The Construction and Interpretation of Combined Cross-section and Time-series Inequality Datasets
The Construction and Interpretation of Combined Cross-section and Time-series Inequality Datasets

Author: Joseph F. Francois

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 67

ISBN-13:

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Abstract: The inequality dataset compiled in the 1990s by the World Bank and extended by the United Nations has been both widely used and strongly criticized. The criticisms raise questions about conclusions drawn from secondary inequality datasets in general. The authors develop techniques to deal with national and international comparability problems intrinsic to such datasets. The result is a new dataset of consistent inequality series, allowing them to explore problems of measurement error. In addition, the new data allow the authors to perform parametric non-linear estimation of Lorenz curves from grouped data. This in turn allows them to estimate the entire income distribution, computing alternative inequality indexes and poverty estimates. Finally, the authors use their broadly comparable dataset to examine international patterns of inequality and poverty.

An Economic History of Indonesia
An Economic History of Indonesia

Author: Jan Luiten van Zanden

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-05-02

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 1136454608

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Based on new datasets, this book presents an economic history of Indonesia. It analyses the causes of stagnation of growth during the colonial and independence period, making use of new theoretical insights from institutional economics and new growth theory. The book looks at the major themes of Indonesian history: colonial exploitation and the successes and limitations of the post 1900 welfare policies, the price of instability after 1945, and the economic miracle after 1967. The book not only discusses economic change and development – or the lack thereof – but also the institutional and socio-political structures that were behind these changes. It also presents a lot of new data on the changing welfare of the Indonesian population, on income distribution, and on the functioning of markets for rice, credit and labour. Concluding with a discussion on whether the poor profited from the economic changes, this book is a useful contribution to Southeast Asian Studies and International Economics.

The Construction and Interpretation of Combined Cross-Section and Time-Series Inequality Datasets
The Construction and Interpretation of Combined Cross-Section and Time-Series Inequality Datasets

Author: Joseph F. Francois

Publisher:

Published: 2012

Total Pages:

ISBN-13:

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The inequality dataset compiled in the 1990s by the World Bank and extended by the United Nations has been both widely used and strongly criticized. The criticisms raise questions about conclusions drawn from secondary inequality datasets in general. The authors develop techniques to deal with national and international comparability problems intrinsic to such datasets. The result is a new dataset of consistent inequality series, allowing them to explore problems of measurement error. In addition, the new data allow the authors to perform parametric non-linear estimation of Lorenz curves from grouped data. This in turn allows them to estimate the entire income distribution, computing alternative inequality indexes and poverty estimates. Finally, the authors use their broadly comparable dataset to examine international patterns of inequality and poverty.

How Was Life? Global Well-being since 1820
How Was Life? Global Well-being since 1820

Author: OECD

Publisher: OECD Publishing

Published: 2014-10-02

Total Pages: 273

ISBN-13: 9264214267

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This book presents the first systematic evidence on long-term trends in global well-being since 1820 for 25 major countries and 8 regions in the world covering more than 80% of the world’s population.

Measuring Wellbeing
Measuring Wellbeing

Author: Giovanni Vecchi

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2017-01-13

Total Pages: 673

ISBN-13: 0199944601

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In 150 years Italy transformed itself from a poor and backward country into one where living standards are among the highest in the world. In Measuring Wellbeing, Giovanni Vecchi provides an innovative analysis of this change by drawing on family accounts that provide engaging insights into life and are the "micro" data that create the foundations for the "macro" picture of variations and fluctuations in the development of Italy. Vecchi provides a nuanced account of the changes. He emphasizes that the concept of wellbeing is multidimensional and must include non-monetary aspects of life: nutrition, health and education, as well as less tangible elements such as freedom or the possibility to exercise one's political rights. The book deals with this polyhedral nature of wellbeing. Among the insights are that Italians succeeded in combining growth with equity, but that the gap between the North and South did not narrow; the while longevity has increased, education has not improved as much as it could have; and that for close to three decades, Italy's virtuous path has come to a halt: the wellbeing of the Italian people is at the crossroads between progress and decline. Measuring Wellbeing engagingly combines a unique dataset and an innovative statistical method that can be adapted to other countries.

Education and Inequality Across Europe
Education and Inequality Across Europe

Author: Peter Dolton

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 376

ISBN-13:

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"The relationship between education and income inequality is of fundamental importance. This book focuses on patterns of inequality and their relationship to education using data from European countries. It is suitable for labor and education economists, educationalists, policy-makers and academics interested in the distribution of income." --WorldCat.

Poverty Impacts of a WTO Agreement
Poverty Impacts of a WTO Agreement

Author: Thomas Warren Hertel

Publisher:

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 52

ISBN-13:

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This paper reports on the findings from a major international research project investigating the poverty impacts of a potential Doha Development Agenda (DDA). It combines in a novel way the results from several strands of research. Intensive analysis of the DDA Framework Agreement pays particularly close attention to potential reforms in agriculture. The scenarios are built up using newly available tariff line data and their implications for world markets are established using a global modeling framework. These world trade impacts, in turn, form the basis for 12 country case studies of the national poverty impacts of these DDA scenarios. The focus countries include Bangladesh, Brazil (two studies), Cameroon, China (two studies), Indonesia, Mexico, Mozambique, the Philippines, Russia, and Zambia. The diversity of approaches taken in these studies allows the paper to reflect local conditions and priorities and illustrates many important facets of the trade and poverty link. It does, however, limit the ability to draw broader conclusions. Thus an additional study provides a 15-country cross-section analysis, and a global analysis provides estimates for the world as a whole.

Enforcement of Labor Regulation, Informal Labor and Firm Performance
Enforcement of Labor Regulation, Informal Labor and Firm Performance

Author: Rita Almeida

Publisher:

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 52

ISBN-13:

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This paper investigates how enforcement of labor regulation affects the firm's use of informal employment and its impact on firm performance. Using firm level data on informal employment and firm performance, and administrative data on enforcement of regulation at the city level, the authors show that in areas where law enforcement is stricter firms employ a smaller amount of informal employment. Furthermore, by reducing the firm's access to unregulated labor, stricter enforcement also decreases average wages, productivity, and investment. The results are robust to several specification changes, and to instrumenting enforcement with (1) measures of access of labor inspectors to firms, and (2) measures of general law enforcement in the area where the firm is located.

Poverty Traps and Nonlinear Income Dynamics with Measurement Error and Individual Heterogeneity
Poverty Traps and Nonlinear Income Dynamics with Measurement Error and Individual Heterogeneity

Author: Francisca Antman

Publisher:

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 40

ISBN-13:

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"Theories of poverty traps stand in sharp contrast to the view that anybody can make it through hard work and thrift. However, empirical detection of poverty traps is complicated by the lack of long panels, measurement error, and attrition. This paper shows how dynamic pseudo-panel methods can overcome these difficulties, allowing estimation of non-linear income dynamics and testing for the presence of poverty traps. The paper explicitly allows for individual heterogeneity in income dynamics to account for the possibility that particular groups of individuals may face traps, even if the average individual does not. These methods are used to examine the evidence for a poverty trap in labor earnings, income, and expenditure in Mexico and are compared to panel data estimates from a short rotating panel. The results do find evidence of nonlinearities in household income dynamics and demonstrate large bias in the panel data estimates. Nevertheless, even after allowing for heterogeneity and accounting for measurement error, the paper finds no evidence of the existence of a poverty trap for any group in the sample. "--World Bank web site.