Handbook of Income Distribution

Handbook of Income Distribution

by Anthony B. Atkinson, Francois Bourguignon
Released December 2014
Publisher(s): North Holland
ISBN: 9780444594761

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Book description

What new theories, evidence, explanations, and policies have shaped our studies of income distribution in the 21st century?

Editors Tony Atkinson and Francois Bourguignon assemble the expertise of leading authorities in this survey of substantive issues. In two volumes they address subjects that were not covered in Volume 1 (2000), such as education, health and experimental economics; and subjects that were covered but where there have been substantial new developments, such as the historical study of income inequality and globalization. Some chapters discuss future growth areas, such as inheritance, the links between inequality and macro-economics and finance, and the distributional implications of climate change. They also update empirical advances and major changes in the policy environment.

  • The volumes define and organize key areas of income distribution studies
  • Contributors focus on identifying newly developing questions and opportunities for future research
  • The authoritative articles emphasize the ways that income mobility and inequality studies have recently gained greater political significance

Table of contents

  1. Cover image
  2. Title page
  3. Table of Contents
  4. Introduction to the Series
  5. Volume 2A: Handbook of Income Distribution
  6. Volume 2B: Handbook of Income Distribution
  7. Copyright
  8. Contributors
  9. Introduction: Income Distribution Today
    1. 1 Setting the Scene
    2. 2 Different Facets of Inequality
    3. 3 Data on Inequality
    4. 4 Taking Economic Theory Seriously
    5. 5 The Role of Policy
    6. Acknowledgments
  10. Acknowledgments
  11. Part I. Concept and Approaches
    1. Chapter 1: The Principal Problem in Political Economy: Income Distribution in the History of Economic Thought
      1. Abstract
      2. 1.1 Introduction
      3. 1.2 The Positive Economics of Income Distribution
      4. 1.3 Value Judgments and Redistribution
      5. 1.4 Concluding Reflections
      6. Acknowledgments
    2. Chapter 2: Inequality, Income, and Well-Being
      1. Abstract
      2. 2.1 Introduction
      3. 2.2 A Brief Historical Sketch
      4. 2.3 Inequality of What?
      5. 2.4 Multidimensional Inequality and Dominance
      6. 2.5 Applications
      7. 2.6 Conclusion
      8. Acknowledgment
    3. Chapter 3: Multidimensional Poverty and Inequality
      1. Abstract
      2. 3.1 Introduction
      3. 3.2 Preliminaries: Dimensions, Indicators, and Weights
      4. 3.3 Multidimensional Poverty Measurement
      5. 3.4 Multidimensional Inequality Measurement
      6. 3.5 Summary and Conclusions
      7. Acknowledgments
    4. Chapter 4: Equality of Opportunity
      1. Abstract
      2. 4.1 Introduction
      3. 4.2 Egalitarian Political Philosophy Since Rawls
      4. 4.3 A Model and Algorithm for Equal-Opportunity Policy
      5. 4.4 A More General Approach
      6. 4.5 The Fleurbaey–Maniquet Approach
      7. 4.6 Economic Development
      8. 4.7 Dynamics
      9. 4.8 Preparing the Ground for Empirical Analysis
      10. 4.9 Do People Advocate EOp? Lessons from Questionnaires and Experiments
      11. 4.10 Inequality of Opportunity: Measurement Issues and Empirical Results
      12. 4.11 Results
      13. 4.12 Conclusion
      14. Acknowledgments
    5. Chapter 5: Polarization
      1. Abstract
      2. 5.1 Introduction
      3. 5.2 Motivation
      4. 5.3 Notation
      5. 5.4 Income Polarization
      6. 5.5 Bipolarization
      7. 5.6 Social Polarization
      8. 5.7 Socioeonomic Polarization
      9. 5.8 Multidimensional Polarization
      10. 5.9 Polarization in Practice
      11. 5.10 Conclusion
      12. Acknowledgments
    6. Chapter 6: Statistical Methods for Distributional Analysis
      1. Abstract
      2. 6.1 Introduction
      3. 6.2 Data
      4. 6.3 Density Estimation
      5. 6.4 Welfare Indices
      6. 6.5 Distributional Comparisons
      7. 6.6 Other Estimation Problems
      8. 6.7 Conclusions
      9. Acknowledgments
  12. Part II. Evidence
