Do Rising Top Incomes Lift All Boats?
نویسندگان
چکیده
Pooling data for 1905 to 2000, we find no systematic relationship between top income shares and economic growth in a panel of 12 developed nations observed between 22 and 85 years. After 1960, however, a one percentage point rise in the top decile’s income share is associated with a statistically significant 0.12 point rise in GDP growth during the following year. This relationship is not driven by changes in either educational attainment or top tax rates. If the increase in inequality is permanent, the increase in growth appears to be permanent. However, our estimates imply that it would take 13 years for the cumulative positive effect of faster growth on the mean income of the bottom nine deciles to offset the negative effect of reducing their share of
منابع مشابه
“The World Isn’T FaIr”: a sysTem JusTIFIcaTIon PersPecTIve on socIal sTraTIFIcaTIon and InequalITy
It’s no use pretending that what has obviously happened has not in fact happened. The upper 1 percent of Americans are now taking in nearly a quarter of the nation’s income every year. In terms of wealth rather than income, the top 1 percent control 40 percent. Their lot in life has improved considerably. Twenty-five years ago, the corresponding figures were 12 percent and 33 percent. One respo...
متن کاملDoes a Rising Tide Lift All Boats?
Last year, an Institute of Medicine panel identified health care delivery and disparities as the nation’s top 2 priorities for comparative effectiveness research.1 We have long known that disparities in the delivery of cardiovascular care are pervasive and harmful; the literature is robust and clear. These disturbing disparities are most prominent for emerging hightechnology procedures. Compare...
متن کاملDo Rising Top Incomes Lead to Increased Borrowing in the Rest of the Distribution?
One potential consequence of rising concentration of income at the top of the distribution is increased borrowing, as less affluent households attempt to maintain standards of living with less income. This paper explores the “keeping up with the Joneses” phenomenon using data from the Survey of Consumer Finances. Specifically, it examines the responsiveness of payment-toincome ratios for differ...
متن کاملFood insecurity - not just about rural communities in Africa and Asia.
In June, the FAO reported that world hunger will reach a historic high this year, with over one billion people projected to go hungry every day. Here is what Margaret Chan, Director-General of WHO, had to say in July: ‘We are in a mess. The financial crisis hit the world like a sudden jolt, and it hit the world where it hurts the most: money. [y] All countries, rich and poor, north and south, a...
متن کاملCounting the poor versus monitoring the floor: Understanding alternative perceptions of progress against poverty
One hears very different views within the development community on the question as to whether the world’s poorest are participating in the benefits of economic growth.1 One view is reflected in John F Kennedy’s famous aphorisms that ‘a rising tide lifts all boats,’ or claims that ‘growth is good for the poor’ (Dollar and Kraay 2002) and that the poor are ‘breaking through from the bottom’ (Rade...
متن کامل