World Bank Poverty Net
Inequality and Economic Performance. A Brief Overview to Theories of Growth and Distribution [статья]
Опубликовано на портале: 03-12-2003
Francisco H.G. Ferreira
World Bank Poverty Net.
1999.
Income and wealth distributions can no longer be seen as mere outcomes of the general
equilibrium of an economy. The central processes that determine resource allocation
– through
capital markets, through the political system, and through social circumstances –
are influenced
by the distribution of wealth in important ways. More unequal societies tend to develop
larger
groups of people who are excluded from opportunities others enjoy – be they
a better education,
access to loans, or to insurance – and who therefore do not develop their full
productive
potentials. Both theory and empirical evidence suggest that these incomplete realizations
of
economic potential are not of concern only to those who care about equity per se.
They also
affect aggregate economic potential, and therefore aggregate output and its rate
of growth.
The inverted-U relationship between growth and inequality suggested by Kuznets has
not
survived recent empirical scrutiny terribly well. Instead, it is gradually being
replaced by a
perception that the main flow of causation may be in the other direction, with inequality
hampering the rate and quality of economic growth. The debate is not over, either
conceptually
or empirically. But its very liveliness attests to the importance of the question.
Опубликовано на портале: 03-12-2003
Ruslan Yemtsov
World Bank Poverty Net.
2002.
This paper analyzes regional data on inequality and poverty in Russia over the period
1994-2000 using published series from the regionally representative Household Budget
Survey. The paper finds that the share of inequality in Russia coming from the between-regions
component is large (close to a third of the total inequality), growing over time,
and accounting for most of the increase in the national inequality over 1994-2000.
The paper demonstrates an absence of inter-regional convergence in incomes across
Russian regions using various techniques, such as beta, sigma convergence and the
transition matrix approach. On the other hand, the paper finds an evidence of convergence
in the inequality within regions, which is trended towards an internationally high
level. Based on these two findings, the paper projects dynamics of inequality and
poverty in Russia over a ten years time horizon. Projections show that if the observed
trend is to continue in the future, by 2010 the absolute majority of the Russia’s
poor will be concentrated in few permanently impoverished regions, while relatively
more affluent regions will become virtually free of poverty. Finally, the paper
relates fluctuations in the inequality within regions to a set of factors determining
the speed of restructuring at the regional level, classified into four broad categories:
endowments and initial conditions, preferences, policies, and shocks; among these
factors short run fluctuations of the unemployment rate are revealed as significant
and strong correlates of inequality.
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