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1 – 10 of over 1000Brazil’s regional inequality is an important topic due to the large and persistent differences in development between states and the high levels of inequality in the country…
Abstract
Purpose
Brazil’s regional inequality is an important topic due to the large and persistent differences in development between states and the high levels of inequality in the country. These variations in development can potentially render survey data inaccurate since the significance of capital income varies across the states. Besides, previous studies incorporating tax and national accounts data globally have mainly focused on measuring the income distribution at the country-level. This approach can limit the understanding of inequality, especially when considering large countries such as Brazil.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodology used to construct these estimates follows the guidelines of the Distributional National Accounts, whose core goal is to provide income distribution measures consistent with macroeconomic aggregates and harmonized across countries and time. The procedure has three main steps: first, it corrects the survey’s underrepresentation of top incomes using tax data. Then, it accounts for national income items not included in the survey or tax data, such as imputed rents and undistributed profits. Finally, it ensures that all components match the national income.
Findings
Compared to survey-based estimations, the results reveal a new angle on the state-level inequality. This study indicates that Amazonas, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo have a more concentrated income distribution. The top 1\% of earners in these states receives around 28\% of total pre-tax income, while the top 10\% receive nearly 60\%. On the other end, Amapá (AP), Acre (AC), Rondônia (RO) and Santa Catarina (SC) are the states where the income distribution is less concentrated. There were no significant changes in the income distribution across the states during the period analyzed.
Originality/value
This study combines survey, tax and national accounts data to construct new estimates of Brazil’s state-level income distribution from 2006 to 2019. Previous results only considered income captured in surveys, which usually misses a significant part of capital incomes. This limitation may bias comparisons as capital income has different importance across the states. The new estimates represent the income of top groups more accurately, account for the entire national income and enable to compare regional inequality levels consistently with other countries.
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Arkadiusz Kijek and Bartosz Jóźwik
EU countries, including those in Central and Eastern Europe, seem to have increasingly similar economies, allowing for the study of real convergence as a process of equalising…
Abstract
Research Background
EU countries, including those in Central and Eastern Europe, seem to have increasingly similar economies, allowing for the study of real convergence as a process of equalising income levels (measured by GDP per capita). Studies of income convergence in the European Union also have a regional dimension and often focus on convergence at the NUTS2 or NUTS3 regional level. The level of development and income in Polish regions differ significantly. The regional policy implemented at the national and EU level focuses on reducing these differences.
Purpose of the Article
The main aim of the chapter is to analyse the income convergence process among regions in Poland and verify the effectiveness of regional policy implemented at the national and EU level.
Methodology
The study uses Barro type regression for panel data, log t convergence test, and club clustering algorithm introduced by Phillips and Sul to identify patterns of club convergence in Polish regions. The data used for the study is the Local Data Bank provided by Statistics Poland, which includes gross domestic product per capita at the NUTS-3 level for 73 Polish regions over the period of 2000–2020.
Findings
The results of the study indicate a very weak convergence process for all Polish NUTS-3 regions and suggest a club convergence. The club convergence is characterised by regions with similar income levels clustering together. The regional distribution of clubs is similar to the regional distribution of income. The study's findings provide important insights into the effectiveness of regional policy in Poland and suggest that policymakers need to focus on policies that promote catch-up growth in less developed regions. The study also highlights the importance of supporting the most developed regions in the country as they can play a crucial role in driving the country's economic growth and prosperity.
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Peng Ning, Lixiao Geng and Liangding Jia
Drawing on bargaining power and the inequality aversion perspective, this study aims to probe employees’ influence on addressing income inequality between top executives and…
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing on bargaining power and the inequality aversion perspective, this study aims to probe employees’ influence on addressing income inequality between top executives and nonexecutive employees. Meanwhile, it examines the moderating role of employee-related factors and plan attributes.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a staggered difference-in-differences design with a propensity scoring match approach and verification of the parallel trend assumption to test the hypotheses.
Findings
The results support the hypothesis that employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) significantly reduce within-firm income inequality. The negative effect is amplified by both the presence of trade unions and the unemployment rate at the regional level, as well as the duration of the lock-in period and the scale of participants within the stock ownership plan.
Practical implications
This study has implications for income inequality research and ESOP design and provides theoretical support for policymakers and corporate governance.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the literature on income inequality by examining the implementation of ESOPs from the employee perspective. Furthermore, it extends the current literature by investigating the strengthening effects of regional factors and ESOP attributes on the relationship between ESOPs and income inequality. The conclusions provide new empirical evidence to promote the effective implementation of ESOPs by combining internal and external factors.
