Publications

88 publications found, searching for 'Inequality '

• Working Paper No. 1079 April 04, 2025

  Job Allocation in the Levy Institute Microsimulation Model

  Brandon Istenes
  Abstract

  The Levy Institute Microsimulation Model (LIMM) is a tool used for policy simulations to estimate ex-ante the employment and income effects of sectoral investments. In Istenes (2023), a simple implementation of the LIMM for New York State initially had difficulty producing realistic conditional distributions of allocated jobs. This paper identifies the sources of that problem, […]

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• Working Paper No. 1049 May 07, 2024

  Deindustrialization from the Center Perspective: US Trade and Manufacturing in the Last Two Decades

  Nikolaos Rodousakis, Giuliano Toshiro Yajima, and George Soklis
  Abstract

  We argue that the US trade and industry sector has experienced several unsustainable sectoral processes, including (i) a fall in the trade balance in machinery and equipment and high-tech (HT) industries, (ii) a rise in import multipliers in machinery and equipment and HT industries, (iii) a fall in the manufacturing share of GDP in machinery […]

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• Working Paper No. 1037 January 10, 2024

  Markups, Profit Shares, and Cost-Push-Profit-Led Inflation

  Michalis Nikiforos, and Simon Grothe
  Abstract

  The post-pandemic surge in inflation was accompanied by a surge in the corporate share of profits. As a result, several economists and policy makers have given to it names such as “profit-led inflation” or “sellers’ inflation.” The present paper discusses the extent to which profit-led inflation, as an explanation for the recent surge in inflation, […]

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• Working Paper No. 1028 August 21, 2023

  Contractionary Effects of Foreign Price Shocks (and Potentially Expansionary Effects of Inflation)

  Michalis Nikiforos, and Simon Grothe
  Abstract

  Using the model proposed in Krugman and Taylor’s “Contractionary effects of devaluation” (1978), we examine the macroeconomic effects of shocks to foreign prices. We show that these shocks can be contractionary for two reasons: (i) because they imply a loss of income if an economy has a trade deficit or import prices increase proportionally more […]

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• Working Paper No. 1026 August 01, 2023

  Banking Sector, Distributive Conflict, and Monetary Theory of Distribution

  Riccardo Zolea
  Abstract

  This paper analyzes the implications of distributional contrast for the monetary theory of distribution. The first step is to try to introduce the banking sector within Pivetti's monetary distribution theory approach. Pivetti in fact does not analyze the links between the central bank and the banking sector. It therefore seems interesting to study what role […]

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• Working Paper No. 1022 July 12, 2023

  Has the Time for a European Job Guarantee Policy Arrived?

  Rania Antonopoulos
  Abstract

  As country after country in the European Union is called to respond to the current challenge of our time—high inflation and declining real wages—governments must engage in a transformative agenda and go beyond emergency energy vouchers and income support cash-transfers. And if the goal is to lead the way to a resilient and sustainable European […]

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• Working Paper No. 1016 February 23, 2023

  Monetary Policy and the Gender and Racial Employment Dynamics in Brazil

  Patricia Couto, and Clara Brenck
  Abstract

  Monetary policy has been historically concerned with controlling inflation, using the interest rate as its main tool. However, such policies are not gender- or race-neutral. This paper explores econometrically the effect of changes in the interest rate for female and black employment creation in Brazil. We conduct a panel data fixed effects analysis for 13 […]

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• Working Paper No. 1001 February 02, 2022

  Estimating a Time-Varying Distribution-Led Regime

  Michalis Nikiforos, and Paul Carrillo-Maldonado
  Abstract

  This paper estimates the distribution-led regime of the US economy for the period 1947–2019. We use a time varying parameter model, which allows for changes in the regime over time. To the best of our knowledge this is the first paper that has attempted to do this. This innovation is important, because there is no […]

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• Working Paper No. 989 June 17, 2021

  The Endogeneity-to-Demand of the National Emergency Utilization Rate

  Michalis Nikiforos
  Abstract

  The paper provides an empirical discussion of the national emergency utilization rate (NEUR), which is based on a “national emergency” definition of potential output and is published by the US Census Bureau. Over the peak-to-peak period 1989–2019, the NEUR decreased by 14.2 percent. The paper examines the trajectory of potential determinants of capacity utilization over […]

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• Working Paper No. 976 November 11, 2020

  The Palestinian Labor Market over the Last Three Decades

  Sameh Hallaq
  Abstract

  This paper consists of three economic literature review essays that survey the Palestinian labor market during the last three decades. The first essay examines the economic return to schooling since 1981 until the recent period, taking into consideration the major shocks that the Palestinian economy experienced, such as the First and Second Palestinian Intifadas (1987–93 […]

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• Public Policy Brief No. 153 September 04, 2020

  Multidimensional Inequality and COVID-19 in Brazil

  Laura Carvalho, Luiza Nassif Pires, and Eduardo Rawet
  Abstract

  After spending over 6 percent of GDP responding to the COVID-19 crisis, Brazil has suffered among the worst per capita numbers in the world in terms of cases and deaths. In this policy brief, Luiza Nassif-Pires, Laura Carvalho, and Eduardo Rawet explore how stark inequalities along racial, regional, and class lines can help account for […]

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• Working Paper No. 963 July 16, 2020

  The Early Impact of COVID-19 on Job Losses among Black Women in the United States

  Thomas Masterson, Michelle Holder, and Janelle Jones
  Abstract

  The COVID-19 pandemic seemingly appeared out of nowhere but changed nearly everything. As the pandemic unfolded, industries deemed nonessential were leveled. Many occupations in these industries are low-wage, and women constitute a greater share of America’s low-wage labor force than men. Even as some workers were able to do their jobs from their homes, a […]

