Household income dynamics: a four-country story

Fields, Gary S.; Cichello, Paul; Freije, Samuel; Menéndez, Marta; Newhouse, David

doi:10.1080/00220380412331293757

Cited by 66 publications

(66 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…Using the Shapiro-Wilk test for normality, we confirmed that all variables had a normal distribution. Following Fields (2003) and Fields et al (2003), we used a decomposition analysis to estimate the relative contribution of each determinant of livelihood outcomes. The inequality of the dependent variable was decomposed using so-called factor inequality weights, whereby the more positive the weight for a given explanatory variable, the more it contributed to the inequality of the dependent variable, while negative weights implied that the factor caused the dependent variable to be more equally distributed .…”

Section: Conceptual and Analytical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydropower development in Vietnam: Involuntary resettlement and factors enabling rehabilitation

2013

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Section: Conceptual and Analytical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydropower development in Vietnam: Involuntary resettlement and factors enabling rehabilitation

2013

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“…For now, the key point to note is that in each paper the labour market plays a key role in determining household mobility patterns. For example, Fields et al (2003b) find that changes in the labour market status of the household head is the most important factor driving changes in real household incomes. Leibbrandt and Woolard (2001) find that the addition or loss of a job is the major factor moving a household out of or into poverty.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Earnings and Employment Dynamics for Africans in Post-apartheid South Africa: A Panel Study of KwaZulu-Natal1

Cichello¹,

Fields

Leibbrandt

2005

Journal of African Economies

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Abstract[Excerpt] The labour market is central in determining individual and household well-being in South Africa. Therefore, an understanding of earnings and employment dynamics is a key policy issue. However, the absence of panel data has constrained empirical work addressing these issues. This paper makes use of a regional panel data set for KwaZulu-Natal to begin the study of earnings and employment dynamics. The authors find that, on average, working-aged Africans in KwaZulu-Natal experienced large gains in earnings during the period 1993-8. These gains were progressive in nature, with the highest quintile of 1993 earners and those originally employed in the formal sector actually experiencing zero or negative growth in their average earnings. The average gain in earnings varied substantially depending on the employment transitions experienced by labour force participants. Obtaining formal sector employment is found to be an important pathway to growth in earnings, yet not exclusively so. The majority of those who get ahead do so by retaining employment in a given sector or moving into the informal sector. The dynamism of the informal sector over this period is shown to be an important contributor to the progressive growth in earnings. Government policies that seek to increase employment and earnings in the informal as well as formal sectors are recommended. Understanding the constraints preventing the vast number of unemployed from engaging in informal employment is shown to be a key issue for future work.

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“…The advantage of using panel data to study distributional change is that we are able to measure the extent to which those individuals who initially were at various points on the income ladder moved up or down during different macroeconomic conditions. As has been noted in our own previous work (Fields et al, 2003; as well as in a recent paper by Grimm (2007), the panel results and the cross-section results may convey quite different qualitative impressions from one another.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 62%

“…The reason for the choice of change in earnings as the variable of interest rather than change in total income is that in a number of economies including South Africa, Indonesia, Spain, and Venezuela, earnings changes have been shown to constitute the single most important source of variation of change in total income, more so than all the other income sources combined (Fields et al, 2003).…”

Section: (C) Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Earnings Mobility in Times of Growth and Decline: Argentina from 1996 to 2003

Fields¹,

Puerta²

2010

World Development

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In recent years, the economy of Argentina has experienced both rapid economic growth and severe economic decline. In this paper, we use a series of one-year long panels to study who gained the most in pesos when the economy grew and who lost the most in pesos when the economy contracted. Various considerations led us to expect that mobility would be divergent-that is, that the individuals who started with the highest initial earnings would enjoy the largest earnings gains in pesos. Contrary to expectations and for a wide range of specifications, mobility is found to be mostly convergent, sometimes neutral, and never divergent. We then demonstrate how generally rising inequality and convergent mobility can be reconciled. Thus, the panel data analysis performed in this paper presents a picture of economic growth that is much more pro-poor than what one gets from cross-sectional inequality comparisons. ABSTRACTIn recent years, the economy of Argentina has experienced both rapid economic growth and severe economic decline. In this paper, we use a series of one-year long panels to study who gained the most in pesos when the economy grew and who lost the most in pesos when the economy contracted. Various considerations led us to expect that mobility would be divergent-that is, that the individuals who started with the highest initial earnings would enjoy the largest earnings gains in pesos. Contrary to expectations and for a wide range of specifications, mobility is found to be mostly convergent, sometimes neutral, and never divergent. We then demonstrate how generally rising inequality and convergent mobility can be reconciled. Thus, the panel data analysis performed in this paper presents a picture of economic growth that is much more propoor than what one gets from cross-sectional inequality comparisons.

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Household income dynamics: a four-country story

Cited by 66 publications

References 22 publications

Hydropower development in Vietnam: Involuntary resettlement and factors enabling rehabilitation

Hydropower development in Vietnam: Involuntary resettlement and factors enabling rehabilitation

Earnings and Employment Dynamics for Africans in Post-apartheid South Africa: A Panel Study of KwaZulu-Natal1

Earnings Mobility in Times of Growth and Decline: Argentina from 1996 to 2003

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