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Harold Delfín Angulo Bustinza, Bruno de Souza and Roberto De la Cruz Rojas
Anthony Smythe, Igor Martins and Martin Andersson
With the recognition that generating economic growth is not the same as sustaining it, the challenge to catch-up and growth literature is discerning between these processes…
Abstract
Purpose
With the recognition that generating economic growth is not the same as sustaining it, the challenge to catch-up and growth literature is discerning between these processes. Recent research suggests that the decline in the frequency of “shrinking” episodes is more important for long-term development than higher growth rates. By using a framework centred around social capabilities, this study aims to investigate the effects of income inequality and poverty on economic shrinking frequency, as opposed to previous literature that has exclusively had a growth focus. The aim is to investigate how and why some societies might be more resilient to economic shrinking.
Design/methodology/approach
The research is a quantitative study, and the authors build a longitudinal data set including 23 developing countries throughout 42 years to test the paper’s purpose. This study uses country and period fixed-effects specifications as well as cross-sectional graphical representations to investigate the relationship between proxies of economic inclusivity and the frequency of shrinking episodes.
Findings
The authors demonstrate that while inclusive societies are more resilient to shrinking overall, it is changes in poverty levels, but not changes in income inequality, that appear to be correlated with economic shrinking frequency. Inequality, while still an important element to explain countries’ growth potential as an initial condition, does not seem to make the sample more resilient to shrinking. The authors conclude that the mechanisms in which poverty and inequality are correlated with the catch-up process must run through different channels. Ultimately, processes that explain growth may intersect but not always overlap with the ones that explain resilience to shrinking.
Originality/value
The need for inclusive growth in long-term development has been championed for decades, yet inclusion has seldom been explored from the shrinking perspective. Though poverty reduction is already an important mainstream political objective, this paper differentiates itself by providing an alternate viewpoint of why this is important. Income inequality could have more of an economic growth limiting effect, while poverty reduction could be required to build resilience to economic shrinking. Developing countries will need both growth and resilience to shrinking, to catch-up with higher-income economies, which policymakers might need to balance carefully.
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The paper provides a detailed historical account of Douglass C. North's early intellectual contributions and analytical developments in pursuing a Grand Theory for why some…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper provides a detailed historical account of Douglass C. North's early intellectual contributions and analytical developments in pursuing a Grand Theory for why some countries are rich and others poor.
Design/methodology/approach
The author approaches the discussion using a theoretical and historical reconstruction based on published and unpublished materials.
Findings
The systematic, continuous and profound attempt to answer the Smithian social coordination problem shaped North's journey from being a young serious Marxist to becoming one of the founders of New Institutional Economics. In the process, he was converted in the early 1950s into a rigid neoclassical economist, being one of the leaders in promoting New Economic History. The success of the cliometric revolution exposed the frailties of the movement itself, namely, the limitations of neoclassical economic theory to explain economic growth and social change. Incorporating transaction costs, the institutional framework in which property rights and contracts are measured, defined and enforced assumes a prominent role in explaining economic performance.
Originality/value
In the early 1970s, North adopted a naive theory of institutions and property rights still grounded in neoclassical assumptions. Institutional and organizational analysis is modeled as a social maximizing efficient equilibrium outcome. However, the increasing tension between the neoclassical theoretical apparatus and its failure to account for contrasting political and institutional structures, diverging economic paths and social change propelled the modification of its assumptions and progressive conceptual innovation. In the later 1970s and early 1980s, North abandoned the efficiency view and gradually became more critical of the objective rationality postulate. In this intellectual movement, North's avant-garde research program contributed significantly to the creation of New Institutional Economics.
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Ray Sastri, Fanglin Li, Arbi Setiyawan and Anugerah Karta Monika
The tourism multiplier effect (TME) is the total economic impact of tourism demand, representing the linkages between tourism and other businesses in an area. However, study about…
Abstract
Purpose
The tourism multiplier effect (TME) is the total economic impact of tourism demand, representing the linkages between tourism and other businesses in an area. However, study about it is limited in Indonesia, especially at the provincial level and after the COVID-19 crisis. This study aims to estimate the TME in all provinces of Indonesia, test its differences in priority and non-priority areas before and after the COVID-19 crisis, analyze its spatial distribution and examine the determinant factor of TME
Design/methodology/approach
This study applies an input-output model to measure the TME of all provinces in Indonesia, an independent sample t-test to examine the similarity of TME in priority and nonpriority areas, a paired sample t-test to examine the similarity of it before and after the COVID-19 crisis, and spatial analysis to check its spatial relationship.