    1. Chapter 7: Long-Run Trends in the Distribution of Income and Wealth
      1. Abstract
      2. 7.1 Introduction
      3. 7.2 Long-Run Trends in Income Inequality
      4. 7.3 Long-Run Trends in Wealth Inequality
      5. 7.4 Determinants of Long-Run Trends in Inequality
      6. 7.5 Summary and Concluding Remarks
      7. Acknowledgments
      8. Appendix
    2. Chapter 8: Post-1970 Trends in Within-Country Inequality and Poverty: Rich and Middle-Income Countries
      1. Abstract
      2. 8.1 Introduction
      3. 8.2 Choosing a Yardstick and Its Components
      4. 8.3 Poverty Measurement and Trends
      5. 8.4 Inequality in Income
      6. 8.5 Summary and Conclusions
      7. Acknowledgments
    3. Chapter 9: Recent Trends in Inequality and Poverty in Developing Countries
      1. Abstract
      2. 9.1 Introduction
      3. 9.2 The Developing World: Characterization and Data
      4. 9.3 Inequality: Levels
      5. 9.4 Inequality: Trends
      6. 9.5 Poverty: Levels
      7. 9.6 Poverty: Trends
      8. 9.7 Concluding Remarks
      9. Acknowledgment
    4. Chapter 10: Income Mobility
      1. Abstract
      2. 10.1 Introduction
      3. 10.2 Mobility Concepts
      4. 10.3 Mobility Measurement
      5. 10.4 Intragenerational Mobility: Evidence
      6. 10.5 Intergenerational Mobility: Evidence
      7. 10.6 Conclusions
      8. Acknowledgments
    5. Chapter 11: The Global Distribution of Income
      1. Abstract
      2. 11.1 Introduction
      3. 11.2 Why Study the Global Distribution of Income?
      4. 11.3 Which Global Distribution of Income?
      5. 11.4 Data
      6. 11.5 Estimating the Global Distribution of Income
      7. 11.6 Between- and Within-Country Inequality
      8. 11.7 Relative and Absolute Global Inequality
      9. 11.8 Global Poverty
      10. 11.9 Conclusion
      11. Acknowledgments
      12. Appendix Estimates of Global Inequality Based on the Common Sample over Time
    6. Chapter 12: Gender Inequality
      1. Abstract
      2. 12.1 Introduction
      3. 12.2 Individual and/or Household Income and Living Standards: From Measurement Issues to Conceptual Issues and Back to Measurement Issues
      4. 12.3 The Gender Wage Gap
      5. 12.4 The Case of Self-Employment
      6. 12.5 The Gender Gap in Pensions
      7. 12.6 Nonmarket Work, the Gender Division of Labor, and Gender Inequality
      8. 12.7 Wealth and Gender
      9. 12.8 Conclusion
    7. Chapter 13: Attitudes to Income Inequality: Experimental and Survey Evidence
      1. Abstract
      2. 13.1 Introduction
      3. 13.2 The Comparative View
      4. 13.3 The Normative View
      5. 13.4 Outstanding Issues
      6. 13.5 Conclusion
      7. Acknowledgments
  13. Part III. Explanations
    1. Chapter 14: Inequality in Macroeconomics
      1. Abstract
      2. 14.1 Some Facts on the Income and Wealth Distribution
      3. 14.2 Modeling the Sources of Macro Inequality
      4. 14.3 The Dynamics of Inequality
      5. 14.4 Inequality and Financial Markets
      6. 14.5 The Political Economy Channel
      7. 14.6 Conclusion
      8. Acknowledgments
      9. Appendix A Derivation of the Inequality Index
      10. Appendix B Wage Equation with Endogenous Debt
    2. Chapter 15: Wealth and Inheritance in the Long Run
      1. Abstract
      2. 15.1 Introduction
      3. 15.2 The Long-Run Evolution of Wealth–Income Ratios
      4. 15.3 The Long-Run Evolution of Wealth Concentration
      5. 15.4 The Long-Run Evolution of the Share of Inherited Wealth
      6. 15.5 Accounting for the Evidence: Models and Predictions
      7. 15.6 Concluding Comments and Research Prospects
      8. Acknowledgments
    3. Chapter 16: Intrahousehold Inequality
      1. Abstract
      2. 16.1 Introduction
      3. 16.2 The Collective Model: Concepts, Definitions, and Axioms
      4. 16.3 Modeling Household Behavior: The Collective Model
      5. 16.4 The Determinants of Intrahousehold Allocation
      6. 16.5 Identification
      7. 16.6 Empirical Findings
      8. 16.7 Conclusion
      9. Acknowledgments
    4. Chapter 17: Health and Inequality
      1. Abstract
      2. 17.1 Introduction
      3. 17.2 Health and Income: A First Pass
      4. 17.3 Health Determination of Economic Inequality
      5. 17.4 Economic Determination of Health Inequality
