In this paper we propose to measure inequality of educational achievements by constructing a Gini index on educational attainments. We then use the proposed measure to analyse the relationship between inequality in incomes and educational achievements (in terms of both the average attainments and its concentration). Even if theoretical considerations suggest a non-linear relationship between th...

Standard theory of intertemporal choice predicts that people smooth out life-cycle changes in income by borrowing and saving, such that their standard of living in any given year depends more on lifetime income than on that year’s income. Yet, contemporary empirical studies of income inequality are typically based on observations of income for one or a few years. This empirical simplification i...

The relative income hypothesis interprets statistical associations between income inequality and average health status at the population level, as evidence that income inequality has a deleterious psychosocial effect on individual health. An alternative explanation is that these, population-level associations, are statistical artefacts of curvilinear, individual-level relationships between inco...

Theoretical models and empirical studies exploring the relationship between income inequality and growth reach a disappointing inconclusive answer. We postulate in this paper that one reason for this inconclusive result is that income inequality consist at least in two different sorts of inequality, inequality of opportunity and effort. These two types of inequality would affect growth through ...

This study surveys various views on income distribution and income inequality and presents alternative approaches to and analytical methods of measuring income inequality. In contrast to traditional income distribution analyses, the author examines the development of income distribution and income inequality for a period between 1996 and 2004, following the change in the regime, based on person...

OBJECTIVE To investigate relations between labour market income inequality and mortality in North American metropolitan areas. METHODS An ecological cross sectional study of relations between income inequality and working age (25-64 years) mortality in 53 Canadian (1991) and 282 US (1990) metropolitan areas using four measures of income inequality. Two labour market income concepts were used:...

This paper examines variation in old-age income inequality between industrialized nations with modern welfare systems. The analysis of income inequality across countries with different retirement income systems provides a perspective on public pension policy choices and designs within a country and their distributional implications. Because of the progressive nature of public pension programs, ...

The World Distribution of Income and Income Inequality This review covers a range of measures and methods frequently employed in empirical analysis of global income inequality and global income distribution. Different determinant factors along with quantification of their impacts and empirical results from different case studies are presented. These results are further contrasted to those obtai...