[go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0242803.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Rising mean incomes for whom?

Author

Listed:
  • Liang Frank Shao
  • Melanie Krause
Abstract
Not everybody is benefiting equally from rising mean incomes. We discuss the mean-income population share (MPS), the population percentage of earners below mean income, whose evolution can capture how representative rising mean values are for middle income households. Tracking MPS and its associated income share MIS over time indicates to what extent economic growth is inclusive of both the middle and the bottom of the income distribution. We characterize MPS and MIS analytically under different growth scenarios and compare their parametric estimation using micro-level and grouped income data. Our empirical application with panel data of 16 high- and middle-income countries shows that in the last decades rising mean incomes have mostly not favored middle income households in relative perspective, while the overall welfare effects of the changes in MPS and the correlation structure with the Gini coefficient are mixed.

Suggested Citation

  • Liang Frank Shao & Melanie Krause, 2020. "Rising mean incomes for whom?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(12), pages 1-20, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0242803
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0242803
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0242803
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0242803&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0242803?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Villasenor, JoseA. & Arnold, Barry C., 1989. "Elliptical Lorenz curves," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 327-338, February.
    2. Anthony B. Atkinson & Jakob Egholt Søgaard, 2016. "The Long-Run History of Income Inequality in Denmark," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 118(2), pages 264-291, April.
    3. Markus Brueckner & Era Dabla Norris & Mark Gradstein, 2015. "National income and its distribution," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 149-175, June.
    4. Dollar, David & Kraay, Aart, 2002. "Growth Is Good for the Poor," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 7(3), pages 195-225, September.
    5. Anthony B. Atkinson & Thomas Piketty & Emmanuel Saez, 2011. "Top Incomes in the Long Run of History," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 49(1), pages 3-71, March.
    6. Robert M. Solow, 1956. "A Contribution to the Theory of Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 70(1), pages 65-94.
    7. Hartmut Egger & Udo Kreickemeier, 2017. "Firm Heterogeneity and the Labor Market Effects of Trade Liberalization," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: International Trade and Labor Markets Welfare, Inequality and Unemployment, chapter 10, pages 265-306, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    8. Elhanan Helpman & Oleg Itskhoki & Stephen Redding, 2010. "Inequality and Unemployment in a Global Economy," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 78(4), pages 1239-1283, July.
    9. Luiz de Mello & Mark A. Dutz, 2012. "Promoting Inclusive Growth : Challenges and Policies," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 16948.
    10. Rolf Aaberge & Anders Björklund & Markus Jäntti & Mårten Palme & Peder J. Pedersen & Nina Smith & Tom Wennemo, 2002. "Income Inequality and Income Mobility in the Scandinavian Countries Compared to the United States," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 48(4), pages 443-469, December.
    11. Salverda, Wiemer & Nolan, Brian & Checchi, Daniele & Marx, Ive & McKnight, Abigail & Toth, Istvan Gy (ed.), 2014. "Changing Inequalities in Rich Countries: Analytical and Comparative Perspectives," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199687435.
    12. N. Gregory Mankiw & David Romer & David N. Weil, 1992. "A Contribution to the Empirics of Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 107(2), pages 407-437.
    13. Mattias Lundberg & Lyn Squire, 2003. "The simultaneous evolution of growth and inequality," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 113(487), pages 326-344, April.
    14. Birdsall, Nancy, 2007. "Reflections on the Macro Foundations of the Middle Class in the Developing World," Center for Global, International and Regional Studies, Working Paper Series qt4nt1n232, Center for Global, International and Regional Studies, UC Santa Cruz.
    15. James Foster & Michael Wolfson, 2010. "Polarization and the decline of the middle class: Canada and the U.S," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 8(2), pages 247-273, June.
    16. Bluhm, Richard & de Crombrugghe, Denis & Szirmai, Adam, 2018. "Poverty accounting," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 237-255.
    17. Ravallion, Martin & Chen, Shaohua, 2003. "Measuring pro-poor growth," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 78(1), pages 93-99, January.
    18. Kraay, Aart, 2006. "When is growth pro-poor? Evidence from a panel of countries," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(1), pages 198-227, June.
    19. Wang, ZuXiang & Smyth, Russell, 2015. "A piecewise method for estimating the Lorenz curve," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 45-48.
    20. Gastwirth, Joseph L, 1971. "A General Definition of the Lorenz Curve," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 39(6), pages 1037-1039, November.
    21. Kakwani, Nanak, 1980. "On a Class of Poverty Measures," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 48(2), pages 437-446, March.
    22. Brian Nolan & Max Roser & Stefan Thewissen, 2019. "GDP Per Capita Versus Median Household Income: What Gives Rise to the Divergence Over Time and how does this Vary Across OECD Countries?," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 65(3), pages 465-494, September.
    23. Rohde, Nicholas, 2009. "An alternative functional form for estimating the Lorenz curve," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 105(1), pages 61-63, October.
    24. Daron Acemoglu, 2002. "Technical Change, Inequality, and the Labor Market," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 40(1), pages 7-72, March.
    25. Melanie Krause, 2014. "Parametric Lorenz Curves and the Modality of the Income Density Function," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 60(4), pages 905-929, December.
