Institutions and World Income Distribution

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (111) ◽  
pp. 43
Author(s):  
Erol MER
Keyword(s):  
Income Distribution ◽  
World Income ◽  
World Income Distribution

Colonialism, Property Rights and the Modern World Income Distribution

2010 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 487-508 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew D. Fails ◽  
Jonathan Krieckhaus
Keyword(s):  
Property Rights ◽  
Income Distribution ◽  
Modern World ◽  
British Colonialism ◽  
Discernible Effect ◽  
Colonial Legacies ◽  
World Income ◽  
World Income Distribution ◽  
Contemporary Development ◽  
Reversal Of Fortune

Influential studies by Acemoglu, Johnson and Robinson claim that colonial legacies explain the origins of development-promoting property rights and thus account for the modern world income distribution. Specifically, they argue that European colonial powers engineered a global ‘reversal of fortune’, bringing property rights and prosperity to relatively uninhabited colonies while imposing inefficient institutions on locales with less potential for settlement. We re-evaluate their theoretical arguments and empirical findings and come to a different conclusion. We concur that British colonialism dramatically restructured four colonies, resulting in phenomenal economic success. For the majority of the world, however, colonialism had no discernible effect on property rights. We conclude that contemporary development studies must find another explanation for the modern world income distribution.

The Impact of Death and Bubbles in American Art

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert B. Ekelund ◽  
John D. Jackson ◽  
Robert D. Tollison
Keyword(s):  
Income Distribution ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
American Art ◽  
Art Market ◽  
Sample Period ◽  
Price Increases ◽  
Price Bubble ◽  
World Income ◽  
World Income Distribution ◽  
The Impact

Chapter 7 presents a dissection of two important issues affecting the art market and the fate of artists: “a death effect” and “bubbles.” Death of an artist is a guarantee that additional legitimate output will not be forthcoming, the “Coase durable monopoly conjecture.” Evidence indicates that the price path of seventeen artists who died over the sample period rises as the artist approaches death. After death, price may rise or fall with supply and demand, but we find it rises for our contemporary artists. “Bubbles”—rapid price increases—have and do occur in the art market. We find that art price behavior parallel GDP prior to 2008, but rose much faster thereafter. This result, coupled with an increasingly skewed world income distribution and billionaire buying, potentially denotes an “art price bubble.”

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