Findings
The result shows that regional TME ranges from 1.25 to 2.05 in 2019, which changed slightly over time. The empirical result shows the TME difference before and after the COVID-19 crisis, and there is a spatial correlation in terms of TME with the hot spots are clustered in the eastern region of Indonesia, However, there was a slight change in the position of hot spots during the COVID-19 crisis. Moreover, the spatial model shows that value-added and employment in agriculture, manufacturing, trade and transportation affect the size of TME.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the academic literature by providing the first estimate of the TME at the provincial level in Indonesia, comparing the it in priority and non-priority areas before and after the COVID-19 crisis, and mapping its spatial distribution.
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Brenda Denise Dorpalen and Eirini Gallou
The first objective of this article is to analyse the reasons to pursue inclusive growth, that is economic growth accompanied by a reduction of social inequalities in different…
Abstract
Purpose
The first objective of this article is to analyse the reasons to pursue inclusive growth, that is economic growth accompanied by a reduction of social inequalities in different dimensions. The second objective of the article is to develop a systematised framework to understand the different channels and enablers by which heritage can contribute to inclusive growth through a review of specialised literature.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodology of this article is based on an exhaustive review of existing literature around models of economic development and their ability to decrease social inequalities. It critically reviews theoretical and empirical studies on existing economic approaches and links them with the heritage policy field.
Findings
The article finds that countries should pursue inclusive development since it is a fundamental condition for social cohesion, trust and society's overall well-being and because it enables economic growth to be sustainable through time. It also identifies four channels through which heritage can contribute to inclusive development: in its public good dimension, in its capacity to equalise opportunities, in its ability to reduce social, educational and health disparities and in its capacity to decrease spatial income inequalities through regeneration processes.
Research limitations/implications
The framework, that is developed to categorise the different channels and enablers through which heritage could contribute to inclusive growth, is not empirically tested. Further research could approach this by estimating a difference in difference model. However, data limitations could limit this objective in the short-term.
Originality/value
Its originality relies in the development of a conceptual framework that is aimed at shaping heritage policies that target, at the same time, the reduction of inequalities and economic growth.
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Sudharshan Reddy Paramati and Thanh Pham Thien Nguyen
This paper explores the effect of tourism (national and international) indicators on income inequality in a sample of 21 Asia Pacific economies.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper explores the effect of tourism (national and international) indicators on income inequality in a sample of 21 Asia Pacific economies.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses panel data set from 1995 to 2020 and employs panel autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) method for the empirical investigation.
Findings
The empirical findings from the panel ARDL models suggest that all of the considered tourism indicators have significant negative impacts on income inequalities. The results remain consistent with alternative indicators and methods.
Social implications
The findings of this study will be critical for the policymakers to take effective measures to reduce the income inequality. Such measures could include promoting tourism in general, focusing on attracting international tourists or domestic tourists, and putting more weight on developing leisure or business tourism, which will boost the overall economic performance and alleviates inequalities in the society.
Originality/value
This is the first study to consider various forms of tourism indicators to see their impact on income inequality in the Asia–Pacific region, and offers important implications for the policy actions.
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Litao Zhong, Lei Wen and Zhimin Wang
This paper aims to explore the interplay between industrial diversity and sustainable economic development in US counties.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the interplay between industrial diversity and sustainable economic development in US counties.
Design/methodology/approach
Among other popularly used measures, this study uses an underused measure, Hachman index, to gauge the degree of industrial diversity in the models. To capture the impact of industrial diversity on the local community, this study estimates the relationship of two diversity measures to four traditional socioeconomic indicators: per capita personal income growth, gross domestic product per worker, income inequality ratio and poverty rate.
Findings
Statistical results suggest that industrial diversity, which is measured by Hachman index, is significantly related to the four socio-economic indicators. Industrial diversity can positively contribute to regional per capita personal income growth and mitigate income inequality and poverty stress; however, it is negatively related to the gross domestic product (GDP) per worker, which means industrial specialization may contribute to GDP per worker growth.
Originality/value
The findings of this study show that there is a nonlinear relationship between industrial diversity and all socioeconomic indicators. Most of the control variables, human capital variables and business and industry profile variables also display significant and positive impacts on economic development.
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