We combine household surveys and national accounts, as well as recently released tax data to track the dynamics of Indian income inequality from 1922 to 2015. According to our benchmark estimates, ...the top 1 percent of earners captured less than 21 percent of total income in the late 1930s, before dropping to 6 percent in the early 1980s and rising to 22 percent in the recent period. Our results appear to be robust to a range of alternative assumptions seeking to address numerous data limitations. These findings suggest that much more can be done to promote inclusive growth in India. We also stress the need for more transparency on income and wealth statistics, which is key to allow an informed democratic debate on inequality.
Abstract
In this paper, we mobilize newly available historical series from the World Inequality Database to construct world income distribution estimates from 1820 to 2020. We find that the level of ...global income inequality has always been very large, reflecting the persistence of a highly hierarchical world economic system. Global inequality increased between 1820 and 1910, in the context of the rise of Western dominance and colonial empires, and then stabilized at a very high level between 1910 and 2020. Between 1820 and 1910, both between-countries and within-countries inequality were increasing. In contrast, these two components of global inequality have moved separately between 1910 and 2020: Within-countries inequality dropped in 1910–1980 (while between-countries inequality kept increasing) but rose in 1980–2020 (while between-countries inequality started to decline). As a consequence of these contradictory and compensating evolutions, early 21st century neo-colonial capitalism involves similar levels of inequality as early 20th century colonial capitalism, though it is based on a different set of rules and institutions. We also discuss how alternative rules such as fiscal revenue sharing could lead to a significant drop in global inequality. (JEL: N30, O10, O40)
Proper understanding of the determinants of household CO2 emissions is essential for a shift to sustainable lifestyles. This paper explores the impacts of date of birth and income on household CO2 ...emissions in France and in the USA. Direct CO2 emissions of French and American households are computed from consumer budget surveys, over the 1980-2000 time period. Age Period Cohort estimators are used to isolate the generational effect on CO2 emissions - i.e. the specific effect of date of birth, independent of the age, the year and other control variables. The paper shows that French 1935-55 cohorts have a stronger tendency to emit CO2 than their predecessors and followers. The generational effect is explained by the fact that over their lifespan, French baby boomers are better off than other generations and live in energy and carbon inefficient dwellings. In the USA, the absence of a generational effect on CO2 emissions can be explained by the fact that intergenerational income inequalities are weaker than in France. Persistence of the generational effect once income and housing type is controlled for in France can be explained by the difficulty for French 1935-55 cohorts to adapt to sober energy consumption patterns. All rights reserved, Elsevier
This paper presents new findings on global inequality dynamics from the World Wealth and Income Database (WID.world), with particular emphasis on the contrast between the trends observed in the ...United States, China, France, and the United Kingdom. We observe rising top income and wealth shares in nearly all countries in recent decades. But the magnitude of the increase varies substantially, thereby suggesting that different country-specific policies and institutions matter considerably. Long-run wealth inequality dynamics appear to be highly unstable. We stress the need for more democratic transparency on income and wealth dynamics and better access to administrative and financial data.
A hardheaded book that confronts and outlines possible
solutions to a seemingly intractable problem: that helping the poor
often hurts the environment, and vice versa. Can we fight
poverty and ...inequality while protecting the environment? The
challenges are obvious. To rise out of poverty is to consume more
resources, almost by definition. And many measures to combat
pollution lead to job losses and higher prices that mainly hurt the
poor. In Unsustainable Inequalities, economist Lucas
Chancel confronts these difficulties head-on, arguing that the
goals of social justice and a greener world can be compatible, but
that progress requires substantial changes in public policy.
Chancel begins by reviewing the problems. Human actions have put
the natural world under unprecedented pressure. The poor are least
to blame but suffer the most-forced to live with pollutants that
the polluters themselves pay to avoid. But Chancel shows that
policy pioneers worldwide are charting a way forward. Building on
their success, governments and other large-scale organizations must
start by doing much more simply to measure and map environmental
inequalities. We need to break down the walls between traditional
social policy and environmental protection-making sure, for
example, that the poor benefit most from carbon taxes. And we need
much better coordination between the center, where policies are
set, and local authorities on the front lines of deprivation and
contamination. A rare work that combines the quantitative skills of
an economist with the argumentative rigor of a philosopher,
Unsustainable Inequalities shows that there is still hope
for solving even seemingly intractable social problems.
Inequality and environmental changes are among of the most pressing policy challenges of our century and yet national accounting still largely fails to adequately measure these issues. This paper ...presents current efforts to distribute National Income and National Wealth in a way that is fully consistent with the National Accounts framework. It also discusses options to extend distributional accounting to the domain of environmental accounts.
Proper understanding of the determinants of household CO sub(2) emissions is essential for a shift to sustainable lifestyles. This paper explores the impacts of date of birth and income on household ...CO sub(2) emissions in France and in the USA. Direct CO sub(2) emissions of French and American households are computed from consumer budget surveys, over the 1980-2000 time period. Age Period Cohort estimators are used to isolate the generational effect on CO sub(2) emissions - i.e. the specific effect of date of birth, independent of the age, the year and other control variables. The paper shows that French 1935-55 cohorts have a stronger tendency to emit CO sub(2) than their predecessors and followers. The generational effect is explained by the fact that over their lifespan, French baby boomers are better off than other generations and live in energy and carbon inefficient dwellings. In the USA, the absence of a generational effect on CO sub(2) emissions can be explained by the fact that intergenerational income inequalities are weaker than in France. Persistence of the generational effect once income and housing type is controlled for in France can be explained by the difficulty for French 1935-55 cohorts to adapt to sober energy consumption patterns.
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