Top income inequality has risen sharply in the United States over the last 30 years but remained low and stable in economies like France and Japan. Why? This paper explores three theoretical mechanisms that endogenize the amount of top income inequality. The first model suggests that the rate of growth of top incomes is a key determinant. A rise in the returns to experience or an increase in ef...

In this paper, we study the relation between life expectancy and both average income and measures of income inequality in 1980 and 1990, using the 17 Spanish regions as units of analysis. Average income was measured as average total income per household. The indicators of income inequality used were three measures of relative poverty-the percentage of households with total income less than 25%,...

distribution income show how national income divide between economic sectors and social groups. it effect on social justice and many factors effect on it, such as productivity of labor force and employment rate. in this paper, factors affecting distribution income, especially productivity of labor force have been analyzed by panel data model for 32 countries during 1998-2005. the results show e...

Trends in the distribution of family disposable income in Australia over the last two decades are examined using the unit record files of the ABS Income Distribution and Income and Housing Costs surveys. The effects on income inequality of government intervention, in the form of provision of transfers such as pensions, benefits and allowances, and through personal income tax, are also investiga...

No. There has never been good evidence for a pattern of rising inequality in low-income countries and falling inequality in higher income countries. The only evidence that appears to support the Kuznets hypothesis is the cross-sectional pattern of inequality levels across countries, although the Kuznets hypothesis is an assertion about the path of inequality within countries. Numerous cross-sec...

Social Spending Generosity and Income Inequality: A Dynamic Panel Approach This paper explores if more generous social spending polices in fact lead to less income inequality, or if redistributive outcomes are offset by behavioral disincentive effects. To account for the inherent endogeneity of social policies with regard to inequality levels, I apply the System GMM estimator and use the presum...

Background: The link between poverty and poor health outcomes is well known; more recently there is some evidence that suggests an independent effect of income inequality on health. However this association of income inequality with health appears to be weaker at smaller spatial levels. The paper examines the question whether socioeconomic segregation at the neighbourhood level, which is the sp...

Objective: To examine the association of income inequality at the public health unit level with individual health status in Ontario. Methods: Cross-sectional multilevel study carried out among subjects aged 25 years or older residing in 42 public health units in Ontario. Individual-level data drawn from 30,939 respondents in 1996-97 Ontario Health Survey. Median area income and income inequalit...

We employ German Sample Survey Income data to examine income inequality and the financial situation of elderly citizens for the period from 1978 to 2003, focussing on differences between retired and non-retired elderly and between elderly with residence in the Old and the New German Laender. Inter-temporal changes in income inequality are also decomposed by income sources. To our knowledge, thi...