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In this essay, we argue that economic inequality is reproduced because business students uncritically accept the neoliberal myth of meritocracy. This myth advances values and beliefs suggesting that hard work and innate talent lead to equally accessible opportunities and corresponding rewards. These ideas are embedded in the narratives (e.g., stories, exercises, cases, or guest speakers) prevalent throughout the business school but remain “hidden” to students because they are implicit rather than surfaced. We explain that these narratives are attractive to students and, because they are implicit within the curriculum, they limit business students’ abilities to make the systemic changes needed to address economic inequality. In our call to action, we propose a set of tools—literary analysis, plural vocality, and historical learning—that can disrupt this attraction and enable students to critically engage with the myth of neoliberal meritocracy. It is our opinion that a more critical outlook will raise students’ awareness to economic inequality and encourage them to ameliorate this type of inequality as they move through their professional lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rising income inequality is taking a toll on people's subjective well-being (SWB), and many commentators have implicated the role of material possessions, and thereby marketing, in this regard. Making a more nuanced argument, this research proposes that certain material possessions—namely, favorite possessions—can mitigate the detrimental psychological effect of income inequality on SWB. In support of this proposition, experimental data from nine countries (N = 3,687) and social media posts from 138 countries (N = 31,332) converge to show that, while SWB generally declines as income inequality increases, encouraging consumers to attend to their favorite possessions can mitigate the negative effect of inequality on SWB. This is because attending to favorite possessions reduces consumers' tendency to make social comparisons related to material resources and wealth, which otherwise arise when income inequality is high. Consequently, even when they perceive high income inequality, consumers feel less deprived relative to others, which buffers their SWB. These findings have meaningful consumer welfare implications. In particular, one way consumers can feel happier with their quality of life in an unequal society is to avoid comparing their material wealth with that of others and instead attend to the material possessions most special to them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors investigate how race and political partisanship affected variations in workplace and non-workplace mobility at three COVID-19 phases—lockdown (2020), reopening (2021), and endemic COVID (2022). They theorize that structural racism compelled relatively greater workplace mobility rates in Black communities during lockdown, and reduced Black workplace mobility during reopening and endemic COVID. By contrast, they posit elite-level anti-science skepticism and its amplification resulted in Trump-voting communities experiencing relatively higher workplace and non-workplace mobility rates than non-Trump-voting areas throughout the pandemic. Regressions primarily using county-level Google Mobility Reports data support the hypotheses, conditioning on state-level fixed effects and county-level urbanity, COVID job-type sorting, demographics, and socioeconomics. The county-level results are complemented by outcomes from novel individual-level COVID lockdown survey data, helping connect the proposed individual-level mechanisms to the county-level findings. The authors conclude that work mobility during COVID was racialized and politicized, offering empirical insights into how systematic disadvantages can lead to increased and unequal precarity during periods of acute economic or social crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immigrants and their native-born children often face considerable wage penalties relative to natives, but less is known about whether this inequality arises through differences in educational qualifications, segregation across occupations and establishments, or unequal pay for the same work. Using linked employer–employee data from Norway, the authors ask whether immigrant–native wage disparities 1) reflect differences in detailed educational qualifications, labor market segregation, or within-job pay differences; 2) differ by immigrant generation; and 3) vary across different segments of the labor market. They find that immigrant–native wage disparities primarily reflect sorting into lower-paying jobs, and that wage disadvantages are considerably reduced across immigrant generations. When doing the same work for the same employer, immigrant-background workers, especially children of immigrants, earn similar wages to natives. Sorting into jobs seems more meritocratic for university graduates, for professionals, and in the public sector, but within-job pay differences are strikingly similar across market segments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the wage earnings of refugee immigrants in Sweden. Using administrative employer–employee data from 1990 onward, approximately 100,000 refugee immigrants who arrived between 1980 and 1996 and were granted asylum are compared to a matched sample of native-born workers. Employing recentered influence function (RIF) quantile regressions to wage earnings for the period 2011–2015, the occupational-task-based Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition approach shows that refugees perform better than natives at the median wage, controlling for individual and firm characteristics. This overperformance is attributable to female refugee immigrants. Given their characteristics, refugee immigrant females perform better than native females across all occupational tasks studied, including non-routine cognitive tasks. A notable similarity of the wage premium exists among various refugee groups, suggesting that cultural differences and the length of time spent in the host country do not have a major impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the first half of 2020, the difference in savings from mortgage refinancing between high- and low-income borrowers was 10 times