This paper discusses how income inequality developed during the current crisis in euro area countries, as well as the role played by each income source. Based on an extended definition of income – including additional components which do not appear in the standard Eurostat definitions – we...

We combine state-level fiscal data with household survey data to assess the links between sub-national fiscal policy and income inequality in Brazil over the period 1995-2011. The results indicate that a tighter fiscal stance at the sub-national level is not associated with a deterioration in...

Some scholars have argued that direct distribution of natural resource revenues to the population would help resource-rich countries escape the “resource curse.†This discussion note analyzes whether this proposal is a viable policy alternative for resource-rich countries. The first...

This paper proposes an AK-model with endogenous time preferences and borrowing constraints. It is assumed that the subjective discount factor of a household is an increasing function of its relative income. First we describe the structure of balanced-growth equilibrium paths, on which the...

We present an endogenous growth model where innovations are factor-saving and model the choice of technologies in an Overlapping Generations Model where any technology can be adopted paying a cost. Markets are competitive and marginal productivity of factors determines factor prices; therefore,...

The relationship between income inequality and polarization is an empirical fact: a change in equality might occur together with a change in polarization. At the same time, polarization might emerge while inequality remains constant. The outcome of this process entails relevant information about...

This paper analyzes the relationship between international and domestic food prices in a stylized economic model. The model is based on the empirically sound principle of quality substitution and a dichotomy between traded and domestic goods. Households are equipped with preferences which make...

Equivalisation of incomes for household size and composition is accepted practice when measuring poverty and inequality; adjustments to take account of other variations in needs are rarely made. This paper explores the financial implications of one possible source of additional needs:...

Social exclusion can be distinguished from social isolation, defining social isolation as the phenomenon of non-participation (of an individual or group) in a society's mainstream institutions, while reserving 'social exclusion' for the subset of cases in which social isolation occurs for...

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...