Browsing by Subject "Income inequality"
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Item An analysis of the impact of tax systems on income distribution, poverty, and human well-being: evidence from cross-country comparisons(Texas Tech University, 2006-08) Pippin, Sonja Engeli; Masselli, John J.; Ewing, Bradley T.; Malone, David; Ricketts, Robert C.The question "what is a good tax?" has been addressed many times in the past. While much optimal taxation research focuses on economic effects of taxation, the purpose of this study is to add a new dimension by investigating the relationship between tax system variables and certain aspects of social welfare other than traditional economic variables. To that end, relationships between four dimensions of a country’s tax and transfer system – (i) progressivity, (ii) overall tax burden, (iii) income tax reliance (i.e., the proportion of total tax revenues from income taxes), and (iv) residual tax burden (i.e., overall tax burden net of income taxes) – and three dependent variables – (i) income inequality, (ii) poverty, and (iii) collective happiness – are examined. These correlations are tested using data from North America, Europe, and Australia. Previous studies have shown that, on average, Americans feel less negatively about inequality and poverty than Europeans. If these beliefs affect the design of the respective tax and transfer systems, differences in effects of tax system variables on income inequality, poverty, and collective happiness are probable. Specifically, tax system progressivity and overall tax burden are expected to impact income inequality, poverty, and collective happiness less in the United States than in Europe. Consequently, this study also examines the differences in the impact of tax system variables on income inequality, poverty, and collective happiness across tax and transfer systems in the United States and in Europe. The results show that progressivity and overall tax burden appear to be negatively correlated with income inequality and with poverty. Furthermore, the redistributive and poverty-reducing effect of transfer progressivity – defined as the reduction of income inequality due to transfers – appears to be much more important than the effect of tax progressivity – defined as the redistribution of income due to taxes –, suggesting that, for tax policy decisions, it is essential to take the entire tax and transfer system, i.e., government revenues and expenditures, into consideration. Moreover, this study provides evidence that some tax system variables (i.e., overall tax incidence and income tax reliance) are positively associated with collective happiness indicating that a high tax burden does not necessarily impact human well-being in a negative way. Contrary to expectations, only few differences in effects between United States tax system variables and European tax system variables were found. This is surprising since the United States and European tax and transfer systems differ significantly from each other in every dimension addressed in this study.Item An analysis of the impact of tax systems on income distribution, poverty, and human well-being: Evidence from cross-country comparisons(2006-08) Pippin, Sonja Engeli; Masselli, John J.; Malone, David; Ricketts, Robert C.; Ewing, Bradley T.The question "what is a good tax?" has been addressed many times in the past. While much optimal taxation research focuses on economic effects of taxation, the purpose of this study is to add a new dimension by investigating the relationship between tax system variables and certain aspects of social welfare other than traditional economic variables. To that end, relationships between four dimensions of a country’s tax and transfer system – (i) progressivity, (ii) overall tax burden, (iii) income tax reliance (i.e., the proportion of total tax revenues from income taxes), and (iv) residual tax burden (i.e., overall tax burden net of income taxes) – and three dependent variables – (i) income inequality, (ii) poverty, and (iii) collective happiness – are examined. These correlations are tested using data from North America, Europe, and Australia. Previous studies have shown that, on average, Americans feel less negatively about inequality and poverty than Europeans. If these beliefs affect the design of the respective tax and transfer systems, differences in effects of tax system variables on income inequality, poverty, and collective happiness are probable. Specifically, tax system progressivity and overall tax burden are expected to impact income inequality, poverty, and collective happiness less in the United States than in Europe. Consequently, this study also examines the differences in the impact of tax system variables on income inequality, poverty, and collective happiness across tax and transfer systems in the United States and in Europe. The results show that progressivity and overall tax burden appear to be negatively correlated with income inequality and with poverty. Furthermore, the redistributive and poverty-reducing effect of transfer progressivity – defined as the reduction of income inequality due to transfers – appears to be much more important than the effect of tax progressivity – defined as the redistribution of income due to taxes –, suggesting that, for tax policy decisions, it is essential to take the entire tax and transfer system, i.e., government revenues and expenditures, into consideration. Moreover, this study provides evidence that some tax system variables (i.e., overall tax incidence and income tax reliance) are positively associated with collective happiness indicating that a high tax burden does not necessarily impact human well-being in a negative way. Contrary to expectations, only few differences in effects between United States tax system variables and European tax system variables were found. This is surprising since the United States and European tax and transfer systems differ significantly from each other in every dimension addressed in this study.Item Equality of educational opportunity between low-income and well-off students : school and family inputs in two national cohorts of high school students(2015-08) Holas, Igor; Gershoff, Elizabeth T.; von Hippel, Paul T.; Huston, Aletha C; Crosnoe, Robert; Benner, Aprile DWhy do low-income students achieve lower test scores and attain less education than their better off peers? Can we close these gaps through redistribution of school funds? Fifty years ago the Coleman Report (Coleman et al., 1966) suggested that school resources had surprisingly little to do with these achievement gaps, and that school segregation, along with family background, were the primary drivers. In this dissertation I present two studies on two nationally representative cohorts of high school students (high school class of 1992 and 2004). In Study 1, I describe the differences between low- income and well-off students’ families (income, structure, home-language, and parental education), school resources (class size and teacher salary), student body characteristics, school and family interpersonal processes, and finally educational outcomes (test scores and attainment). In Study 2, I pursue a structural model to determine whether school resources or family characteristics relate more strongly to students’ outcomes, and to identify the mechanisms of influence. In both studies I explore changes in these relations for the two cohorts. Results from Study 1 indicate that low-income students differ from well off students on their family characteristics, characteristics of peers in school, and outcomes, but differences are slight on school funding or resources. Findings from Study 2 indicate that family background and school segregation relate the strongest to students’ outcomes with school funding and resources showing only weak relations.Item The Political-Economic and Demographic Causes of Metropolitan Income Inequality and Its Components(2010-07-14) Chen, XIThis research project examines variations in inequality in individual earned incomes across U.S. metropolitan areas. The main analysis includes thirteen explanatory variables from three major perspectives - the political economy perspective, the demand-side perspective and the labor force supply-side perspective. In addition, I applied path models to explain causalities between some independent variables and used the decomposition of the Theil index to show the between-group effects. The results indicate that most demand-side and supply-side factors significantly contribute to variances in metropolitan income inequalities, while the impact of political economic factors are very limited. The paper is organized in the following manner: Chapter I is the introduction; Chapter II reviews literature focusing on the level of earning inequality and its predictors; Chapter III describes data and measures of variables; Chapter IV introduces statistical methods (including OLS regression model, path analysis, and decomposition of the Theil index); Chapter V presents the results of OLS regression model and its explanations; Chapter VI explains path analysis and decomposition analysis and their results; and finally, Chapter VII discusses the current research project and its implications for future studies.