higher than before. This was the result of two factors: high-income borrowers increased their refinancing activity more than otherwise comparable low-income borrowers and, conditional on refinancing, they captured slightly larger improvements in interest rates. Refinancing inequality increases with the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic and is characterized by an underrepresentation of low-income borrowers in the pool of applications. We estimate a difference of $5 billion in savings between the top income quintile and the rest of the market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Humanity is facing a polycrisis, including climate change, loss of biodiversity, and economic inequalities. This commentary examines the role of physical activity (PA) research in the context of climate change, highlighting 3 perspectives: PA as a victim, as a perpetrator, and as part of the solution. The first perspective conceptualizes PA as a victim of climate change, as heat waves, extreme weather events, and high ozone levels pose a threat to health-enhancing PA and sports; adaptation strategies are needed and potentially lifesaving. The second perspective describes PA as a perpetrator to climate change due to the significant carbon footprint of some forms of PA and sport. The third perspective focuses on PA as a solution to climate change, as some forms of PA—such as active transport and urban gardening—have both individual and planetary health benefits. In addition, PA provides health benefits in extreme situations by reducing stress and maintaining health in times of crisis. Each of these 3 perspectives can guide future research in the field of PA and health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current research proposes and tests a novel model explaining how job insecurity shapes well-being and has consequences for stratification and inequality. I draw on evolutionary life history theory, which proposes that growing up in a poorer versus wealthier environment impacts the sense of control people feel when exposed to threat in adulthood. I integrate this perspective with transactional stress theory to propose that job insecurity has a disproportionately negative effect on employees from poorer backgrounds, leading to lower engagement and higher emotional exhaustion among such employees, while those from wealthier backgrounds are buffered against these effects. These responses to job insecurity, in turn, amplify job loss risk for employees from poorer backgrounds, regardless of employees' current job or financial situation. A preregistered, multisource, five-wave longitudinal study conducted at the height of the COVID-19 crisis in India found support for these predictions. A follow-up quasi-experiment conducted in India and the United States replicated the effects on engagement and exhaustion. The impact of job insecurity on well-being is stratified and acts as a mechanism that reproduces childhood inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In China, the regional economic development model affected by government competition is an important factor leading to the income inequality of urban and rural residents. This paper aims to study the influence mechanism of tax competition among local governments on urban-rural income gap from the perspective of government intervention and tries to explain the reasons for the gradual narrowing of urban-rural income disparity since 2010. Using a dynamic panel data of 30 provinces, this study reveals that tax competition has alleviated the urban-rural income gap, and this effect shows temporal extensibility and spatial correlation. It is more obvious in eastern and central China and consistent in different local tax categories. Although tax competition has narrowed the overall income gap, the wage income inequality has been exacerbated. In addition, local fiscal autonomy, urbanization, public service provision and industrial structure are the important influencing channels of the mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the four waves of micro panel data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), this study uses a two-way fixed effect model to analyse the impact of equalization of regional basic public services on the multidimensional vulnerability of families and its mechanism. The main findings of this study are as follows, firstly, regional basic public services and its equalization can significantly alleviate the multidimensional vulnerability of families; Secondly, regional basic public services and its equalization can reduce the multidimensional vulnerability of families by improving the level of regional economic development; Thirdly, the impact of regional basic public services and its equalization on the multidimensional vulnerability of households vary significantly among different groups, urban and rural areas, and different regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transport accessibility is an essential element in the planning of transport policies and plays a crucial role in territorial cohesion, but the role of transport accessibility for urban–rural integration has been rarely studied. This article explores the relationship between transport accessibility and urban–rural income gaps through the spatial error model, using the weighted average travel time (WATT) indicator and the Theil index of urban–rural income. The results show that transport accessibility has a U-shaped influence on the urban–rural income gaps within cities of China. As transport accessibility gradually improves, the urban–rural income gaps within cities tend to first narrow and then widen. Meanwhile, their relationship can show heterogeneity across regions, with improving transport accessibility and narrowing the urban–rural income gaps in the eastern and western cities, respectively. Such a result suggests that it is essential to reinforce transport links between western cities and other cities with high economic potential, which could improve transport accessibility and further narrow the urban–rural income gaps of western cities. For transport planning, policymakers should consider transport accessibility and its socio-economic impact on urban–rural integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural family income growth in China depends significantly on off-farm employment. Using