This article is aimed at undergraduate and graduate economics students, and public sector economists, who are interested in inequality measurement. It examines the use of the Atkinson inequality ...measure to compare income distributions. A major feature of this measure is that distributional value judgements are made explicit, via the use of a particular form of social welfare function. Emphasis is given to the interpretation of changes in inequality and the role of the relative inequality aversion parameter, which reflects an important feature of those value judgements.
This article provides an introduction to the measurement of welfare gains from the introduction of a new good, based on the concept of the ‘virtual price’ and standard expressions for welfare changes ...arising from price changes.
Income inequality in New Zealand Creedy, John; Gemmell, Norman
Agenda (Canberra, Australia),
01/2019, Letnik:
26, Številka:
1
Journal Article
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Considerable attention is now paid to establishing the extent of inequality in New Zealand and whether it has risen in recent years. This paper offers some insights into the inequality measures and ...interpretations that commonly feature in those debates. These typically relate annual Gini coefficients for various income definitions, or comparisons of income growth rates across income deciles. But cross‑sectional data fail to take into account the longitudinal dimension of inequality, and this can lead to misinterpretations of inequality data. The paper shows that examining longitudinal income data for the same individuals over time strongly contradicts some apparent messages of cross-sectional evidence. For example, some recent cross-sectional inequality measures suggest that the incomes of initially low-income households grew at slower rates than those with initially higher incomes. This has been interpreted as the poorest earners being ‘left behind’. But recent longitudinal data, at least for individuals, reveals evidence of much faster-than-average growth among initially lower, compared to higher, income earners. Thus, ‘regression to the mean’ is a dominant feature of the longitudinal data.
This paper describes J. A. C. (Alan) Brown's contribution to early economic modelling and applied econometrics in the UK. This involved pioneering work, including the early application of ...programmable computers to linear programming and optimal diets, demand analysis (including Engel curves and probit analysis), and large-scale economic modelling which integrates National Income accounting methods, input-output matrices, and demand projections. His joint book on the lognormal distribution, its application to a range of economic contexts, and associated estimation problems, written with John Aitchison, continues to be widely cited. His influence, through his undergraduate teaching and graduate supervision, is also shown to be of much value.
This lecture examines the nature of the changing focus of economics during the 19th century, which is often referred to as the 'marginal revolution'. The change is characterised as a focus on the ...theory of exchange, and the beginnings of welfare economics. Attention is given to early contributions by J.S. Mill, Cournot, and Whewell, and the 'neoclassical economists, Jevons, Marshall, Walras and Edgeworth.
Direct tax structures are regularly revised and debates over changes are heated. Taxes affect the behaviour of individuals and families in ways which are hard to predict, but which impose constraints ...on governments trying to achieve their objectives. Attempts to help one group of individuals often have unintended consequences on other groups. Views about the role of a tax system vary substantially but, in debates, the basic value judgements which influence policy recommendations are seldom made explicit. This article attempts to clarify the main tensions involved in tax planning and to explain why consensus is unlikely ever to be achieved.
This paper appraises the impact on the research quality of New Zealand universities of the Performance-Based Research Fund (PBRF), a peer-review process that assesses individual researchers. The ...paper identifies the contribution to improvement in research quality arising from transitions among research quality categories, and entrants and exits of individuals. It traces a substantial component of change from 2003 to 2012 to the removal of non-research active staff. It also finds a large reduction in the number of younger researchers, and population ageing due to retention of older and higherquality researchers. Significant differences among universities are evident in the patterns of transformation. The paper also critically considers the PBRF assessment process and characteristics of the metrics used, suggesting scope for improvement in the assessment of researchers and the way in which universities are ranked.
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