Data from a 1996 national probability sample of Chinese men is used to analyze the effect of family background on occupational mobility in contemporary China, with particular attention to the rural‐urban institutional divide.
This paper updates and extends the work of Barro (2000). International data confirm the presence of the Kuznets curve—an inverse-U shape relationship between income inequality and per capita GDP—that is relatively stable from the 1960s into the 2000s.
We provide a comprehensive view of widening income inequality in the United
States contrasting conditions since 1980 with those in earlier postwar years. We argue that the income distribution in each period was strongly shaped by a set of economic institutions. The early postwar years were dominated by unions, a negotiating framework set in the Treaty of Detroit, progressive taxes, and a high minimum wage – all parts of a general government effort to broadly distribute the gains from growth. More recent years have been characterized by reversals in all these dimensions in an institutional pattern
known as the Washington Consensus.
Professor Sen revisits the issues tackled in his previous work, "On Economic Inequality", and provides new analyses and insights into inequality. His main theme is that we should be concerned with people's capabilities rather than their resources or welfare.
Evidence from a broad panel of countries shows little overall relation between income inequality and rates of growth and investment. However, for growth, higher inequality tends to retard growth in poor countries and encourage growth in richer places.
Evidence from a broad panel of countries shows little overall relation between income inequality and rates of growth and investment. However, for growth, higher inequality tends to retard growth in poor countries and encourage growth in richer places. The Kuznets curve-whereby inequality first increases and later decreases during the process of economic development-emerges as a clear empirical regularity. However does not explain the bulk of variations in inequality across countries or over time.
It would be hopeful to believe that race is no longer a factor in poverty and that we can be a color-blind society. But America still has a legacy to overcome -- and to achieve.