data from the China Family Panel Studies, this research examines the influence of information and communication technology (ICT) on off-farm employment of rural workers and the underlying mechanism. We find that ICT has a positive impact on promoting off-farm employment among rural workers. Furthermore, the analysis suggests that ICT affects off-farm employment of rural workers by enhancing their risk preferences. Specifically, rural workers with higher risk preferences are more likely to engage in off-farm employment. In addition, the positive impact of ICT on off-farm employment is more pronounced among rural workers with stronger learning abilities, active learning habits, and higher learning frequency and social frequency of Internet use. This study provides valuable insights on how to improve off-farm employment opportunities for rural workers, thereby reducing the income gap between urban and rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most agriculture-based economies in Africa are working on increasing their agricultural productivity and production following the African Union (AU) recommendations. However, it has been shown that increasing agricultural production without ensuring value-chain development may end up in welfare losses for farmers due to falling farm-gate prices. Little research has been conducted so far on the economy-wide effects of food value-chain development. This article contributes to filling this gap by analysing the effects of food-processing sector development on welfare in an agriculture-based economy, taking the example of Benin. We calibrate a Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model to a comprehensive 2019 Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) for Benin. We introduce a novel welfare measure, accounting for changes in savings. Results show that enhancing the food-processing sector increases demand for agricultural raw materials and hence agricultural production and prices. Accordingly, the price of low-skilled labour increases. This primarily benefits low-income households, who derive most of their income from this factor. The overall income and welfare effects are pro-poor. Accordingly, income disparity as well as poverty incidence and gap decrease. We conclude, that the development of food-processing has the potential to make agricultural development in agriculture-based economies more pro-poor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Income inequality is related to farmers' welfare, access and satisfaction. Addressing income inequality among farmers is particularly urgent as it is growing. So, as an important symbol of the development of the agricultural industry, what is the impact of agricultural product branding on farmers' income inequality? Methods: To answer this question, this paper uses panel data from 1986 counties in China from 2000 to 2021 and employs the Recentered Influence Function (RIF) method to explore the impact of agricultural product branding (APB) on farmers' income inequality and its mechanism of action. Results and discussion: The results of the study show that while the APB boosted farmers' incomes by an average of 1.6%, they exacerbated farmers' income inequality by an average of 0.4% (using the Gini coefficient as an example). Mechanistic analysis shows that the APB exacerbates farmers' income inequality by widening the gap between counties in terms of the level of adoption of agricultural technology and agricultural labor productivity. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that, compared to non-agricultural provinces, the APB in agricultural provinces reduces interregional farmers' income inequality. Furthermore, the APB in the grain category mitigates this inequality, whereas the APB in the cash crop and aquatic product categories exacerbates it. The APB in the livestock category, however, has no significant effect on interregional farmers' income inequality. Considering these findings, the government should regularly assess the impact of agricultural branding policies on income inequality among farmers and adjust policies in a timely manner to ensure their effectiveness and fairness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to assess the relationship between income inequality and social solidarity as a measure of societal stability, using European countries as a case study. Data from 20 European countries were included in the research. The primary dependent variable was defined as social solidarity, serving as an indicator of societal stability. The analysis of social solidarity was conducted concerning various social groups, including overall solidarity and solidarity towards vulnerable societal categories. Responses to questions were evaluated using the Likert scale. Income inequality within each country, measured by the Gini coefficient, was designated as the explanatory variable. Control variables were incorporated, including GDP per capita and the percentage of social expenditure relative to a country's GDP. The conducted analysis demonstrates a negative correlation between income inequality and the manifestation of social solidarity. The analysis of individual characteristics reveals that specific groups exhibit greater social solidarity compared to others. The conclusion drawn is that both lower and higher household income levels lead to a decrease in the overall manifestation of social solidarity in the face of increasing income inequality. The study's findings contribute theoretically to the discourse on income inequality and its impact on societal stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines Syrian immigrants' experiences of prejudice and discrimination, their causes, and solutions based on their own experiences. The findings obtained from in-depth interviews with the 20 participants selected using the snowball sampling method are as follows. There are experiences of prejudice and discrimination in business life, such as late employment, wage inequality, and marginalizing labels. Experiences of exclusion, such as marginalizing discourses and being treated differently, are evident in social life. The reasons for these phenomena are economic, social, and media factors. Social policies and education regulations are needed to prevent prejudice and discrimination. Among these suggestions, steps such as facilitating services for