The Geography of Average Income and Inequality: Spatial Evidence from Austria

This paper investigates the nexus between regional income levels and inequality. We present a novel small-scale inequality database for Austrian municipalities to address this question. Our dataset combines individual tax data of Austrian wage tax payer on regionally disaggregated scale with census and geographical information. This setting allows us to investigate regional spillover effects of average income and various measures of income inequality. Using this data set we find distinct regional clusters of both high average wages and high earnings inequality in Austria. Furthermore we use spatial econometric regressions to quantify the effects between income levels and a number of inequality measures such as the Gini and 90/10 quantile ratios. (authors' abstract)Series: Department of Economics Working Paper Serie

Informal environmental regulation of industrial air pollution: Does neighborhood inequality matter?

This paper analyzes if neighborhood income inequality has an effect on informal regulation of environmental quality, using census tract-level data on industrial air pollution exposure from EPA´s Risk Screening Environmental Indicators and income and demographic variables from the American Community Survey and EPA´s Smart Location Database. Estimating a spatial lag model and controlling for formal regulation at the states level, we find evidence that overall neighborhood inequality - as measured by the ratio between the fourth and the second income quintile or the neighborhood Gini coefficient - increases local air pollution exposure, whereas a concentration of top incomes reduces local exposure. The positive coefficient of the general inequality measure is driven by urban neighborhoods, whereas the negative coefficient of top incomes is stronger in rural areas. We explain these findings by two contradicting effects of inequality: On the one hand, overall inequality reduces collective action and thus the organizing capacities for environmental improvements. On the other hand, a concentration of income at the top enhances the ability of rich residents to negotiate with regulators or polluting plants in their vicinity. (authors' abstract)Series: Department of Economics Working Paper Serie

Bequests and the Accumulation of Wealth in the Eurozone

This paper empirically compares the contribution of the two major wealth accumulation factors - earned income and inheritances - to the net wealth position of households in the Eurozone. The elasticities of both wealth sources differ considerably across countries and are overly non-linear. Depending on the position in the wealth distribution, an increase of one percentile in the income distribution corresponds to 0.1-0.6 percentiles in the net wealth distribution. We find substantially stronger effects for inheritances vis-á-vis income. In Greece, Portugal, and Austria, households have to climb around three percentiles in the income distribution to compensate a one percentile increase in the inheritance distribution. The findings clearly suggest that bequests play a stronger role in wealth accumulation than earned income.Series: INEQ Working Paper Serie

Sozioökonomische Charakteristika der Millionärshaushalte in Österreich

Mithilfe der Vermögenserhebung HFCS 2010 können die sozioökonomischen Charakteristika der österreichischen Privathaushalte mit einem Nettovermögen von mehr als 1 Mio. Euro analysiert werden. Im Vergleich zur Zusammensetzung der Gesamtpopulation zeigt sich, dass Haushalte, deren HöchstverdienerIn einen akademischen Abschluss erzielt hat, selbstständig arbeitet, Betriebsvermögen in der Land- und Forstwirtschaft besitzt oder bereits eine Erbschaft erhalten hat, deutlich überrepräsentiert sind. Demgegenüber haben nur 2% der Unselbstständigen- Haushalte mehr als 1 Mio. Euro Nettovermögen und sind somit stark unterrepräsentiert, unabhängig von ihrem Bildungsgrad oder anderen sozioökonomischen Charakteristika. (authors' abstract

Verteilungspolitische Implikationen der steuerlichen Begünstigung des 13. und 14. Monatsgehaltes

(no abstract available

On the Determinants of Global Bilateral Migration Flows

We present a method aimed at estimating global bilateral migration flows and assessing their determinants. We employ that fact that available net migration figures for a country are (nonlinear) aggregates of migration flows from and to all other countries of the world in order to construct a statistical model that links the determinants of (unobserved) migration ows to total net migration. Using simple specifications based on the gravity model for international migration, we find that migration flows can be explained by standard gravity model variables such as GDP differences, distance or bilateral population. The usefulness of such models is exemplified by combining estimated specifications with population and GDP projections in order to assess quantitatively the expected changes in migration flows to Europe in the coming decades.Series: WWWforEurop

Macroeconomic Applications of Bayesian Model Averaging

Bayesian Model Averaging (BMA) is a common econometric tool to assess the uncertainty regarding model specification and parameter inference and is widely applied in fields where no strong theoretical guidelines are present. Its major advantage over single-equation models is the combination of evidence from a large number of specifications. The three papers included in this thesis all investigate model structures in the BMA model space. The first contribution evaluates how priors can be chosen to enforce model structures in the presence of interactions terms and multicollinearity. This is linked to a discussion in the Journal of Applied Econometrics regarding the question whether being a Sub-Saharan African country makes a difference for growth modelling. The second essay is concerned with clusters of different models in the model space. We apply Latent Class Analysis to the set of sampled models from BMA and identify different subsets (kinds of) models for two well-known growth data sets. The last paper focuses on the application of "jointness", which tries to find bivariate relationships between regressors in BMA. Accordingly this approach attempts to identify substitutes and complements by linking the econometric discussion on this subject to the field of Machine Learning.(author's abstract

Die langfristige Entwicklung der Einkommenskonzentration in Österreich, 1957-2008. Teil 1: Literaturüberblick und Beschreibung der Daten

Die Entwicklung der personellen Einkommensverteilung rückt im Zuge der Suche nach den strukturellen Ursachen der aktuellen Finanz- und Wirtschaftskrise immer stärker in das Zentrum des wissenschaftlichen und wirtschaftspolitischen Diskurses. In den meisten entwickelten Ländern, vor allem aber im angelsächsischen Raum, nahm die Konzentration der Einkommen und Vermögen in den letzten zwei Jahrzehnten massiv zu. Auch in Österreich lässt sich für die Lohneinkommen ein ähnliches Bild beobachten. Im Bereich der Lohneinkünfte konnte das oberste Prozent der Einkommensbeziehenden seit 1994 seinen Anteil an der gesamten ausbezahlten Lohnsumme um 12% erhöhen, das oberste Dezil insgesamt um ca. 6%. Eine Analyse der Entwicklung der personellen Einkommensverteilung über alle Einkunftsarten ist für Österreich dagegen mit der derzeit verfügbaren Datengrundlage nur in eingeschränktem Umfang möglich. In der vorliegenden Arbeit werden die Probleme der einzelnen Datenquellen im Zuge einer solchen Analyse dargelegt und ihre Auswirkungen auf die Interpretation der berechneten Konzentrationsmaße eingehend diskutiert. (authors' abstract

Die langfristige Entwicklung der Einkommenskonzentration in Österreich, 1957-2009 Teil II: Methodik und Ergebnisse

(no abstract available

Über die Bedeutung von Kapitaleinkommen für die Einkommensverteilung Österreichs

(no abstract available