A Different Approach to the Measurement of Income Inequality

1993 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cecilia A. Conrad
Keyword(s):  
Income Inequality ◽  
Racial Inequality ◽  
Racial Equality ◽  
Atkinson Index ◽  
Distribution Of Income

This article presents Atkinson indices of racial income inequality for 1954–1989. This approach permits the study of racial inequality and inequality in the overall distribution of income in a consistent framework. The Atkinson index shows that progress towards racial equality stopped much earlier than observation of mean income ratios would suggest and that most of the gains have been eroded.

Rethinking Racial Justice

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Valls
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Racial Inequality ◽  
Jim Crow ◽  
The United States ◽  
Racial Equality ◽  
Controversial Issues ◽  
Racial Justice ◽  
Black Institutions ◽  
American Society ◽  
Racial Lines

American society continues to be characterized by deep racial inequality that is a legacy of slavery and Jim Crow. What does justice demand in response? In this book, Andrew Valls argues that justice demands quite a lot—the United States has yet to fully reckon with its racial past, or to confront its ongoing legacies. Valls argues that liberal values and principles have far-reaching implications in the context of the deep injustices along racial lines in American society. In successive chapters, the book takes on such controversial issues as reparations, memorialization, the fate of black institutions and communities, affirmative action, residential segregation, the relation between racial inequality and the criminal justice system, and the intersection of race and public schools. In all of these contexts, Valls argues that liberal values of liberty and equality require profound changes in public policy and institutional arrangements in order to advance the cause of racial equality. Racial inequality will not go away on its own, Valls argues, and past and present injustices create an obligation to address it. But we must rethink some of the fundamental assumptions that shape mainstream approaches to the problem, particularly those that rely on integration as the primary route to racial equality.

scholarly journals Racism and Antiracism in the Liberal International Order

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Zoltán I. Búzás
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Racial Inequality ◽  
Racial Diversity ◽  
International Order ◽  
Interdisciplinary Studies ◽  
Racial Equality ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Current Regime ◽  
Novel Concept ◽  
Comprehensive Framework

Abstract Formal racial equality is a key aspect of the current Liberal International Order (LIO). It is subject to two main challenges: resurgent racial nationalism and substantive racial inequality. Combining work in International Relations with interdisciplinary studies on race, I submit that these challenges are the latest iteration of struggles between two transnational coalitions over the LIO's central racial provisions, which I call racial diversity regimes (RDRs). The traditional coalition has historically favored RDRs based on racial inequality and racial nationalism. The transformative coalition has favored RDRs based on racial equality and nonracial nationalism. I illustrate the argument by tracing the development of the liberal order's RDR as a function of intercoalitional struggles from one based on racial nationalism and inequality in 1919 to the current regime based on nonracial nationalism and limited equality. Today, racial nationalists belong to the traditional coalition and critics of racial inequality are part of the transformative coalition. The stakes of their struggles are high because they will determine whether we will live in a more racist or a more antiracist world. This article articulates a comprehensive framework that places race at the heart of the liberal order, offers the novel concept of “embedded racism” to capture how sovereignty shields domestic racism from foreign interference, and proposes an agenda for mainstream International Relations that takes race seriously.

By Popular Demand: The Effect of Public Opinion on Income Inequality

2005 ◽  
Vol 4 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 261-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Andersen ◽  
Anthony Heath ◽  
David Weakliem
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Income Inequality ◽  
Instrumental Variables ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Reciprocal Causation ◽  
Low Incomes ◽  
The World ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Distribution Of Income

AbstractThis paper examines the relationship between public support for wage differentials and actual income inequality using data from the World Values Surveys. The distribution of income is more equal in nations where public opinion is more egalitarian. There is some evidence that the opinions of people with higher incomes are more influential than those of people with low incomes. Although the estimated relationship is stronger in democracies, it is present even under non-democratic governments, and the hypothesis that effects are equal cannot be rejected. We consider the possibility of reciprocal causation by means of an instrumental variables analysis, which yields no evidence that income distribution affects opinion.

The Problem of Income Inequality

2019 ◽  
pp. 42-44
Author(s):  
Andrew Smithers
Keyword(s):  
Income Inequality ◽  
Gini Coefficient ◽  
Living Standards ◽  
Living Standard ◽  
The Gini Coefficient ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Distribution Of Income

Living standards change in line with GDP per head only if the distribution of incomes is unchanged. If incomes become less equally distributed the living standards of most people will fall even if GDP per head is stable. The Gini Coefficient is the most widely used indicator designed to measure the distribution of income. UK inequality, on this measure, has risen since 1977, stabilized since 1987, and fallen in recent years. In the US there has been a long-term increase in income inequality. Unless this US trend for increased income inequality halts, it is quite likely that even if GDP per head rises in the US, the living standard of the average voter will fall. The recent data suggest that changes in income inequality pose less of a threat to living standards in the UK then they do to those in the US.

scholarly journals The Spatial Dimension of Income Inequality: An Analysis at Municipal Level

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 1622 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luigi Mastronardi ◽  
Aurora Cavallo
Keyword(s):  
Income Inequality ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Spatial Dynamics ◽  
Spatial Dimension ◽  
Urban Centers ◽  
Job Opportunities ◽  
The Social ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
Municipal Level ◽  
Distribution Of Income