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• Working Paper No. 960 July 09, 2020

  Fiscal Policy in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

  Bendreff Desilus
  Abstract

  Fiscal policy is useful as a government instrument for supporting the economy, contributing to an increase in employment, and reducing inequality through more egalitarian income distribution. Over the past 30 years, developing countries have failed to increase their real wages due to the lack of domestic value-added in the era of globalization, where global supply […]

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• Working Paper No. 959 June 25, 2020

  Distribution and Gender Effects on the Path of Economic Growth

  Ruth Badru
  Abstract

  This paper applies a robust empirical methodology, which considers issues relating to cross-country heterogeneity and cross-sectional dependence, to inspect the contributions of gender equality and factor income distribution to an economy’s growth path. A dynamic model of aggregate demand is estimated on a unique panel dataset from 46 countries that are further grouped into developed […]

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• Working Paper No. 954 April 30, 2020

  Household Consumption, Household Indebtedness, and Inequality in Turkey

  Abstract

  This paper examines whether relative income and income inequality within reference groups affect household consumption. Using the explanations of consumption behavior based on Dusenberry’s relative income hypothesis, we test if household consumption levels in Turkey are affected by the household’s relative position and inequality in the reference group between 2005–12 by employing cross-sectional household-level data. […]

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• Working Paper No. 953 April 24, 2020

  Notes on the Accumulation and Utilization of Capital

  Michalis Nikiforos
  Abstract

  The paper makes three contributions. First, following up on Nikiforos (2016), it provides an in-depth examination of the Federal Reserve measure of capacity utilization and shows that it is closer to a cyclical indicator than a measure of long run variations of normal utilization. Other measures, such as the average workweek of capital or the […]

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• Working Paper No. 952 April 24, 2020

  Notes on the Accumulation and Utilization of Capital

  Michalis Nikiforos
  Abstract

  This paper discusses some issues related to the triangle between capital accumulation, distribution, and capacity utilization. First, it explains why utilization is a crucial variable for the various theories of growth and distribution—more precisely, with regards to their ability to combine an autonomous role for demand (along Keynesian lines) and an institutionally determined distribution (along […]

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• Public Policy Brief No. 149 April 14, 2020

  Pandemic of Inequality

  Thomas Masterson, Michalis Nikiforos, Fernando Rios-Avila, Luiza Nassif Pires, and Laura de Lima Xavier
  Abstract

  The costs of the COVID-19 pandemic—in terms of both the health risks and economic burdens—will be borne disproportionately by the most vulnerable segments of US society. In this public policy brief, Luiza Nassif-Pires, Laura de Lima Xavier, Thomas Masterson, Michalis Nikiforos, and Fernando Rios-Avila demonstrate that the COVID-19 crisis is likely to widen already-worrisome levels […]

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• Working Paper No. 945 January 31, 2020

  Demand, Distribution, Productivity, Structural Change, and (Secular?) Stagnation

  Michalis Nikiforos
  Abstract

  The present paper emphasizes the role of demand, income distribution, endogenous productivity reactions, and other structural changes in the slowdown of the growth rate of output and productivity that has been observed in the United States over the last four decades. In particular, it is explained that weak net export demand, fiscal conservatism, and the […]

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• Working Paper No. 941 December 12, 2019

  Wage Differential between Palestinian Non-refugees and Palestinian Refugees in the West Bank and Gaza

  Sameh Hallaq
  Abstract

  This paper measures the wage differential between Palestinian non-refugees and Palestinian refugees in the West Bank and Gaza over the years 1999–2012. First, the main individual and occupational differences between the two groups in the two regions are presented. Then, the wage differential is decomposed into two components: a “human capital effect, explained part” and […]

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• One-Pager No. 60 July 26, 2019

  Fighting Inequality Can Strengthen the US Economy

  Dimitri B. Papadimitriou, Gennaro Zezza, and Michalis Nikiforos
  Abstract

  Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, along with Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, recently proposed to increase the rate of taxation on very high incomes and net worth. One of the primary justifications for such policies is that reducing inequality would help safeguard political equality. However, Dimitri B. Papadimitriou, Michalis Nikiforos, and Gennaro Zezza show how these […]

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• Strategic Analysis April 15, 2019

  Can Redistribution Help Build a More Stable Economy?

  Dimitri B. Papadimitriou, Gennaro Zezza, and Michalis Nikiforos
  Abstract

  Although the ongoing recovery is about to become the longest in the history of the United States, it is also the weakest in postwar history, and as we enter the second quarter of 2019, many clouds have gathered. This Strategic Analysis considers the recent trajectory, the present state, and the future prospects of the US […]

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• Working Paper No. 915 September 19, 2018

  Black Employment Trends since the Great Recession

  Thomas Masterson
  Abstract

  The Great Recession had a devastating impact on labor force participation and employment. This impact was not unlike other recessions, except in size. The recovery, however, has been unusual not so much for its sluggishness but for the unusual pattern of recovery in employment by race. The black employment–population ratio has increased since bottoming out […]

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• One-Pager No. 57 September 10, 2018

  Stagnating Economic Well-Being Amid Rising Government Support

  Ajit Zacharias, Thomas Masterson, and Fernando Rios-Avila
  Abstract

  The Levy Institute Measure of Economic Well-Being (LIMEW) was designed to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the changes affecting household living standards. Ajit Zacharias, Thomas Masterson, and Fernando Rios-Avila summarize their latest research on the trends in economic well-being for US households. They reveal historic stagnation in LIMEW growth over the 2000–13 period, as […]

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