Syrians and improving Turkish language skills stand. This research makes an important contribution to the field in terms of addressing the causes and solutions of prejudice and discrimination against migrants based on their own experiences. Therefore, we argue that it is important to include the voices of migrants in future research on the causes and prevention of prejudice and discrimination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Progressive income and commodity tax structures have been examined independently in terms of their ability to reduce income inequality and bipolarization. Rather than focusing on income and commodity taxes in isolation, this paper studies mixed tax systems, which subject both income and consumption to taxation. It provides necessary and sufficient conditions on the structure of these systems that ensure a reduction in income inequality and bipolarization for both exogenous and endogenous income scenarios. Commodity taxation is "superfluous" in the case of exogenous income, as any post-tax income distribution achievable through a mixed tax system can be replicated by income taxation alone. In contrast, when income is endogenous, there are cases where relying solely on income taxation is ineffective, while mixed tax structures have equalizing and depolarizing potential. • Mixed tax systems combine income and consumption taxation. • We characterize mixed tax systems that universally reduce income inequality and bipolarization. • Under exogenous income, pure income taxation can replicate any mixed tax system. • With endogenous income, mixed taxation is needed to reduce inequality and polarization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This paper investigates the impact of urban-rural electricity gap on human development index. • Urban-rural electricity gap significantly reduces human development index. • The nexus between urban-rural electricity gap and human development index is closer in low-income countries. • Urban-rural electricity gap directly affects three dimensions of human development index. • Urban-rural electricity inequality gap affects human development index by enlarging income inequality and deteriorating energy poverty. Based on the Instrumental Variables - Generalized Method of Moments (IV-GMM) model, this paper explores the relationship, heterogeneity, and mechanisms between the urban-rural electricity gap and the human development index for 176 countries during 2000–2020. The key findings are as follows: (1) Urban-rural electricity gap is harmful to the improvement of the human development index; an enlarged gap in electricity accessibility between urban and rural is detrimental to sustainable human development. (2) Urban-rural electricity gap is more harmful to the increase of human development index in low-income countries and low governance efficiency countries. Also, the heterogeneity exists in different quantiles, and their nexus is closer in countries with lower levels of human development index. (3) Income inequality and energy poverty act as mechanisms, which means that the urban-rural electricity gap inhibits the human development index by exacerbating income inequality and energy poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Some CEE countries have relatively low and stable share of food in total expenditure. • This is inconsistent with the Engel's law which implies its gradual decline. • Adoption of the western lifestyle in some CEE countries explains that anomaly. • Relationship between income and share of food in total expenditures is non-linear. Some of the CEE countries, despite rising per capita incomes and their gradual convergence to the levels of Western European countries, have recently experienced a stabilization or even an increase in share of food in total households' expenditure. This is, of course, inconsistent with the Engel's Law, which postulates that share of food in total expenditure in these countries should gradually converge to the levels observed in the Western European countries, as the per capita income gap narrows. Using panel regressions it was shown that a factor explaining this anomaly may be aspirations among CEE countries to emulate the Western lifestyle reflected in the disproportionately high share of processed food in their total expenditure on food and non-alcoholic beverages compared to their per capita income level. The results obtained can be helpful in understanding food consumption patterns in catching-up economies, which is important for analyzing inflationary processes in these countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes and documents a new long-term income inequality series for Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Venezuela based on dynamic social tables with four occupational groups. This enables the calculation of comparable Overall (four groups) and Labor Ginis (three groups) with their between- and within-group components. The main findings are the absence of a unique inequality pattern over time; country outcomes characterized by trajectory diversity and level divergence during industrialization and by commonality and convergence post-1980; the occurrence of inequality-leveling episodes with different timing and length; and significant changes in trends, but also evidence indicating persistence. The income-inequality dataset is included as supplementary material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study provides new evidence of the gender wage gap among recent university graduates at different stages of their early career. Using a unique administrative dataset from Russia, we estimate the gender wage gap at means and across wage distribution for a cohort of 2018 university graduates during the first 4 years after graduation. We explore the contribution of educational and job factors to the explanation of the gap. Although a substantial gap of 14% is already present at labour market entry, it is two times smaller compared to the gap for the overall working population. Eighty five percent of the entry wage gap can be explained with differences in fields of study, work experience, and job characteristics. More than 4 years after graduation, the gender wage gap experiences a dramatic increase, reaching 26%. Only 28% of the resulting gap can be explained by the observed characteristics, including industrial and