Varieties of Capitalism (VoC) and Varieties of Distributions (VoD): How Welfare Regimes Affect the Pre- and Post-Transfer Shapes of Inequalities?

In comparative analysis, we know that shape of income distribution are variable and broadly related to typesf welfare capitalism. Here, we expand on the socio-economic regimes literature and show almost perfect similarity between varieties of capitalism (VoC) and varieties of distributions (VoD). Utilising a new tool for income analysis, the isograph, and when we consider three stages of distributions by country-period: 'before' taxes and redistributions, 'after' (equivalized disposable of incomes) and the shape of 'effort' between, the empirical clustering of countries are strongly related to what is theoretically known of welfare capitalism. We extend this relation to over 30 countries (LIS datasets) and then compare transformations over time, and then to the 183 LIS datasets having pre and post transfer incomes. We specifically detect, in particular in the lower percentiles of Nordic countries, but in other countries too, an increasing problem of massive inequality 'before': a strong decline of market incomes at the bottom of the distribution is balanced by more generous transfers, but the risk is to generate poverty and dependence traps that contradicts the initial concept of the Social-Democratic welfare regime

More Necessary and Less Sufficient: An Age-Period-Cohort Approach to Overeducation in Comparative Perspective

In many countries, the skilled labor market has lagged educational expansion. As a result of increased competition, younger cohorts of the highly educated face decreasing returns to education or overeducation. Surprisingly, decreasing occupational outcomes do not coincide empirically with the economic returns among those with tertiary education. Regarding the process of changes in economic returns to education based on cohort transformations, we expect that the expansion of tertiary education affects specific cohorts, which find themselves facing more labor market competition. As a result, the economic returns to education should decrease among younger cohorts even when the overall returns to education remain stable over time. To study this process, we model economic returns with a new age-period-cohort-trended lag (APCTLAG) method, which allows us to compare the gap in economic returns between tertiary and less than tertiary education over cohorts. Using the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS), we analyze trends over three decades in 12 countries. Our results confirm that educational returns for tertiary education have declined over time, even though the gap between the educated and the less educated has remained similar in most of the countries. For younger cohorts, tertiary education has become more necessary to survive in the competitive labor market, but the actual economic returns have decreased—making tertiary education less sufficient than before

The persistence of the gender earnings gap: cohort trends and the role of education in twelve countries

Studying twelve countries over 30 years, we examine whether women’s educational expansion has translated into a closing gender earnings gap. As educational attainment is cohort-dependent, an Age-Period-Cohort analysis is most appropriate in our view. Using the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) data, we show that while in terms of attainment of tertiary education women have caught up and often even outperform men, substantial gender differences in earnings persist in all countries. These results are consistent with the composition of the top earnings decile. Using Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition methods, we demonstrate that the role of education in explaining the gender earnings gap has been limited and even decreased over cohorts. Contrary, employment status as well as occupation explain a more substantial part in all countries. We conclude that earnings differences at levels far from gender equality likely also persist in the future, even if the “rise of women” in terms of education continues

Increasing Inequality in Joint Income and Wealth Distributions in the United States, 1995 to 2013

The study of joint income and wealth distributions is important to the understanding of economic inequality. However, these are extremely skewed variables that present tails containing strategic information that usual methods – such as percentile grouping – cannot easily underline. In this paper, we propose a new method that is able to provide a thorough examination of tails: the isograph and the logitrank. These tools entail a more detailed conception of inequality by describing inequality at different points of the distribution. Using US data 1995-2013 from the Luxembourg Wealth Study (LWS), we find first that income inequality increased significantly, in particular in the upper middle classes. Second, the wealth- to-income ratio measuring the importance of wealth relative to income, increased significantly. The association between high wealth and high incomes, fourth, increased as well. Based on our analysis, we can conclude that this increase in the association between wealth and income is not a trivial consequence of increasing inequality, but a stronger coherence of the diagonal at the top of the income and wealth distributions

Classification of Supersymmetric Flux Vacua in M Theory

We present a comprehensive classification of supersymmetric vacua of M-theory compactification on seven-dimensional manifolds with general four-form fluxes. We analyze the cases where the resulting four-dimensional vacua have N = 1,2,3,4 supersymmetry and the internal space allows for SU(2), SU(3) or G_2 structures. In particular, we find for N = 2 supersymmetry, that the external space-time is Minkowski and the base manifold of the internal space is conformally K\"ahler for SU(2) structures, while for SU(3) structures the internal space has to be Einstein-Sasaki and no internal fluxes are allowed. Moreover, we provide a new vacuum with N = 1 supersymmetry and SU(3) structure, where all fluxes are non-zero and the first order differential equations are solved.Comment: 50 pages, clarification of the spinor ansatz added, references added, typos correcte

Activation of the Hedgehog pathway in pilocytic astrocytomas

Pilocytic astrocytoma is commonly viewed as a benign lesion. However, disease onset is most prevalent in the first two decades of life, and children are often left with residual or recurrent disease and significant morbidity. The Hedgehog (Hh) pathway regulates the growth of higher WHO grade gliomas, and in this study, we have evaluated the activation and operational status of this regulatory pathway in pilocytic astrocytomas. Expression levels of the Hh pathway transcriptional target PTCH were elevated in 45% of tumor specimens analyzed (ages 1–22 years) and correlated inversely with patient age. Evaluation of a tissue array revealed oligodendroglioma-like features, pilomyxoid features, infiltration, and necrosis more commonly in specimens from younger patients (below the median patient age of 10 years). Immunohistochemical staining for the Hh pathway components PTCH and GLI1 and the proliferation marker Ki67 demonstrated that patients diagnosed before the age of 10 had higher staining indices than those diagnosed after the age of 10. A significant correlation between Ki67 and PTCH and GLI1 staining indices was measured, and 86% of Ki67-positive cells also expressed PTCH. The operational status of the Hh pathway was confirmed in primary cell culture and could be modulated in a manner consistent with a ligand-dependent mechanism. Taken together, these findings suggest that Hh pathway activation is common in pediatric pilocytic astrocytomas and may be associated with younger age at diagnosis and tumor growth