Racial and Gender Wage Differentials in South Africa: What can Cohort Data tell?

Three subsequent years of the October Household Survey data are used to construct a synthetic panel. Preparing cross sectional data that way allows to better utilise individual information and to address temporal developments also in the absence of genuine panel data. This paper focuses on gender and race specific cohort wages. Average earnings of birth cohorts of African and White workers employed full-time in formal sector jobs are followed over time and wage differentials as well as the mobility of cohort wages are studied in detail. A decomposition of African cohort wages into age, cohort, and year effects gives information about the existence of cohort effects. Results suggest that especially for African women such generational trends may differ from the theoretical expectation. However, to arrive at assured results a greater number of periods is needed

Growth, Inequality and Labor Markets in LDCs: A Survey

This paper surveys the empirical literature on the association between growth on inequality in less developed countries, with a particular emphasis on labor market inequality. Cross-country studies failed to find a clear link from growth to inequality. Country-specific studies that focused on labor market inequality have shown that, with a few exceptions, wage inequality increases with growth. The paper argues that the methodologies used in many of the empirical applications, designed to investigate changes in labor market inequality in developed economies, should be adjusted to account for the unique properties of labor markets in LDCs.growth, inequality, labor markets

Child Survival, Poverty and Policy Options from DHS Surveys in Kenya: 1993-2003

This paper analyses multidimensional aspects of child poverty in Kenya. We carry out poverty and inequality comparisons for child survival and also use the parametric survival model to explain childhood mortality using DHS data. The results of poverty comparisons show that: children with the lowest probability of survival are from households with the lowest level of assets; and poverty orderings for child survival by assets are robust to the choice of the poverty line and to the measure of wellbeing. Inequality analysis suggests that there is less mortality inequality among children facing mortality than children who are better off. The survival model results show that child and maternal characteristics, and household assets are important correlates of childhood mortality. The results further show that health care services are crucial for child survival. Policy simulations suggest that there is potential for making some progress in reducing mortality, but the ERS and MDG targets cannot be achieved.Child survival, multidimensional poverty, inequality, stochastic dominance, childhood mortality, asset index, Kenya

On applying synthetic indices of multidimensional well-being: health and income inequalities in selected EU countries

The multidimensional view of well-being is receiving growing attention, both in academic research and policy-oriented analysis. This paper examines empirical strategies to measure poverty and inequality in multiple domains, concentrating on two problems in the use of synthetic multidimensional indices: the weighting structure of different functionings and the functional form of the index. These problems are illustrated by comparing inequality and deprivation in income and health in the four largest countries of the EU: France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom.inequality, poverty, multidimensional analysis, capability approach

Racial and Gender Wage Differentials in South Africa: What can Cohort Data tell?

Three subsequent years of the October Household Survey data are used to construct a synthetic panel. Preparing cross sectional data that way allows to better utilise individual information and to address temporal developments also in the absence of genuine panel data. This paper focuses on gender and race specific cohort wages. Average earnings of birth cohorts of African and White workers employed full-time in formal sector jobs are followed over time and wage differentials as well as the mobility of cohort wages are studied in detail. A decomposition of African cohort wages into age, cohort, and year effects gives information about the existence of cohort effects. Results suggest that especially for African women such generational trends may differ from the theoretical expectation. However, to arrive at assured results a greater number of periods is needed.Cohort data; Gender and racial wage differentials; Generational trends

The Effects of Flat Tax on Inequality and Informal Employment: The Case of Albania

In this study we perform the first econometric attempt to estimate the trade-off between equity and efficiency of tax systems counting for the tax evasion option in a developing country such as Albania. Using the Albanian Living Srandard Measurement Survey (2005, 2008) we estimate a micro-econometric model of labour supply and incorporate the option of participation in regular and irregular labour markets. Swapping the tax rules of 2005 with 2008, we find that the flat tax has not contributed in the reduction of labour informality but rather the increases in regular wages have played an important role in convincing the individuals to move to regular market. Furthermore, we find that controls and audits are more efficient than fines in inducing people to switch from the informal to formal labour market. A similar effect is achieved also when “honest” individuals are endowed with a universal benefit. In distributional terms, calculations of Gini inequality index and Sen’s welfare index demonstrate that the only scenario that would improve welfare index is a progressive tax rule as before 2007. Finally, these results suggest that a kind of progressivity should be reinserted to the taxation system without affecting the attractiveness of the simplicity exercised by the flat tax.

The impact of income shocks on health: evidence from cohort data

We study the effect of permanent income innovations on health for a prime-aged population. Using information on more than half a million individuals sampled over a twenty-five year period in three different cross-sectional surveys we aggregate data by date-of-birth cohort to construct a ’synthetic cohort’ dataset with details of income, expenditure, socio-demographic factors, health outcomes and selected risk factors. We then exploit structural and arguably exogenous changes in cohort incomes over the eighties and nineties to uncover causal effects of permanent income shocks on health. We find that such income innovations have little effects on health, but do affect health behaviour and mortality

The Impact of Liberalisation and Globalisation on Income Inequality in Developing and Transitional Economies

This paper reviews changes in global, between-country and within-country inequality over 1980-2000 against the background of the shifts that occurred in this area during the globalisation of 1870-1914. The paper finds that recent changes in global and between-country inequality are not marked and depend in part on the conventions adopted for their measurement. In contrast, within-country inequality appears to have risen clearly in two thirds of the 73 countries analyzed mainly because of the policy drive towards domestic deregulation and external liberalisation. The paper concludes by analysing the differences between the inequality changes observed during 1980-2000 and 1870-1914.globalisation, globalization