occupational segregation. The size of the gap varies drastically in different parts of the wage distribution, suggesting the existence of a strong glass ceiling effect from the very beginning of graduate careers. The rapidly expanding early career gender wage gap with a growing unexplained component suggests that education policies may have limited ability to promote gender equality in the labour market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates evidence on deficits in economic inclusion, focussing on the labour market in Indonesia. Increasing job polarization and an accompanying rise in earnings inequality on account of technological development and globalisation over the past few decades have augmented concerns about the attainability of governments' perennial objective of inclusive growth. However, there are circumstances in which declining or levelling earnings gaps may be more of a bane than a boon for a country's long-term economic health. Using the particularly interesting case of Indonesia, which has reduced and subsequently levelled off its earnings inequality in the midst of impressive growth, this paper studies how structural factors and labour market policies influence dynamics of inequality. The study finds evidence of a strong role of structural characteristics, which appears to indicate that reductions in earnings inequality may be more of a bane than a boon for Indonesia's long-term prosperity. The paper concludes with broader insights and a discussion on policy implications that extend beyond the Indonesian context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identity leadership captures leaders efforts to create and promote a sense of shared group membership (i.e., a sense of "we" and of "us") among followers. The present research report tests this claim by drawing on data from 26 countries that are part of the Global Identity Leadership Development (GILD) project to examine the relationship between political leaders' identity leadership and civic citizenship behavior (N = 6787). It also examines the contributions of trust and economic inequality to this relationship. Political leaders' identity leadership (PLIL) was positively associated with respondents' people‐oriented civic citizenship behaviors (CCB‐P) in 20 of 26 countries and civic citizenship behaviors aimed at one's country (CCB‐C) in 23 of 26 countries. Mediational analyses also confirmed the indirect effects of PLIL via trust in fellow citizens on both CCB‐P (in 25 out of 26 countries) and CCB‐C (in all 26 countries). Economic inequality moderated these effects such that the main and indirect effects of trust in one's fellow citizens on CCB‐C were stronger in countries with higher economic inequality. This interaction effect was not observed for CCB‐P. The study highlights the importance of identity leadership and trust in fellow citizens in promoting civic citizenship behavior, especially in the context of economic inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper documents the design and application of ATLAS (Automobile and Technology Lifecycle-Based ASsignment), a comprehensive household vehicle transaction and technology adoption micro-simulator in the San Francisco Bay Area. ATLAS evolves the fleet mix of individual households by simulating the vehicle transaction and choice decisions in response to co-evolving demographics, land use, and vehicle technology simulations. While most existing literature has focused on the aggregate clean vehicle uptake, this paper differentiates distributional effects and decomposes the underlying mechanisms across heterogeneous sub-populations of households. Using scenarios and sensitivity simulations that vary vehicle technology and policy assumptions, we find that Zero Emission Vehicles (ZEVs) penetrate into higher income groups at a faster rate than into lower income groups, which is intuitive and aligns with expectations. Interestingly, the relative income disparity in ZEV ownership shrinks over time across all scenarios, with a ZEV mandate coupled with declining battery cost leading to the greatest reduction in disparity of ZEV ownership by 2050. Federal, state, and local financial incentives influence the redistribution of ZEV uptake across income groups and contribute to narrowing income disparity. Vehicle transaction frequency and new versus used market dynamics are found to be important factors contributing to the income disparity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we first frame the use of artificial intelligence (AI) systems in the public sector as a continuation and intensification of long-standing rationalization and bureaucratization processes. Drawing on Weber, we understand the core of these processes to be the replacement of traditions with instrumental rationality, that is, the most calculable and efficient way of achieving any given policy objective. Second, we demonstrate how much of the criticisms, both among the public and in scholarship, directed towards AI systems spring from well-known tensions at the heart of Weberian rationalization. To illustrate this point, we introduce a thought experiment whereby AI systems are used to optimize tax policy to advance a specific normative end: reducing economic inequality. Our analysis shows that building a machine-like tax system that promotes social and economic equality is possible. However, our analysis also highlights that AI-driven policy optimization (i) comes at the exclusion of other competing political values, (ii) overrides citizens' sense of their (non-instrumental) obligations to each other, and (iii) undermines the notion of humans as self-determining beings. Third, we observe that contemporary scholarship and advocacy directed towards ensuring that AI systems are legal, ethical, and safe build on and reinforce central assumptions that underpin the process of rationalization, including the modern idea that science can sweep away oppressive systems and replace them with a rule of reason that would rescue humans from moral injustices. That is overly optimistic: science can only provide the means – it cannot dictate the ends. Nonetheless, the use of AI in the public sector can also benefit the institutions and processes of liberal democracies. Most importantly, AI-driven policy optimization demands that normative ends are made explicit and formalized, thereby