Income Distribution and High-quality Growth

Income Distribution and High-quality Growth PDF Author: Vito Tanzi
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 9780262201094
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 448

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Book Description
The contributors argue that there need not be a trade-off between growth and equity in the long run. However, attempts by government to influence income distribution through large-scale tax and transfer programs can have a negative impact on growth. The contrast is vivid. While the majority of people in the industrial world and some in the developing world enjoy unprecedented affluence, a far greater number of people in the low-income countries live in abject poverty. Although several developing countries are achieving rapid economic growth and poverty reduction, most formerly centrally planned countries are struggling to implement market-oriented reforms in the midst of economic deterioration and rising poverty. The paramount importance of reducing poverty worldwide is forcing economists and policymakers to look at how income distribution and economic growth interact. The essays in this volume grew out of a 1995 conference sponsored by the International Monetary Fund. The contributors are scholars and policymakers from academic institutions, governments, and international organizations. The questions discussed include: How does income distribution interact with economic growth in the short run and the long run? To what extent can government use transfer programs to increase the incomes of the poor? How can government use social programs to help the poor increase their income-earning capacity? Does distributional inequality create an obstacle to long-term poverty reduction? Alternatively, is distributional inequality a necessary means of achieving economic growth? Generally, the contributors agree that there need not be a trade-off between growth and equity in the long run. However, attempts by government to influence income distribution through large-scale tax and transfer programs can have a negative impact on growth.

Income Distribution and High-quality Growth

Income Distribution and High-quality Growth PDF Author: Vito Tanzi
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 9780262201094
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 448

Get Book

Book Description
The contributors argue that there need not be a trade-off between growth and equity in the long run. However, attempts by government to influence income distribution through large-scale tax and transfer programs can have a negative impact on growth. The contrast is vivid. While the majority of people in the industrial world and some in the developing world enjoy unprecedented affluence, a far greater number of people in the low-income countries live in abject poverty. Although several developing countries are achieving rapid economic growth and poverty reduction, most formerly centrally planned countries are struggling to implement market-oriented reforms in the midst of economic deterioration and rising poverty. The paramount importance of reducing poverty worldwide is forcing economists and policymakers to look at how income distribution and economic growth interact. The essays in this volume grew out of a 1995 conference sponsored by the International Monetary Fund. The contributors are scholars and policymakers from academic institutions, governments, and international organizations. The questions discussed include: How does income distribution interact with economic growth in the short run and the long run? To what extent can government use transfer programs to increase the incomes of the poor? How can government use social programs to help the poor increase their income-earning capacity? Does distributional inequality create an obstacle to long-term poverty reduction? Alternatively, is distributional inequality a necessary means of achieving economic growth? Generally, the contributors agree that there need not be a trade-off between growth and equity in the long run. However, attempts by government to influence income distribution through large-scale tax and transfer programs can have a negative impact on growth.

Links Between Growth, Inequality, and Poverty: A Survey

Links Between Growth, Inequality, and Poverty: A Survey PDF Author: Ms. Valerie Cerra
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1513572660
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 54

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Book Description
Is there a tradeoff between raising growth and reducing inequality and poverty? This paper reviews the theoretical and empirical literature on the complex links between growth, inequality, and poverty, with causation going in both directions. The evidence suggests that growth can be effective in reducing poverty, but its impact on inequality is ambiguous and depends on the underlying sources of growth. The impact of poverty and inequality on growth is likewise ambiguous, as several channels mediate the relationship. But most plausible mechanisms suggest that poverty and inequality reduce growth, at least in the long run. Policies play a role in shaping these relationships and those designed to improve equality of opportunity can simultaneously improve inclusiveness and growth.

Economic growth and distribution of income

Economic growth and distribution of income PDF Author: Harumi T. Nelson, Terry L. Roe, Xinshen Diao
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
ISBN:
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 48

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Book Description


Inequality and Growth

Inequality and Growth PDF Author: Theo S. Eicher
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262550644
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 343

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Book Description
Even minute increases in a country's growth rate can result in dramatic changes in living standards over just one generation. The benefits of growth, however, may not be shared equally. Some may gain less than others, and a fraction of the population may actually be disadvantaged. Recent economic research has found both positive and negative relationships between growth and inequality across nations. The questions raised by these results include: What is the impact on inequality of policies designed to foster growth? Does inequality by itself facilitate or detract from economic growth, and does it amplify or diminish policy effectiveness? This book provides a forum for economists to examine the theoretical, empirical, and policy issues involved in the relationship between growth and inequality. The aim is to develop a framework for determining the role of public policy in enhancing both growth and equality. The diverse range of topics, examined in both developed and developing countries, includes natural resources, taxation, fertility, redistribution, technological change, transition, labor markets, and education. A theme common to all the essays is the importance of education in reducing inequality and increasing growth.

