An Inquiry Into the Impact of Public Policy on Income Distribution, Redistribution

An Inquiry Into the Impact of Public Policy on Income Distribution, Redistribution
Author: Bernice Irene Evans
Publisher:
Total Pages: 98
Release: 1999
Genre:
ISBN: 9780599447097

This dissertation project demonstrating excellence (PDE) assumed the mission and policies advanced by the Johnson Administration served as the endogenous determinant of changes in personal income and, therefore, influenced changes in income distribution and income opportunities. the research recognized that in the field of economics marginal productivity and resource exchange theories provide the generalizations and principles upon which changes in personal income are generally postulated. However, alternative factors can also internally influence the labor market structure. the Great Society initiative and the strategies it adopted provided such an influence upon the competitive market and offered a unique opportunity to explore and compare the relationship between political causes and market place effects. the inquiry was limited to a single public policy, the years 1965 through 1969, and to examining the influence of changes in the income receipts of African American households. the research identified America's aggressive social and civil demands during the 1960s, and the cooperative efforts of the congressional and judiciary branches of government, as the catalyst for this political initiative. the study characterized the determinants of "new federalism, 1960s," fiscal legislation, the creation of a new federal agency, and the execution of executive orders with directing the labor market toward its more efficient level. the Gini index provided a measurement of the change in personal income. the Lorenz Curve offered a graphic illustration of the shift of income inequality, ranked by quintile levels, for African Americans. the funds obligated to the War on Poverty programs and the distribution of median average income, served as dummy variables for estimating the relationship between public policy and attributes of income opportunity. These measurements permitted statistical test of significance, test for residual effects, regression and correlation analysis. the research contributes to the field of economics a study of an alternative approach to countering markets forces and to adjusting personal income.

Redistribution, Inequality, and Growth

Redistribution, Inequality, and Growth
Author: Mr.Jonathan David Ostry
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 30
Release: 2014-02-17
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1484397657

The Fund has recognized in recent years that one cannot separate issues of economic growth and stability on one hand and equality on the other. Indeed, there is a strong case for considering inequality and an inability to sustain economic growth as two sides of the same coin. Central to the Fund’s mandate is providing advice that will enable members’ economies to grow on a sustained basis. But the Fund has rightly been cautious about recommending the use of redistributive policies given that such policies may themselves undercut economic efficiency and the prospects for sustained growth (the so-called “leaky bucket” hypothesis written about by the famous Yale economist Arthur Okun in the 1970s). This SDN follows up the previous SDN on inequality and growth by focusing on the role of redistribution. It finds that, from the perspective of the best available macroeconomic data, there is not a lot of evidence that redistribution has in fact undercut economic growth (except in extreme cases). One should be careful not to assume therefore—as Okun and others have—that there is a big tradeoff between redistribution and growth. The best available macroeconomic data do not support such a conclusion.

Public Policy and the Income Distribution

Public Policy and the Income Distribution
Author: Alan J. Auerbach
Publisher: Russell Sage Foundation
Total Pages: 426
Release: 2006-01-23
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780871540461

"Public Policy and the Income Distribution tackles many of the most difficult and intriguing questions about how government intervention - or lack thereof - has affected the incomes of everyday Americans. The twentieth century was remarkable in the extent to which advances in public policy helped improve the economic well being of Americans. Synthesizing existing knowledge on the effectiveness of public policy and contributing valuable new research, Public Policy and the Income Distribution examines public policy's successes, and points out the areas in which progress remains to be made."--BOOK JACKET.

Causes and Consequences of Income Inequality

Causes and Consequences of Income Inequality
Author: Ms.Era Dabla-Norris
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 39
Release: 2015-06-15
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1513547437

This paper analyzes the extent of income inequality from a global perspective, its drivers, and what to do about it. The drivers of inequality vary widely amongst countries, with some common drivers being the skill premium associated with technical change and globalization, weakening protection for labor, and lack of financial inclusion in developing countries. We find that increasing the income share of the poor and the middle class actually increases growth while a rising income share of the top 20 percent results in lower growth—that is, when the rich get richer, benefits do not trickle down. This suggests that policies need to be country specific but should focus on raising the income share of the poor, and ensuring there is no hollowing out of the middle class. To tackle inequality, financial inclusion is imperative in emerging and developing countries while in advanced economies, policies should focus on raising human capital and skills and making tax systems more progressive.

