Personal Income Distribution: A Multicapability Theory / Edition 1

by J.A. Hartog

Overview

Het is mogelijk dat het orimogelijk is om iets nieuwer enjuister te zeggen, maar over al het geschrevene daalt het stof der tijden neer, en ik peins daarom dat het goed is als er om de 10 jaar een andere een kruis trekt over al die oude dingen, en de wereld-van-vandaag opnieuw uitspreekt 1 met andere woorden. -Louis Paul Boon (1972) 1.1 THE PROBLEM The distribution of labor incomes is a problem with two aspects, each of which has received ample attention in the literature. The first aspect relates to the shape of the frequency distribution of individuals according to their (labor) incomes. Analytical contributions include the so-called shastic theories of income dis­ tribution, such as Gibrat's law of proportionate effect, Champernowne's and Rutherford's Markov-chain models, and Pigou's puzzle. The question is, If abil­ ities are normally distributed, why should the distribution of incomes deviate from this shape? This deviation is the basic fact that these theories explain: in­ come distributions, whatever the time and place of observation, are positively skewed. 2 CHAPTER 1 The second aspect of the distribution of labor incomes is the problem of wage differentials: why do wages differ, why do all workers not earn the same wage? This question has been a standard problem ever since Adam Smith dealt with it.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780898380477
Publisher:	Springer Netherlands
Publication date:	11/30/1980
Edition description:	1981
Pages:	222
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.36(d)

Table of Contents

1 Introduction.- 1.1 The Problem.- 1.2 Some Facts.- 1.3 Different Jobs, Different People.- 1.4 Related Approaches.- 1.5 Human Capital Theory.- 1.6 Capabilities.- 1.7 Outline of the Book.- 2 Individual Labor Supply.- 2.1 The Basic Model.- 2.2 Occupational Careers.- 2.3 Capability Development.- 2.4 A Life-Cycle Labor Supply Model.- 2.5 Evaluating Comments.- 3 Labor Demand.- 3.1 The Production Function.- 3.2 Equilibrium of the Firm.- 3.3 Some Comments.- 3.4 Price Changes.- 3.5 Evaluating Comments.- 4 Market Equilibrium.- 4.1 Divisibility.- 4.2 Divisibility and Equilibrium.- 4.3 Comparative Statics.- 5 The Income Density Function.- 5.1 The Earnings Function.- 5.2 Optimal Efforts.- 5.3 Age Distribution and Income Distribution.- 5.4 Income Distribution and Income Tax Rate Changes.- 5.5 Concluding Remarks.- 6 A Two-Capability Illustration.- 6.1 Labor Supply.- 6.2 Labor Demand.- 6.3 The Distribution of Income.- 6.4 The Distribution of Job Wage Rates.- 6.5 Effects of Income Tax Rate Changes.- 6.6 Concluding Remarks.- 7 On Testing.- 7.1 Main Hypotheses and Their Testing.- 7.2 Capabilities as Operational Variables.- 7.3 The Distinction between Capability Sks and Capability Supply.- 7.4 Capabilities and Wages.- 7.5 Capability Development.- 7.6 Concluding Remarks.- 8 Measurement and Testing on American Data.- 8.1 The Data.- 8.2 Reconnaissance: The 1970 Census Data.- 8.3 Further Analysis: The 1950 and 1960 Census Data.- 9 Evaluation and Expansion.- Appendixes.- 2 The Labor Demand Model.- 3 Properties of Transformations.- 4 Effects of Tax Rate Changes.- 5 Explanation of DOT Variables.- 6 The 1970 Census Data Set.- 7 Distribution of Jobs by Capability Level.- 8. Selection of Regression Results: 1950–1960 Census Data.- Notes.- References.- List of Symbols.- Name Index.