A widely accepted criterion for the pro-poorness of an income growth pattern is that it should reduce a (chosen) measure of poverty by more than if all incomes were growing equi-proportionately. Inequality reduction is not generally seen as either necessary or sufficient for pro-poorness. As...

Macro/micro-economic modelling has emerged as a rigorous instrument to link policy reforms with changes in income distribution. Indeed, this approach enables one to capture directly the general equilibrium effect of policy reforms upon changes in household welfare. These endogenous distributions...

This article presents a simple non-polynomial spline that may be used to construct Lorenz curves from grouped data. The spline is naturally convex and works by determining a series of piecewise segments that may be joined to give a smooth and continuous Lorenz curve. The method is illustrated...

This article uses data from the 1994-2001 waves of the European Community Household Panel to study economic inequality in Portugal. It reports data on the distributions of income, labour earnings, and capital income, and on related features of inequality, such as age, employment status,...

A simple theoretical model explains the divergent empirical results concerning the effect of wage dispersion on firm performance. First, causality in the relationship is clarified. Then, through the model, it is shown that firm performance is non-monotonic with respect to wage dispersion....

This article attempts to apply and interpret the correspondent Identification Matrix test (White, 1982) for a Pareto type I distribution. One of the most cited datasets used by Pareto, England’s income distribution in 1843 and in 1879, is used. Our results suggest that an alternative...

The traditional analysis of economic convergence between countries or regions is usually performed by comparing distribution means, such as per-capita income. This kind of analysis, which is intimately related to the economic welfare of a society, presents, however, only a partial approach to...

In the United States the 1996 agricultural policy reform ushered in market-oriented farm policies and also gave farmers a seven-year lump-sum payment that was not tied to production. Some scholars argue that farm program payments have changed the distribution of income among farm households. Our...

We use the Interdistributional Lorenz Curves (ILCs) of Butler and McDonald (1987) to visualize convergence or divergence between income distributions. To illustrate the idea, we compare income distributions from Spain, Italy, and Germany. We also offer methods to test for significant differences...

During the last two decades most Western countries have experienced increased net immigration as well as increased income inequality. This article analyzes the effects on income inequality of an increased number of immigrants in Denmark and Germany for the 20- year period 1984-2003 and how the...