subjecting them to public scrutiny, deliberation, and debate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic inequality has been found to reduce individuals' generosity in western contexts. However, whether this effect is cross‐culturally consistent and its internal mechanism remain unclear, as well as how to mitigate this impact. Hence, we explored whether and why economic inequality may erode generosity in a sample of Chinese adults from the social norm perspective and introduced the equal allocation norm to mitigate this effect. Four online studies were conducted: two were correlational (Study 1: n = 300; Study 2: n = 568) and two were experimental (Study 3: n = 289; Study 4: n = 500). Results showed that economic inequality predicted less generosity in the dictator game, and perceived unequal allocation norm accounted for this effect. Moreover, introducing the equal allocation norm could buffer this negative effect. Findings suggest economic inequality impairs generosity, and making the equal allocation norm more salient may guide people to act more generously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is evidence that the increase of educational and social mobility that characterised the middle decades of the twentieth century slowed down at the turn of this century, in spite of persistent expansion of higher education. At the same time, income inequality and welfare retrenchment increased. Applying a two-stage design to a merge of individual level-data from the PIAAC-Survey of Adult Skills (OECD) and country-level data on educational expansion, income inequality and regime of higher education finance drawn from different sources, we test the relative importance of these three factors in the explanation of equality of opportunities of university graduation by social origin. We select individuals who were 25–45 years old in the survey year. Our two-stage design shows a negligible role of higher education expansion, whereas income inequality and the regime of higher education finance are more consequential in explaining cross-national differences in opportunities of university graduation by social origin. Inequality of university graduation by social origin is significantly increased with income inequality and reduced in systems of tertiary education characterised by low fees and high subsidies provided to students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Based on traditional Chinese filial piety, this article examines the impacts and mechanisms of the two-dimensional filial piety concept "Qinqin – Zunzun" on gender wages in China via China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) conducted in 2014 and 2018. Design/methodology/approach: This article construct regression models to examine the relationship between filial piety concepts and wages. Also, it uses unconditional quantile regression and decomposition to explore the impact of filial piety concepts on the wage gap. Findings: It is found that: (1) The effects of two-dimensional filial piety are heterogeneous in terms of gender. Specifically, authoritarian filial piety significantly suppresses individual wages and has a stronger suppressive effect on women's wages, whereas affinity filial piety significantly enhances individual wages without gender heterogeneity; (2) Parents' time support in the intergenerational exchange model is a crucial mechanism by which filial piety affects wages, exhibiting significant gender heterogeneity; (3) Regarding wage distribution, authoritarian filial piety mainly widens the gender income gap in the low and middle income-groups, while affinity filial piety narrows the gender wage gap by "raising the floor", with its converging effect being most significant in the middle and high-income groups. This article deepens the understanding of the gender wage gap and intergenerational income mobility, providing policy references for better utilizing the social governance function of culture. Originality/value: The article deepens the understanding and mechanisms of the gender wage gap and inter-generational income mobility, providing policy reference for better utilizing the social governance function of culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the challenge of income and wealth inequality around the world, people tend to underestimate the degree of inequality in their societies. In this research, we examine how people estimate inequality at subnational scales by focusing on urban‒rural income inequality in China, a society characterized by a unique dual urban‒rural social structure but that is also facing a steep increase in income inequality. Using a nationwide sample of Chinese adults (N = 953), we found that Chinese participants tend to underestimate the level of urban‒rural income inequality while overestimating the progress made toward its reduction. System-justifying ideologies were found to be negatively associated with support for redistributive policies, with the underestimation of the level of urban‒rural income inequality mediating this association. These findings highlight that Chinese people vastly underestimate the actual levels of urban‒rural income inequality, which shapes their attitudes toward redistributive policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social drift/selection (i.e., mental health symptoms cause low economic status) and social causation theories (i.e., low economic status causes mental health symptoms) specify reciprocal relationships between economic status and mental health. Little is known regarding the disaggregation of within-person and between-person effects in the relationship between economic status and mental health in the long run. The current study sought to examine the reciprocal relationships between economic status and mental health over 20 years of adulthood, disaggregating within-person and between-person effects. Data were from three waves (7108 participants) of the Midlife Development in the United States study. Participants reported information about objective and subjective measures of economic status as well as a wide range of indicators of mental health on the positive dimension, including subjective, social, and psychological well-being, and on the negative side, depression, anxiety, panic attack, anhedonia, somatic amplification, alcohol abuse, and negative affect. Cross-lagged