This article is a comparative analysis of the sources of income inequalityin four countries, namely Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and the UnitedKingdom. It relies upon decompositions of inequality measures bypopulation groups and income sources (except for Japan because of datalimitations)....

I study the integration of regions in the form of a merger of populations, which I interpret as a revision of people's social space and their comparison set; I illustrate the way in which a merger can aggravate social distress; and I consider policy responses. Specifically, I view the merger of...