The Politics of Income Inequality in the United States

The Politics of Income Inequality in the United States
Author: Nathan J. Kelly
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 203
Release: 2009-03-30
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1139475525

This book revolves around one central question: do political dynamics have a systematic and predictable influence on distributional outcomes in the United States? The answer is a resounding yes. Utilizing data from mass income surveys, elite surveys and aggregate time series, as well as theoretical insights from both American and comparative politics, Kelly shows that income inequality is a fundamental part of the US macro political system. Shifts in public opinion, party control of government and the ideological direction of policy all have important consequences for distributional outcomes. Specifically, shifts to the left produce reductions in inequality through two mechanisms - explicit redistribution and market conditioning. Whereas many previous studies focus only on the distributional impact of redistribution, this book shows that such a narrow strategy is misguided. In fact, market mechanisms matter far more than traditional redistribution in translating macro political shifts into distributional outcomes.

Unequal Democracies

Unequal Democracies
Author: Noam Lupu
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 387
Release: 2023-12-31
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1009428640

Introduces the latest research on political inequality and its relationship to economic inequalities in North America and Western Europe.

Policies for Redistribution

Policies for Redistribution
Author: Naren Prasad
Publisher:
Total Pages: 42
Release: 2014
Genre:
ISBN:

Inequality can be addressed through a combination of social service provision, social transfers and taxation. Looking at the past two decades, this paper examines the extent to which inequality has been affected by changes in national tax systems and government expenditure on social transfers. Using secondary data, this paper discusses the trends in the composition and levels of social transfers and taxes, and explores how these trends relate to income inequality. It also looks into the extent to which taxes and social transfers are effective in redistributing income. And finally it shows how different government policy frameworks have been able to limit growth in income inequality and at the same time foster economic growth and job creation.

Economic Inequality and News Media

Economic Inequality and News Media
Author: Andrea Grisold
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 277
Release: 2020
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0190053909

"Despite the rediscovery of the inequality topic by economists as well as other social scientists in recent times, relatively little is known about how economic inequality is mediated to the wider public of ordinary citizens and workers. That is precisely where this book steps in: It draws on a cross-national empirical study to examine how mainstream news media discuss, respond to, and engage with such important and politically sensitive issues and trends. Clearly, economic inequalities have become increasingly prominent issues in recent public debates, not least in the context of the latest Great Recession that followed from the financial crash in 2007, and attendant austerity regimes in many countries. This holds true for the debate in the wider public sphere as well as in many fields of academic study, not least in the two specific disciplinary areas most related to this book: political economy and media and journalism studies. Yet, in precisely those two academic fields we find important and parallel 'blindspots' which underline the distinctive focus and contribution of the present book: On the one hand, key issues related to economic inequalities (much like economic processes in general), have been much neglected in the academic fields specialising in news media and journalism studies. On the other hand, the major schools of theory and analysis in mainstream economics have paid relatively little explicit attention to the evolving scope, role or implications of mediated communication. This blindspot applies to both the conduct and performance of economic processes in general, as well as to engagement with the highly sensitive sub-arena of economic inequalities which is of particular interest in this book. In essence, this book is informed by the findings of a distinctive multi-country empirical research project undertaken by a multi-disciplinary team of researchers with economic, media and linguistic expertise. It explores how Piketty's book has been received and represented by news media based across four countries (Austria, Germany, Ireland and the United Kingdom) in the thirteen months following its publication. The primary aim of this book is to present the findings of a transdisciplinary and cross-national empirical study of news media coverage of economic inequality themes in four European countries. It focuses on the period following the launch of Thomas Piketty's (2014) high-profile and best-selling book 'Capital in the Twenty-First Century' (C21). This study is informed by a distinctive theoretical perspective drawing from institutional and political economy, media and journalism studies fields as well as critical discourse analysis. It is mindful of longer-term trends of rising economic inequality as well as the rather extraordinary series of electoral processes and redistribution policy outcomes across many electoral systems over recent decades. In sum, this book offers novel insights on key features of much-neglected links between how news media select, frame and discuss issues related to economic inequality and how such story-telling links to the specific aspects of the economic and public policy factors shaping the onward march of economic inequality in the long-run"--

Income Inequality and Redistributive Government Spending

Income Inequality and Redistributive Government Spending
Author: International Monetary Fund
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 27
Release: 2003-01-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1451843143

The paper examines empirically the question of whether more unequal societies spend more on income redistribution than their more egalitarian counterparts. Theoretical arguments on this issue are inconclusive. The political economy literature suggests that redistributive spending is higher in unequal societies due to median voter preferences. Alternatively, it can be argued that unequal societies may spend less on redistribution because of capital market imperfections. Based on different data sources, the cross-country evidence reported in this paper suggests that more unequal societies do spend less on redistribution.