panel models were estimated. At between-person levels, both social drift/selection and social causation hypotheses were confirmed when considering subjective measures of economic status. When using objective measures of economic status (i.e., income), the results showed decreased support for social drift/selection and social causation hypotheses. At within-person levels, social drift/selection and social causation hypotheses were generally not supported, with some notable exceptions. Restriction of the sample to one country limits the generalizability of the findings. Social causation and social drift/selection processes act simultaneously mainly at a population level, but much less when considering individual changes. Policy and programs should be targeted at addressing inequality in income and mental health within a nation or a community. • Economic status and mental health in adulthood were examined. • The relative importance of social causation and social drift/selection was tested. • The investigation of between- or within-person effects yielded distinct results. • Economic status and mental health were related at the between-person level [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study aims to show the primary tendencies in second-hand goods trade, determine the significance of disposable income as an economic factor on second-hand goods sales, the income elasticity of their demand and the influence of income inequality on second-hand purchases in 21 selected European economies. The methods of content, comparative and correlational analysis have been applied and secondary sources of data from Eurostat are used, which allows for a national review, international comparisons and a study of the economic significance of second-hand goods trade for GDP to take place for each EU country. The results suggest that in the span of the 2010-2020 period, there is an uneven and mildly descending trend in second-hand goods commerce in the EU-21 which matches the instability of the business cycle in the entirety of the European and separate national economies and contributes, though slightly, to the creation of economic value added. The second-hand goods are normal, regardless of the initial hypothesis, they are inferior goods and their sales are moderately, positively correlated to the disposable income of the users. In fact, they are not underestimated as a source of utility and their preference is determined by a line of other factors outside the income limits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We find the Small Business Administration's disaster-relief home loan program denies significantly more loans in areas with larger shares of minorities, subprime borrowers, and higher income inequality. We find that risk-insensitive loan pricing, a feature present in many regulated and government-run lending programs, is an important driver of these disparities in access to credit. The differences in denial rates are disproportionately high compared with private-market lending and government-insured risk-sensitive loan pricing programs. Thus, despite ensuring "fair" prices, the use of risk-insensitive pricing may lead to "unfair" access to credit. This paper was accepted by Victoria Ivashina, finance. Supplemental Material: The online appendix and data files are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2021.03199. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inequality literature has shown a broad interest in examining how a subsidy or tax credit towards a certain point in the income distribution affects inequality. In this article, we answer the question: whom is it fair to subsidize? We adopt the benchmark income as the criterion of fairness: a subsidy or tax credit will be fair if it contributes to reducing income inequality. This benchmark income allows us to identify the richest (poorest) person who, by receiving a subsidy, leads to a reduction (increase) in inequality. The estimates are based on the Gini coefficient as a measure of inequality. We provide an application for the case of Argentina and its regions (2016–2020). The primary source of information is microdata from the Permanent Household Survey (EPH). The results show that the benchmark income has remained relatively stable between the 71th and 73th percentiles of the per capita income distribution—for the latest period examined (Q3-2020), this implies an income of AR$23,100. This result implies that subsidizing people with incomes above the 73th percentile is unfair since it would increase inequality. Therefore, the benchmark income can be considered an objective and intuitive criterion to determine the convenience of a subsidy or tax credit by policymakers globally. JEL Classifications : D63, N36 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the causal effect of foreign aid on income distribution. We rely upon the fact that, starting from 1987, eligibility for aid from the International Development Association has been according partly to whether a country' per capita income is below a certain threshold, enabling a regression discontinuity design. The empirical evidence demonstrates that for those countries receiving foreign aids, their income distribution is significantly improved. In addition, we show that foreign aid lowers income inequality possibly through boosting income shares held by the lower 80% at the expense of decreasing income share held by the highest 20%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study re-analyzes the relationship between digital financial inclusion and the wages of low-wage workers in China using the conditional quantile and quantile selection model. The study finds that after correcting for sample selection bias, digital financial inclusion significantly increases the wage income of low-wage workers and reduces the rural-urban wage gap. These effects diminish as the wage level rises to the median wage, and there are three potential mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analysed the impact of the digital economy on the urban-rural income gap. The results reveal that the development of the digital economy has significantly narrowed the urban-rural income gap in China. The level of urbanization and the upgrading of industrial structure are the important influencing mechanisms, which means that the digital economy can narrow the