In a rare example of a national goal for income distribution besides reducing poverty (for which there is broad consensus), China’s leadership has recently committed to expanding the middle-income share—striving for a less polarized “olive-shaped” distribution. Recognizing the potential...

The "Goodwin pattern" - an anti-clockwise rotation in real activity x wage share space recurring at intervals that correspond roughly to the duration of business cycles - is an enduring feature of high-frequency dynamics in capitalist economies. It is well known that the centre or focus of this...

We investigate the possibility to reflate an economy experiencing a long-lasting zero lower bound episode with subdued or negative inflation by imposing a minimum level of wage inflation. Our proposed income policy relies on the same mechanism behind past disinflationary policies, but it works...

We analyse the question of optimal taxation in a dual economy, when the government is concerned about the distribution of labour income. Income inequality is caused by the presence of sunk capital investments, which creates a "good jobs" sector due to the capture of quasi-rents by trade unions....

Along with house rents, wages have frequently been described as the "stickiest" prices in the economy, rarely adjusted more than once a year. Because of this stickiness (which arises from the transactions costs involved in changing wages), a distinction exists between the adjustment of wages and...

Wage and price controls have a long and somewhat disreputable history, presumably because of their frequent use in many countries as short run substitutes for measure~ with more lasting effects on the inflation rate. But, in 1985 and 1986, Argentina, Brazil, and Israel used extensive wage-price...

Education and income are strong predictors of health and longevity. In the last 20 years many efforts have been made to understand if these relationships are causal and what the possible role of policy should be as a result. The evidence from various studies is ambiguous: the effects of...

Numerous studies document a positive correlation between inflation and income inequality. I show that this correlation has reversed, most notably in the European economies. More generally, the sign of the correlation depends on the time period and sample of countries. In the literature on the...

"This book goes beyond traditional minimum wage research to investigate the interplay between different country and sectoral institutional settings and actors' strategies in the field of minimum wage policies. It asks which strategies and motives, namely free collective bargaining, fair pay...

In a rare example of an explicit national goal for income distribution besides reducing poverty, China's leadership has recently committed to expanding the middle-income share--moving to a less polarized "olive-shaped" distribution. Recognizing the potential trade-offs, the paper asks whether...

"This book goes beyond traditional minimum wage research to investigate the interplay between different country and sectoral institutional settings and actors' strategies in the field of minimum wage policies. It asks which strategies and motives, namely free collective bargaining, fair pay...

Poverty and rising income inequality in Canada have brought demands for improved government action on redistribution. Unfortunately, such pleas risk being overshadowed by a looming fiscal crunch as the baby boomers retire. An expanding population of seniors will add at least one percent annually...

This paper aims to disentangle the driving factors behind the changes in income inequality in the Baltics since the EU accession, distinguishing between primary income effect, discrete changes in tax-benefit policies and demographic effect. Evaluation of the three effects was based on...

Der Sozialausschuss des Landtages Mecklenburg-Vorpommerns befasst sich am 29.11.2017 in einer öffentlichen Anhörung mit dem Thema "Armut und Reichtum". Dieser Policy Brief bezieht Stellung zu vier Themenkomplexen. Neben der Messung und Definition von Armut und Reichtum geht es um empirische...

This paper finds a significant influence of Milton Friedman on U.K. economic policy from the 1970s onward, and especially during the period of the Thatcher Government. The finding is based on a consideration of statements by policymakers and key economic advisers, as well as an analysis of...

Youths with disabilities face numerous challenges when they transition to adulthood. Those who are aging out of foster care face the additional challenge of losing their foster care benefits, although some will be eligible for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments after foster care ceases....

"Given the recent financial crisis, the German labour market performs relatively well. This has not been the case until recent years: collective bargaining and the rigid system of wage setting have been often cited as one of the reasons for Germany's high structural unemployment. Contrary, a...

"Given the recent financial crisis, the German labour market performs relatively well. This has not been the case until recent years: collective bargaining and the rigid system of wage setting have been often cited as one of the reasons for Germany's high structural unemployment. Contrary, a...

I study the integration of regions in the form of a merger of populations, which I interpret as a revision of people's social space and their comparison set; I illustrate the way in which a merger can aggravate social distress; and I consider policy responses. Specifically, I view the merger of...

I study the integration of regions in the form of a merger of populations, which I interpret as a revision of people's social space and their comparison set; I illustrate the way in which a merger can aggravate social distress; and I consider policy responses. Specifically, I view the merger of...

I study the integration of regions in the form of a merger of populations, which I interpret as a revision of people's social space and their comparison set; I illustrate the way in which a merger can aggravate social distress; and I consider policy responses. Specifically, I view the merger of...

This paper addresses three areas of the rural labor market-employment, labor wages, and agriculture producer incomes. Findings show that the poor allocate a lower share of their labor to farm sectors than the nonpoor do, but still around 70 percent work in agriculture, and the vast majority of...

In the midst of growing criticism of current economic orthodoxies and welfare systems, basic income is growing in popularity. This is the first book to discuss existing at examples of basic income, in both rich and poor countries, and to consider its prospects in other places around the world

In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurde die Einkommensverteilung für die Periode 1959-2008 für Österreich analysiert. Dabei konnten aufgrund der mangelhaften Datenlage ausschließlich die Lohn- und Einkommensteuerstatistik untersucht werden. Die Entwicklung der personenbezogenen Kapitaleinkommen...