Growth, Income Distribution, and Poverty

Growth, Income Distribution, and Poverty PDF Author: Arne Bigsten
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Economic development
Languages : en
Pages : 36

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Book Description


Economic Development, Poverty, And Income Distribution

Economic Development, Poverty, And Income Distribution PDF Author: William Loehr
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429706618
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Book Description
The increasing inequality and poverty that seem inevitably to accompany economic growth in developing countries have become more and more evident in recent years. The search for development paths that lead to growth with equality—all too difficult to find—is now an area of central concern for development economists. One result of their concern is this volume, in which internationally known representatives of a range of disciplines address themselves to ways in which growth with equity might be successfully achieved. The book begins with both empirical and theoretical background to the development issues involved, and with an overview of the experience of the international development assistance community. focuses on operational definitions of the poor that will permit analytical, policy-oriented research to lead to useful conclusions. Specific concern is expressed for small-business owners, women, peasants, and recent migrants from rural to urban areas. The basic question, of course, is what can be done about poverty and inequality. includes suggestions for specific measures and provides a comprehensive comparison across a wide range of policy options. The book does not solve the problem, but it does point to directions that promise a reasonably high probability of success. And throughout, suggestions are made for the kind of interdisciplinary research required to raise that probability even further.

Income Distribution in Macroeconomic Models

Income Distribution in Macroeconomic Models PDF Author: Giuseppe Bertola
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691164592
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 439

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Book Description
This book looks at the distribution of income and wealth and the effects that this has on the macroeconomy, and vice versa. Is a more equal distribution of income beneficial or harmful for macroeconomic growth, and how does the distribution of wealth evolve in a market economy? Taking stock of results and methods developed in the context of the 1990s revival of growth theory, the authors focus on capital accumulation and long-run growth. They show how rigorous, optimization-based technical tools can be applied, beyond the representative-agent framework of analysis, to account for realistic market imperfections and for political-economic interactions. The treatment is thorough, yet accessible to students and nonspecialist economists, and it offers specialist readers a wide-ranging and innovative treatment of an increasingly important research field. The book follows a single analytical thread through a series of different growth models, allowing readers to appreciate their structure and crucial assumptions. This is particularly useful at a time when the literature on income distribution and growth has developed quickly and in several different directions, becoming difficult to overview.

Causes and Consequences of Income Inequality

Causes and Consequences of Income Inequality PDF Author: Ms. Era Dabla-Norris
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1513547437
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 33

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Book Description
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.

Inequality and Growth

Inequality and Growth PDF Author: Francesco Grigoli
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1475569041
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 33

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Book Description
The combination of stagnant growth and high levels of income inequality renewed the debate about whether a more even distribution of income can spur economic activity. This paper tests for cross-country convergence in income inequality and estimates its impact on economic growth with a heterogeneous panel structural vector autoregression model, which addresses some empirical challenges plaguing the literature. We find that income inequality is converging across countries, and that its impact on economic growth is heterogeneous. In particular, while the median response of real per capita GDP growth to shocks in income inequality is negative and significant, the dispersion around the estimates is large, with at least one fourth of the countries in the sample presenting a positive effect. The results suggest that the negative effect is mainly driven by the Middle East and Central Asia and the Western Hemisphere across regions, and emerging markets across income levels. Finally, we find evidence that improved institutional frameworks can reduce the negative effect of income inequality on growth.

Income Distribution, Inflation, and Growth

Income Distribution, Inflation, and Growth PDF Author: Lance Taylor
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 9780262700450
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 316

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Book Description
Structuralist macroeconomics has emerged recently as the only viable theoretical alternative for economists and practitioners in developing countries. Lance Taylor's innovative work represents a landmark in this field. It codifies a new generation of structuralist macroeconomic models that incorporate the economic power relationships of key institutions and groups, integrates both finance and real macroeconomics, and covers a diverse range of experience in the developing world over the past three decades. In an introduction Taylor explains his methodology, describes assumptions underlying the models used, and reviews theories that relate economic growth and the role of financial assets. He then takes up basic structuralist models of a closed economy and moves on to consider the open economy cases. He incorporates the latest developments in the field (inflation, financial crisis, exchange rate management, increasing returns, and the like) in a treatment that departs substantially from economic orthodoxy. Taylor first addresses the question of how to specify "closure" or define the causal structure of macro models. He also considers how income redistribution influences growth and output and how income redistribution interacts with inflation. Next, an investment-driven non-full employment growth model draws on ideas introduced earlier to illustrate how different sorts of macroeconomic policies affect short-run adjustment and growth prospects over time. Taylor then turns to the problems proposed by economic openness in a stylized semi-industrialized country, starting with international trade. A fix-price/flex-price model is developed, and additional models demonstrate cases of policy relevance as well as interactions between class conflict and growth.