ADJUSTING GINI COEFFICIENTS WITH QUANTILE REGRESSION: TAIWAN, 1978–1999

In this paper we apply the Gini adjustment procedure developed by Bishop, Formby, and Smith (1997) to investigate the effects of demographic factors on earnings inequality in Taiwan. We advance their method using quantile regression to control for demographic factors between 1978 and 1999 based on the subsample of workers conducted by the DGBAS. It is found that the marginal impact effects of female on earnings inequality are larger than the effects of years of schooling and experience. Hence, gender gap has the most significant impact on earnings inequality in Taiwan. Finally, the policy implications from our study are that controlling for gender gap could reduce earnings inequality. In particular, adoption of an affirmative action policy for women may successfully reduce the overall level of earnings inequality in Taiwan.