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This paper challenges the conventional wisdom that income inequality in Poland increased substantially following the economic transition in 1989–90. The results, based on micro data from the 1985–92 Household Budget Surveys, indicate that overall income inequality increased during the initial stages of the transition but then declined to pre-transition levels. Consumption distributions reveal a similar pattern. However, earnings inequality did increase markedly after the transition and the relative well-being of different socio-economic groups was altered. Absolute poverty levels increased during the transition, but this increase is attributable to declines in mean income and consumption rather than to changes in inequality.

Macroeconomics --- Personal Income, Wealth, and Their Distributions --- Wage Level and Structure --- Wage Differentials --- Economic Development: Human Resources --- Human Development --- Income Distribution --- Migration --- Aggregate Factor Income Distribution --- Macroeconomics: Consumption --- Saving --- Wealth --- Education: General --- Education --- Income --- Income inequality --- Consumption --- Income distribution --- National accounts --- Economics --- Poland, Republic of

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This study develops a cross-section empirical framework to examine the relationship between the macroeconomic environment and trends in income distribution. The macroeconomic variables that are found to be associated with an improvement in income distribution are higher growth rate, higher income level, higher investment rate, real depreciation (especially for low-income countries), and improvement in terms of trade. The estimated significant effects of growth, income, and investment provide evidence that policies designed to promote investment and growth are likely also to contribute to an improvement in income distribution.

Foreign Exchange --- Inflation --- Macroeconomics --- Economic Development: Human Resources --- Human Development --- Income Distribution --- Migration --- Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook: General --- Aggregate Factor Income Distribution --- Personal Income, Wealth, and Their Distributions --- Price Level --- Deflation --- Currency --- Foreign exchange --- Income distribution --- Personal income --- Income inequality --- Real exchange rates --- National accounts --- Prices --- Income --- United States

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Does the distribution of income within a country become more equal as it grows richer? This paper uses plausibly exogenous variations in trade-weighted world income and international oil price shocks as instruments for within-country variations in countries real GDP per capita to examine this issue for a large sample of advanced and developing countries. Our findings indicate that increases in national income have a significant moderating effect on income inequality: a one percent increase in real GDP per capita, on average, reduces the Gini coefficient by around 0.08 percentage points, a result that is robust across income levels, different time horizons, and alternative estimation techniques. From a policy perspective, our results suggest that education policies that promote equity and help individuals continue on to higher levels of education could help reduce income inequality.

Income --- Income distribution --- Equality --- Macroeconomics --- Personal Income, Wealth, and Their Distributions --- Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development --- Economic Development: Human Resources --- Human Development --- Income Distribution --- Migration --- Aggregate Factor Income Distribution --- Measurement and Data on National Income and Product Accounts and Wealth --- Environmental Accounts --- Energy: Demand and Supply --- Prices --- Income inequality --- National income --- Personal income --- Oil prices --- National accounts --- United Kingdom

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This paper focusses on income inequality in Asia, its drivers and policies to combat it. It finds that income inequality has risen in most of Asia, in contrast to many regions. While in the past, rapid growth in Asia has come with equitable distribution of the gains, more recently fast-growing Asian economies have been unable to replicate the “growth with equity” miracle. There is a growing consensus that high levels of inequality can hamper the pace and sustainability of growth. The paper argues that policies could have a substantial effect on reversing the trend of rising inequality. It is imperative to address inequality of opportunities, in particular to broaden access to education, health, and financial services. Also fiscal policy could combat rising inequality, including by expanding and broadening the coverage of social spending, improving tax progressivity, and boosting compliance. Further efforts to promote financial inclusion, while maintaining financial stability, can help.

Labor --- Macroeconomics --- Personal Income, Wealth, and Their Distributions --- Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement --- Economic Development: Human Resources --- Human Development --- Income Distribution --- Migration --- Aggregate Factor Income Distribution --- Education: General --- Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs: General --- Education --- Labour --- income economics --- Income inequality --- Income distribution --- Personal income --- Labor share --- National accounts --- Income --- Wages --- India --- Income economics

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Spain’s structural reforms, implemented around 2012, have arguably contributed to a faster and stronger economic recovery. In particular, there is strong evidence that the 2012 labor market reforms increased wage flexibility, which helped the Spanish economy to regain competitiveness and create jobs. But the impact of these labor reforms on income inequality and social inclusion has not been analyzed much. This paper aims to shed light on this issue by employing an econometric decomposition procedure combined with the synthetic control method. The results indicate that the 2012 labor reforms have helped improve employment and income equality outcomes with no substantial impact on the overall risk of poverty. Nevertheless, the reforms appear to have induced a deterioration of average hours worked, in-work poverty, and possibly also of involuntary part-time employment.

Labor --- Macroeconomics --- Employment --- Unemployment --- Wages --- Intergenerational Income Distribution --- Aggregate Human Capital --- Aggregate Labor Productivity --- Aggregate Factor Income Distribution --- Labor Economics Policies --- Economic Development: Human Resources --- Human Development --- Income Distribution --- Migration --- Labor Economics: General --- Labour --- income economics --- Labor market reforms --- Income inequality --- Income distribution --- National accounts --- Manpower policy --- Economic theory --- Labor economics --- Spain