      6. 17.5 Economic Inequality as a Determinant of Health
      7. 17.6 Conclusion
      8. Acknowledgments
      9. Data Sources
    5. Chapter 18: Labor Market Institutions and the Dispersion of Wage Earnings
      1. Abstract
      2. 18.1 Introduction
      3. 18.2 Earnings Distribution and Income Distribution: A Short Tale of Two Long Literatures
      4. 18.3 Wage Dispersion: Measurement and Stylized Facts
      5. 18.4 Theoretical Approaches to Wage Dispersion and the Role of Institutions
      6. 18.5 LMIs and Wage Inequality: An Empirical Assessment
      7. 18.6 Conclusion and Future Research
      8. Acknowledgments
      9. Appendix A Country Codes
      10. Appendix B Data Sources and Additional Tables on Earnings
      11. Appendix C Data Sources and Descriptive Statistics on LMIs
      12. Appendix D Literature Summary Tables: Household Incomes and Earnings and Wage Dispersion and Institutions165
    6. Chapter 19: Cross-Country Evidence of the Multiple Causes of Inequality Changes in the OECD Area
      1. Abstract
      2. 19.1 Introduction
      3. 19.2 The Research Question and Methods to Explain Inequality and its Change
      4. 19.3 Data Sources for Cross-Country Studies
      5. 19.4 Definition of Inequality Measures and Their Variability
      6. 19.5 Drivers of Inequality: Main Explanations
      7. 19.6 Conclusions: Major Findings from the Literature Survey and Implications for Further Research
      8. Acknowledgments
    7. Chapter 20: Globalization and Inequality
      1. Abstract
      2. 20.1 Introduction
      3. 20.2 Immediate Post-War Theories, Predictions, and Evidence
      4. 20.3 Experience and New Theory from the 1980s Onward
      5. 20.4 Economic Crisis and Income Distribution
      6. 20.5 Globalization and Gender Inequality
      7. 20.6 Openness and Spatial Inequality
      8. 20.7 International Migration, Remittances, and Inequality
      9. 20.8 National and Global Policy Responses
      10. 20.9 Conclusion
  14. Part IV. Policies
    1. Chapter 21: Democracy, Redistribution, and Inequality
      1. Abstract
      2. 21.1 Introduction
      3. 21.2 Theoretical Considerations
      4. 21.3 Previous Literature
      5. 21.4 Econometric Specification and Data
      6. 21.5 Main Results
      7. 21.6 Conclusion
      8. Acknowledgments
      9. Appendix A Comparison to Rodrik (1999)
      10. Appendix B Results Using Other Measures of Democracy
    2. Chapter 22: The Idea of Antipoverty Policy
      1. Abstract
      2. 22.1 Introduction
      3. 22.2 Wealth Dynamics and Antipoverty Policies
      4. 22.3 The Utility of Poverty
      5. 22.4 The First Poverty Enlightenment
      6. 22.5 The Long Germination of the Idea of a World Free of Poverty
      7. 22.6 The Second Poverty Enlightenment
      8. 22.7 The Idea of a Progressive Market Economy
      9. 22.8 The Final Blow to the Idea of the Utility of Poverty?
      10. 22.9 Direct Interventions in Modern Times
      11. 22.10 Conclusions
      12. Acknowledgments
    3. Chapter 23: The Welfare State and Antipoverty Policy in Rich Countries
      1. Abstract
      2. 23.1 Setting the Scene
      3. 23.2 Social Protection and Redistribution
      4. 23.3 Beyond Social Protection
      5. 23.4 The Welfare State, Antipoverty Policy, and the Economic Crisis of the Late 2000s
      6. 23.5 Future Research Directions
      7. Acknowledgments
    4. Chapter 24: Microsimulation and Policy Analysis
      1. Abstract
      2. 24.1 Introduction and Overview
      3. 24.2 What Does Microsimulation Add to Analysis of Income Distribution and Redistribution?
      4. 24.3 The Effects of Policy Changes on Income Distribution
      5. 24.4 Challenges and Limitations
      6. 24.5 Broadening the Scope
      7. 24.6 Conclusions and Outlook for the Future
      8. Acknowledgments
      9. Appendix A Increasing UK Child Benefit in 2001 and 2013: The Net Effects
      10. Appendix B Comparison of Simulated Estimates of Income Tax with Administrative Statistics, UK 2010–2011
  15. Index

Product information

  • Title: Handbook of Income Distribution
  • Author(s): Anthony B. Atkinson, Francois Bourguignon
  • Release date: December 2014
  • Publisher(s): North Holland
  • ISBN: 9780444594761