We develop a general equilibrium model of multiproduct fi…rms with quality differentiated goods. Households are characterized by an heterogeneous taste for the differentiated good and their income level. The use of non-homothetic preferences and vertical product differentiation (product...

This paper employs a decomposition analysis of inequality by income source to understand and explain particular aspects of income inequality in Greece. The results suggest that entrepreneurial income is the most significant contributor to overall inequality in Greece. It is also shown that there...

We focus on the statics and dynamics of poverty in Spain using data from the first eight waves of the European Community Household Panel from 1994 to 2001, a period not sufficiently covered by recent literature. The results confirm the pattern of poverty changes noted by other authors for the...

Choosing between two income distribution models typically involves testing two non-tested hypotheses, that is hypotheses such that one cannot be obtained as a special or limiting case of the other. Cox (1961, 1962) proposed a classical testing procedure based on the comparison of the maximised...

Non-parametric kernel density estimates are employed for an exploratory analysis of the distributional conseuqnces of the German tax-benefit system using GSOEP. The focuses is on the year 1991 and a detailed analysis is provided. Moreover, the anatomy of income inequality is thoroughly examined,...

This paper develops a model to understand mechanisms behind the rise of mass consumption societies. The development process depicted in the model follows the Flying Geese pattern, in which a series of industries takes off one after another. As productivity improves in these industries, each...

We examine the evidence on rank and income mobility in China during the decades immediately preceding and immediately following the millennium using panel data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey. We show that rank mobility changed markedly over the period: in this respect China is...

We address a puzzle in welfare economics - the possibility that rational people may be simultaneously against two apparently con‡icting forms of "tyranny." In fact the two types of tyranny can be reconciled but at the possible cost of con‡ict with other standard welfare principles. We...

Acemoglu, Johnson, & Robinson (2002) have claimed that the world income distribution underwent a "Reversal of Fortune" from 1500 to the present, whereby formerly rich countries in what is now the developing world became poor while poor ones grew rich. We question their analysis with regard to...

Specific functional forms are often used in economic models of distributions; goodness-of-fit measures are used to assess whether a functional form is appropriate in the light of real-world data. Standard approaches use a distance criterion based on the EDF, an aggregation of differences in...