Abstract

This article tests the relative importance of globalization and technological change in explaining income inequality at higher and lower development levels. Besides, the article analyses the effectiveness of a set of policy measures for fighting inequality. We use relative pre-tax income shares as a proxy for inequality. Several linear and non-linear threshold panel data models with GDP per capita as the threshold variable are estimated for 42 countries over the period from 1994 to 2016. We find that technology is the most important generator of inequality, while the effect of various globalization measures is weak and often insignificant. We find limited evidence that the effect of globalization differs with respect to the level of GDP per capita. Our results suggest that full employment policies in the low inflation environment are the most efficient solution for the inequality problem. Higher employment and low inflation rate decrease the inequality level. Other than that, we do not find other policy measures that satisfy the one-size-fits-all criteria for tackling inequality. Instead, a set of efficient policy measures against inequality, including expenditures on education, minimum wage policies, and lending rates, depend on the development level and idiosyncratic policies and institutions.

摘要

本文检验了全球化和技术变革在解释较高和较低发展水平的收入不平等方面的相对重要性。此外，文章分析了一系列对抗不平等的政策措施的有效性。我们使用相对税前收入份额作为不平等的代表。对 42 个国家 1994 年至 2016 年期间，以人均 GDP 作为阈值变量的几个线性和非线性阈值面板数据模型进行了估计。我们发现技术是不平等的最重要来源，而各种全球化措施的影响是软弱的，而且常常是微不足道的。我们发现有限的证据表明全球化对人均 GDP 水平的影响是不同的。我们的研究结果表明，低通胀环境下的充分就业政策是解决不平等问题的最有效方法。较高的就业率和较低的通货膨胀率降低了不平等程度。除此之外，我们没有发现其他满足解决不平等问题一刀切标准的政策措施。相反，一套有效的消除不平等的政策措施，包括教育支出、最低工资政策和贷款利率，取决于发展水平和特殊的政策和制度。