This paper focuses on the analysis on income inequality in Italy at the municipal level of the areas defined by the National Strategy for Inner Areas. We discuss an analysis of the economic and spatial dynamics of the phenomenon through the construction of the Gini’s coefficient and the estimation of the regression model for the evaluation of the determinants of inequality. We highlight the influence of the spatial dimension on income inequality in Italy. Inequality appears to be greater in densely populated urban centers with a strong incidence of tertiary activities and young population. Conversely, in the inner areas, the distribution of income is more balanced due probably to the weakness of the social and economic structure that determines low levels of income and job opportunities mainly in the agricultural sector.

scholarly journals Marginal Tax Rates and Income Inequality in a Life-Cycle Model

1999 ◽  
Vol 89 (5) ◽  
pp. 1197-1215 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Altig ◽  
Charles T Carlstrom
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Income Inequality ◽  
Computable General Equilibrium ◽  
Tax Rates ◽  
Cycle Model ◽  
Marginal Tax Rate ◽  
Tax Rate ◽  
Marginal Tax Rates ◽  
Quantitative Impact ◽  
Distribution Of Income

In this paper we study the quantitative impact of marginal tax rates on the distribution of income. Our methodology builds on computable general-equilibrium framework. We find that distortions from marginal tax rate changes of the sort implied by the Tax Reform Act of 1986 have sizable effects on income inequality in a reasonably quantified life-cycle setting: In our model rate changes alone capture half the increase in the pretax Gini that actually occurred between 1984 and 1989. (JEL C68, D31, H30, H20)

scholarly journals Can Reducing Income Inequality Decouple Economic Growth from CO2 Emissions?

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 237802311877271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julius Alexander McGee ◽  
Patrick Trent Greiner
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Income Inequality ◽  
National Income ◽  
Recent Period ◽  
The Past ◽  
Socioeconomic Drivers ◽  
Advance Research ◽  
Developed Nations ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Distribution Of Income

In the past two decades, income inequality has steadily increased in most developed nations. During this same period, the growth rate of CO2 emissions has declined in many developed nations, cumulating to a recent period of decoupling between economic growth and CO2 emissions. The aim of the present study is to advance research on socioeconomic drivers of CO2 emissions by assessing how the distribution of income affects the relationship between economic growth and CO2 emissions. The authors find that from 1985 to 2011, rising income inequality leads to a tighter coupling between economic growth and CO2 emissions in developed nations. Additionally, the authors find that increases in the top 20 percent of income earners’ share of national income have resulted in a larger association between economic growth and CO2 emissions, while increases in the bottom 20 percent of income earners’ share of national income reduced the association between economic growth and CO2 emissions.

scholarly journals Of Color Lines and Race Lines: John Marshall Harlan, W.E.B. Du Bois, and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in a Colorblind Regime

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 270
Author(s):  
Phillip Hutchison
Keyword(s):  
Racial Inequality ◽  
Racial Equality ◽  
Color Line ◽  
Du Bois ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Color Blind ◽  
John Marshall

<p><em>The life of the first Justice Harlan has been the subject of myriad studies, largely inspired by his declaration “Our Constitution is color-blind,” which appeared in his storied dissent in </em>Plessy v. Ferguson<em>. This article interrogates unaddressed angles of his dissent that, when given proper attention, can deliver fruitful insights into his intentions behind the colorblind metaphor. The focus is primarily trained upon Harlan’s concept of the “race line,” which he referenced twice in his dissent. Placing this “race line” up against the colorblind Constitution will reveal that he purposed to keep whites educationally and financially dominant “for all time” by means of (colorblind) legal racial equality. The article delves further into the race line by juxtaposing it with W.E.B. Du Bois’s notion of the “color line,” which was voiced at the same moment of </em>Plessy<em>.</em></p>

The Pictures in Their Heads: How U.S. Mayors Think About Racial Inequality

2020 ◽  
pp. 107808742090865
Author(s):  
Katherine Levine Einstein ◽  
Luisa Godinez Puig ◽  
Spencer Piston
Keyword(s):  
Income Inequality ◽  
Policy Change ◽  
Racial Inequality ◽  
Direct Evidence ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Sizable Proportion ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
American Cities ◽  
Policy Solutions

Many scholars examine what role cities can play in addressing racial inequality. Yet existing research presents little direct evidence of local political elites’ perceptions of racial inequality and preferred strategies to address it. Which mayors perceive racial inequality to be a problem in their cities, and which mayors prefer substantive rather than symbolic solutions to this problem? To answer this question, we survey more than 100 mayors of large and mid-sized American cities. We find that, while a sizable proportion of mayors advocate for policy change, many others either deny that racial inequality exists, claim that they do not have control over racial inequality, or promote symbolic dialogues about race. Democratic mayors are substantially more likely to acknowledge racial inequality in a variety of domains. Non-White mayors and mayors of cities facing larger racial income inequality are also somewhat more aware of racial inequality, although the relationship is less consistent. Perceptual screens may prevent many mayors from pursuing vigorous policy solutions to racial inequality.

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