The spatial inequality of wage income in Barcelona Metropolitan Area

ABSTRACT The measure and estimation of income levels in Barcelona Metropolitan Area (BMA) goes back a long way. Using different approaches and focusing on different municipalities, there is a lot of work in the field. The majority of the literature has focused on the estimation of income levels using variables related to consumption. The empirical evidence on wage differentials has shown an important growth during 80’s and 90’s especially in United Kingdom and USA. Less is known on spatial distribution of inequality. This paper presents a new data set for analyzing spatial distribution of wage income. This data is obtained by matching Wage Structure Survey (WSS) with data from Census disaggregated by census tracts. In this way we have a unique data set with wage incomes for every census track for 36 municipalities belonging to BMA. We develop a descriptive analysis of spatial distribution, testing for spatial autocorrelation and use the family of Generalised Entropy Indices to measure inequality. Properties of the index allow us to decompose inequality into inter and intra-municipality measures. Since we have two cross-sectional data for WSS (1995-2002) we can also analyze the evolution of the inequality in this period of economic growth. Key words: spatial distribution of wages, spatial autocorrelation, inequality indices.

Agglomeration and inequality across space: what can we learn from the European experience?

The purpose of this contribution is to draw a picture of the (uneven) distribution of economic activities across the states of the European Union (EU) and the consequences entailed by it. We will briefly summarize the most salient and recent contributions. Then, in the light of the economic geography theory, we will discuss the economic and social advantages and disadvantages associated with a core- periphery structure. In this sense, particular attention will be addressed to the EU financial system of Structural Funds and the effects they produced. Finally, we will formulate some suggestions, relying on the EU experience, that could be of interest to the current Brazilian regional policy.

Linking conflict to inequality and polarization

In this paper we study a behavioral model of conflict that provides a basis for choosing certain indices of dispersion as indicators for conflict. We show that the (equilibrium) level of conflict can be expressed as an (approximate) linear function of the Gini coefficient, the Herfindahl-Hirschman fractionalization index, and a specific measure of polarization due to Esteban and Ray

Sharp A₂ inequality for haar shift operators

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A three dimensional signed small ball inequality

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Some variational problems from image processing

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Connections between ∞-Poincaré inequality, quasi-convexity, and N1,∞

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A numerical algorithm for finding solutions of a generalized Nash equilibrium problem

A family of nonempty closed convex sets is built by using the data of the Generalized Nash equilibrium problem (GNEP). The sets are selected iteratively such that the intersection of the selected sets contains solutions of the GNEP. The algorithm introduced by Iusem-Sosa (2003) is adapted to obtain solutions of the GNEP. Finally some numerical experiments are given to illustrate the numerical behavior of the algorithm.

On Cooperative solutions of a generalized assignment game: limit theorems to the set of competitive equilibria

We study two cooperative solutions of a market with indivisible goods modeled as a generalized assignment game: Set-wise stability and Core. We first establish that the Set-wise stable set is contained in the Core and it contains the non-empty set of competitive equilibrium payoffs. We then state and prove three limit results for replicated markets. First, the sequence of Cores of replicated markets converges to the set of competitive equilibrium payoffs when the number of replicas tends to infinity. Second, the Set-wise stable set of a two-fold replicated market already coincides with the set of competitive equilibrium payoffs. Third, for any number of replicas there is a market with a Core payoff that is not a competitive equilibrium payoff.

Investor protection and income inequality: risk sharing vs risk taking

This paper studies the relationship between investor protection, entrepreneurial risk taking and income inequality. In the presence of market frictions, better protection makes investors more willing to take on entrepreneurial risk when lending to firms, thereby improving the degree of risk sharing between financiers and entrepreneurs. On the other hand, by increasing risk sharing, investor protection also induces more firms to undertake risky projects. By increasing entrepreneurial risk taking, it raises income dispersion. By reducing the risk faced by entrepreneurs, it reduces income volatility. As a result, investor protection raises income inequality to the extent that it fosters risk taking, while it reduces it for a given level of risk taking. Empirical evidence from a panel of forty-five countries spanning the period 1976-2000 supports the predictions of the model.

On the automatic application of inequality indexes in the analysis of the international distribution of environmental indicators

In recent years traditional inequality measures have been used to quite a considerable extent to examine the international distribution of environmental indicators. One of its main characteristics is that each one assigns different weights to the changes that occur in the different sections of the variable distribution and, consequently, the results they yield can potentially be very different. Hence, we suggest the appropriateness of using a range of well-recommended measures to achieve more robust results. We also provide an empirical test for the comparative behaviour of several suitable inequality measures and environmental indicators. Our findings support the hypothesis that in some cases there are differences among measures in both the sign of the evolution and its size. JEL codes: D39; Q43; Q56. Keywords: international environment factor distribution; Kaya factors; Inequality measurement

Inequality across countries in energy intensities: an analysis of the role of energy transformation and final energy consumption

This paper analyzes the role of the energy transformation index and of final energy consumption per GDP unit in the disparities in energy intensity across countries. In that vein, we use a Theil decomposition approach to analyze global primary energy intensity inequality as well as inequality across different regions of the world and inequality within these regions. The paper first demonstrates the pre-eminence of divergence in final energy consumption per GDP unit in explaining global primary energy intensity inequality and its evolution during the 1971-2006 period. Secondly, it shows the lower (albeit non negligible) impact of the transformation index in global primary energy inequality. Thirdly, the relevance of regions as unit of analysis in studying crosscountry energy intensity inequality and their explanatory factors is highlighted. And finally, how regions around the world differ as to the relevance of the energy transformation index in explaining primary energy intensity inequality.

Economic growth and inequality: the role of fiscal policies

This paper analyses the impact of different instruments of fiscal policy on economic growth as well as on income inequality, using an unbalanced panel of 43 upper-middle and high income countries for the period 1972-2006. We consider and estimate two individual equations explaining growth and inequality in order to assess the incidence of different fiscal policies. Firstly, our approach considers imposing orthogonal assumptions between growth and inequality in both equations, and secondly, it allows growth to be included in the inequality equation, and inequality to be included in the growth equation. The empirical results suggest that an increase in the size of government measured through current expenditures and direct taxes diminishes economic growth while reducing inequality, being public investment the only fiscal policy that may break this trade-off between efficiency and equity, since increases in this item reduces inequality without harming output. Therefore, the results reflect that the trade-off between efficiency and equity that governments often confront when designing their fiscal policies may be avoided.

Explanatory factors of CO2 per capita emission inequality in the European Union

The design of European mitigation policies requires a detailed examination of the factors explaining the unequal emissions in the different countries. This research analyzes the evolution of inequality in CO2 per capita emissions in the European Union (EU-27) in the 1990-2006 period and its explanatory factors. For this purpose, we decompose the Theil index of inequality into the contributions of the different Kaya factors. The decomposition is also applied to the inequality between and within groups of countries (North Europe, South Europe, and East Europe). The analysis shows an important reduction in inequality, to a large extent due to the smaller differences between groups and because of the lower contribution of the energy intensity factor. The importance of the GDP per capita factor increases and becomes the main explanatory factor. However, within the different groups of countries the carbonization index appears to be the most relevant factor in explaining inequalities.

Relaxation methods for solving linear inequality systems: Converging results

The problem of finding a feasible solution to a linear inequality system arises in numerous contexts. In [12] an algorithm, called extended relaxation method, that solves the feasibility problem, has been proposed by the authors. Convergence of the algorithm has been proven. In this paper, we onsider a class of extended relaxation methods depending on a parameter and prove their convergence. Numerical experiments have been provided, as well.