; OTROK; WHITEMAN, 2003) to Gini indexes over the 1976-2014 period. Our results indicate that the common factor accounts for 48 percent of the Gini index co-movements; the richest states are more exposed. We found that macroeconomic stability is negatively correlated to the common factor, meaning that stability is inequality-decreasing. The deciles analysis suggests that inequality is related to lack of business cycles synchronization. Keywords: business cycles; bayesian analysis; income inequality...
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...Airline Research Final ECO 305 My chosen industry for this research paper is the airline industry. The first airline was a German airship that was founded on November 16, 1909. In the mid 19th century Americans attempted to start an airline focusing from New York to California. During this time period airlines were used to carry bags or mails and packages, however Ford Motor Company constructed a plane to carry people and became the first successful to carry 12 passengers. Over the years the airline company has expanded and developed greatly. This research paper will explain this industries elasticity of supply and demand, the negative and positive the industry produces. It will also discuss how wage inequalities are measured, in addition to monetary and/or fiscal policies that have affected the industry. If one takes into consideration that large well-known airline companies such as American Airlines, Delta or Continental were initially the only carrier for customers to fly on then they would be able to set the price that would generate the highest amount of revenue possible. Now what would happen if a start-up airline offers a lower rate or some other benefit? The question of customer preferences now comes into play. Everyone is attempting to save money especially with how the economy is right now, so this no longer is a question of if people will try the new airline, it is a question of how many people will try the new airline? This question could of course...
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...A STUDY ON PROGRESSIVE INCOME TAX A CASE STUDY OF US & BRAZIL ________________________________________ INSTRUCTOR: DALIA EL-EDEL ECON 310-02 TERM PAPER - BY: JIHAD MASHAMOUN 900-08-2910 LARA AZZAM 900-09-3033 LUJANE MULLA 900-10-1019 ABSTRACT There is no doubt that the widening income disparities were a major driving force fueling the recent uprisings within the Middle East. One solution that has been put forth for adoption is the progressive income tax. This paper intends to assess the theoretical bases and popular arguments surrounding this very dynamic topic. The first section provides a brief definition of progressive taxation in contrast with other forms of taxation. It also discusses the most dominant for and against arguments both from a theoretical and an empirical point of view. The second section provides a case study of progressive income taxes in a leading industrial and developed country; the US. The third section provides a comparative study from Brazil; an emerging economy that has recently adopted progressive taxation. Based on the theoretical analysis and the two case studies, the paper concludes by providing policy recommendations that should be implemented in order to complement progressive taxation and gain the best and most balanced results in terms of equality, efficiency and revenues. Finally taxation is only part of the economic equation; proper efficient tax system is only one step forward towards creating equal opportunities through proper...
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...Income inequality Name Date Abstract In any given population, there is a difference between what people within the population earn. The uneven distribution of income in any given population is income inequality. In order for there to be income, there has to be several sources of income. These sources of income may be combinational or independent per person receiving the income. Income may result from wages, rent, bank account interests, salaries or even profits made in business transactions ( Stiglitz, 2012). In his hypothesis, Karl Marx foresaw income inequality in a capitalistic as a major problem that would lead to an economic evolution. The main reason he foresaw an evolution was due to the recurrent nature of income inequality. In an income inequality situation, the richer keep getting richer due to a better income, while the poor keep getting poorer. The gap between the top earners and the low-income earners keeps widening in an income inequality situation. In America, almost 95% of the national wealth is under 5% ownership; this situation leaves 95% of the population to scrounge for the limited 5% wealth (DeNavas et. Al, 2005). Introduction In order to understand the complexities of economic inequality, the best specimen to use for the study is a family. In the study, the family’s income is under analysis, and then the family members ranked from the lowest income earner to the highest income earner. After the ranking, the incomes aid in establishing a Lorenz...
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...The current debate of raising the minimum wage at a national level is one of the biggest things legislatures are talking about nation wide. Because it has been slightly put down at a nation level, legislators at a state level are trying to push higher wages through. The effects of raising the minimum wage range from inflation to unemployment. Angel-Urdinola, Diego. "The Impact on Inequality of Raising the Minimum Wage: Gap- narrowing and Reranking Effects." LABOUR: Review of Labour Economics & Industrial Relations. Jun2004, Vol. 18 Issue 2, P317-327. Wiley Blackwell, June 2004. Web. 19 Feb. 2015. In this research paper, Angel-Urdinola uses examples from other countries to prove why raising the minimum wage isn’t effective. He says that raising...
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...Final Paper Wealth Inequality in U.S. and Economic Efficiency Over the last decade, income inequality has become one of the most important issues in the U.S. and a subject of a lot of debate. There is a prevalent idea in the society that the wealth inequality in United States is currently at the highest level in the history after steadily raising for a number of decades. The financial crisis is said to have contributed to this significant gap between the top 1% and everybody else. People view it as an inherently negative thing, and fight hard to promote the equality and income redistribution. This paper examines the causes of inequality; the relationship between wealth inequality and economic growth and the hypothesis on how policy measures can be designed to mitigage the income disparity both in U.S. and in the rest of the world. The researh is based on the theory that inequality is an essential aspect of an efficient free market economy that adversely affects economic growth when in excess. When it comes to global wealth inequality, people often tend to accuse capitalism. In fact, the real laissez-faire capitalism doesn't exist anywhere on our planet. According to its definition, laissez faire is "an economic system in which transactions between private parties are free from intrusive government restrictions, tariffs, and subsidies, with only enough regulations to protect property rights." It has been previously proven free markets lead to the most efficient use of economic...
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...globalisation, unemployment, inequality and poverty Wilfred I. Ukpere and Andre D. Slabbert Faculty of Business, Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT), Cape Town, South Africa Abstract Purpose – This paper contends that there is a positive relationship between current globalisation, unemployment, inequality and poverty, which paves a vista for further academic discourse. Design/methodology/approach – As a meta-analytical study, the paper relied on secondary data. It is a qualitative study, which is based on conceptual analysis, theory building and “emic” perspective (authors’ viewpoint). Findings – A relationship between current globalisation, unemployment, inequality and poverty should be investigated further. Unemployment increases levels of inequality and poverty within society. Although bequeathed with various names and definitions, the logics of current globalisation seem to have exacerbated the problem of global unemployment, the corollary of which is endemic inequality and poverty. Practical implications – Increases in income inequality and poverty over the past decades, can be attributed to globalisation. Therefore, within the domain of unemployment, inequality and poverty in the era of globalisation, renewed problems of global competition, job termination, wage reductions, labour immobility and technological displacement of workers, have accelerated the rate of global unemployment, the corollary of which is endemic inequality and poverty. Originality/value...
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