urban-rural income gap by elevating the level of urbanization and promoting the upgrading of industrial structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article surveys the measurement of historical wealth and income inequality in Germany. We discuss the underlying data sources, the challenges they pose, and the opportunities they create. We also identify two promising avenues for future research. First, we argue that the geographic granularity of German historical statistics provides researchers with the opportunity to investigate the causes of inequality. Second, several dimensions of historical inequality remain under-explored, for example, the equalizing role of welfare state institutions such as public pensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how the presence of startup subsidies to the unemployed influences the relationship between business cycle and entrepreneurial activity, and the implications on individuals' long-term earnings. We propose that on one hand, this measure fosters entrepreneurship, especially during recessions, by attracting individuals facing labour market constraints. On the other hand, the policy may unintentionally penalize counter-cyclical founders back to paid jobs if employers perceive them as less committed or of lower quality. Exploiting a change in Danish policy that abolishes a startup subsidy scheme for the unemployed, we compare the entrepreneurial population in two extended periods. Our findings indicate that entrepreneurship tends to be counter-cyclical during the subsidy period (1988–1996), while pro-cyclical in the post-reform period (1998–2006). Moreover, the results highlight an unintended consequence of the policy, i.e. a persistent and large (post-exit) wage gap between counter-cyclical and pro-cyclical founders, particularly pronounced for individuals with lower education, unobserved ability, and part-time job experience prior to transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the wage and welfare effects of the competition policy in a platform economy. An increase in downstream platform providers widens the skilled‐unskilled wage gap in the short run. Moreover, competition brings about a beneficial price pass‐through effect but a detrimental cost‐pushing effect on upstream manufacturers. This leads to business dynamism in manufacturing firms. By numerical simulations, the number of manufacturing firms increases, thus further widening wage inequality in the long run. The optimal number of platform providers is smaller when the business‐stealing effect is larger, whereas it is larger when the price pass‐through effect is greater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What is the role of income polarization for explaining differentials in public funding of education? To answer this question, we provide a new theoretical modelling for the income distribution that can directly monitor income polarization. It leads to a new income polarization index where the middle class is represented by an interval. We implement this distribution in a political economy model with endogenous fertility and public/private educational choices. We show that when households vote on public schooling expenditures, polarization matters for explaining disparities in public education funding across communities. Using micro-data covering two groups of school districts, we find that both income polarization and income inequality affect public school funding with opposite signs whether there exist a Tax Limitation Expenditure (TLE) or not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of ethnicity and gender on employment and income disparities in the labor market has been extensively studied, revealing patterns of discrimination. We focus on these specific attributes as potential influencers of perceptions regarding resume fraud and counterproductive behavior in the workplace. In our research, 1002 participants reviewed CVs of prospective job candidates and were subsequently informed about various instances of resume fraud and counterproductive behavior exhibited by the candidates. The names of the candidates were selected to reflect distinct ethnic origins and genders. Our findings indicate the presence of ethnic discrimination. Specifically, individuals within each ethnic group tended to evaluate candidates from their own group with less severity compared to candidates from the opposite group. We did not uncover any indications of gender bias; both male and female candidates were assessed in a similar manner. Our findings uncover ethnicity‐based discrimination in the evaluation of negative behavior within the workplace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using household data from 1988 to 2018, we confirm that the increase in income inequality in China has come to a halt in recent years but show that inequality in wealth and consumption continues to increase. We report a clear convergence of inequality across the different dimensions of income, consumption, and wealth. Households at the top of one dimension are increasingly located at the top of the other two dimensions. The mechanisms for such convergence across dimensions are analyzed. The savings rate links income and consumption, while capital accumulation is the central mechanism linking income and wealth. In addition, the wealth and income structure contribute to intensifying the convergence trend. We argue that the relatively high level of inequality in China may continue since income, consumption and wealth are increasingly reinforcing each other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many governments introduced temporary adjustments to counter the economic and health consequences of the COVID‐19 pandemic. We study the importance of already‐existing government transfers and new pandemic measures to mitigate individual income losses during the onset of the pandemic in Sweden using a difference‐in‐differences approach and population‐wide data on monthly earnings and government transfer payments. We find that labor earnings dropped by 2.7 percent in 2020. Existing transfers and new pandemic measures reduced earnings losses to 1.5 percent. These average effects mask considerable differences in earnings losses, which were, by and large, evened out by existing transfers and new pandemic measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]