    26. Grosse, Melanie & Harttgen, Kenneth & Klasen, Stephan, 2008. "Measuring Pro-Poor Growth in Non-Income Dimensions," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 1021-1047, June.
    27. Nanak Kakwani & Hyun H. Son, 2008. "Poverty Equivalent Growth Rate," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 54(4), pages 643-655, December.
    28. José María Sarabia, 2008. "Parametric Lorenz Curves: Models and Applications," Economic Studies in Inequality, Social Exclusion, and Well-Being, in: Duangkamon Chotikapanich (ed.), Modeling Income Distributions and Lorenz Curves, chapter 9, pages 167-190, Springer.
    29. Butler, Richard J & McDonald, James B, 1987. "Interdistributional Income Inequality," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 5(1), pages 13-18, January.
    30. Barro, Robert J, 2000. "Inequality and Growth in a Panel of Countries," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 5(1), pages 5-32, March.
    31. Chotikapanich, Duangkamon, 1993. "A comparison of alternative functional forms for the Lorenz curve," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 129-138.
    32. B. Essama‐Nssah & Peter J. Lambert, 2009. "Measuring Pro‐Poorness: A Unifying Approach With New Results," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 55(3), pages 752-778, September.
    33. Luis Garicano & Esteban Rossi-Hansberg, 2006. "Organization and Inequality in a Knowledge Economy," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 121(4), pages 1383-1435.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Liang Frank Shao, 2021. "Robust determinants of income distribution across and within countries," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(7), pages 1-29, July.
    2. Joseph L. Gastwirth & Qing Shi, 2022. "Comparing the Secular Increasing Trend and Effect of the Response to the 2008 Financial Recession on Wealth Inequality in the U.S. with Other Nations Using the Median-based Gini Index," Journal of Quantitative Economics, Springer;The Indian Econometric Society (TIES), vol. 20(1), pages 261-276, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tomasz Panek, 2019. "Czy wzrost gospodarczy w Polsce w latach 2005 -2015 był korzystny dla ubogich?," Gospodarka Narodowa. The Polish Journal of Economics, Warsaw School of Economics, issue 2, pages 5-39.
    2. Amponsah, Mary & Agbola, Frank W. & Mahmood, Amir, 2021. "The impact of informality on inclusive growth in Sub-Saharan Africa: Does financial inclusion matter?," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 43(6), pages 1259-1286.
    3. Stefan Thewissen & Lane Kenworthy & Brian Nolan & Max Roser & Tim Smeeding, 2018. "Rising Income Inequality and Living Standards in OECD Countries: How Does the Middle Fare?," Journal of Income Distribution, Ad libros publications inc., vol. 26(2), pages 1-23, July.
    4. Stimpfle, Alexander & Stadelmann, David, 2015. "The Impact of Fundamental Development Factors on Different Income Groups: International Evidence," VfS Annual Conference 2015 (Muenster): Economic Development - Theory and Policy 113128, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    5. Markus Brueckner & Era Dabla Norris & Mark Gradstein, 2015. "National income and its distribution," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 149-175, June.
    6. Edwin Fourrier-Nicolaï & Michel Lubrano, 2021. "Bayesian Inference for Parametric Growth Incidence Curves," Research on Economic Inequality, in: Research on Economic Inequality: Poverty, Inequality and Shocks, volume 29, pages 31-55, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    7. Melanie Krause, 2014. "Parametric Lorenz Curves and the Modality of the Income Density Function," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 60(4), pages 905-929, December.
    8. Bourguignon, Francois, 2005. "The Effect of Economic Growth on Social Structures," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 27, pages 1701-1747, Elsevier.
    9. Vito Peragine & Flaviana Palmisano & Paolo Brunori, 2014. "Economic Growth and Equality of Opportunity," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 28(2), pages 247-281.
    10. Klasen, Stephan, 2008. "Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction: Measurement Issues using Income and Non-Income Indicators," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 420-445, March.
    11. Marek Kośny & Gastón Yalonetzky, 2015. "Relative income change and pro-poor growth," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 32(3), pages 311-327, December.
    12. Ansgar Belke & Andreas Wernet, 2015. "Poverty Reduction through Growth and Redistribution Policies—a Panel Analysis for 59 Developing Countries," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(1), pages 143-162, February.
    13. Flaviana Palmisano & Dirk Van de gaer, 2016. "History-dependent growth incidence: a characterization and an application to the economic crisis in Italy," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 68(2), pages 585-603.
    14. Fabrizio Carmignani, 2011. "The Making of Pro‐Poor Growth," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 58(5), pages 656-684, November.
    15. Miguel Sordo & Jorge Navarro & José Sarabia, 2014. "Distorted Lorenz curves: models and comparisons," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 42(4), pages 761-780, April.
    16. Raymundo M. Campos Vázquez & Luis A. Monroy-Gómez-Franco, 2016. "La relación entre crecimiento económico y pobreza en México," Serie documentos de trabajo del Centro de Estudios Económicos 2016-01, El Colegio de México, Centro de Estudios Económicos.
    17. Lin Shu-Chin & Huang Ho-Chuan & Kim Dong-Hyeon & Yeh Chih-Chuan, 2009. "Nonlinearity between Inequality and Growth," Studies in Nonlinear Dynamics & Econometrics, De Gruyter, vol. 13(2), pages 1-20, May.
    18. Marek Kośny, 2012. "Relative Income Changes and an Identification of Growth Pattern," Working Papers 268, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    19. Jakub Bartak & Łukasz Jabłoński, 2020. "Inequality and growth: What comes from the different inequality measures?," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 72(2), pages 185-212, April.
    20. Deutsch, Joseph & Silber, Jacques, 2011. "On various ways of measuring pro-poor growth," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 5, pages 1-57.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C80 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology; Computer Programs - - - General
    • O40 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0242803. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.