In difesa dell'uguaglianza distributiva
Elena Granaglia
In defence of equality
Taking as starting point Krugman’s thesis on the weakening of egalitarian
social norms as a cause of today’s growing income inequality, the article aims at
pinpointing the force of the egalitarian argument, even assuming a liberal perspective
sensitive to freedom, responsibility and incentive-compatibility. To
this purpose, it reviews the three main families of theories developed from such
a perspective, namely, equality of resources (in the rawlsian as well as in the
left-libertarian and dworkinian versions), luck egalitarianism and equality of
capabilities.
Crescita economica e distribuzione del reddito : le opinioni degli economisti e i loro limiti
Massimo Giannini
Economic growth and income distribution: what economists say
This paper reviews the literature on the interplay between growth
and personal income distribution. After reviewing some major contributions,
it concludes that the empirical approach is still lacking in
explaining some crucial questions related to the dynamics and other
distinguishing features of the income distribution, both at world and
country level. It concludes with some insights for developing theoretical
models able to account for the richness and complexity of the topic.
L'interdipendenza fra distribuzione funzionale e distribuzione personale del reddito : il caso europeo
Francesco Farina
The interdependence between personal
and functional income distribution: the European case
During the last decades the most advanced European countries
(EU-15) have experienced a parallel evolution towards a fall in the
labour share and a rise in the wage inequality. A common consequence
of these trends was to mainly hit the low-skill workers’ wages
and jobs. This outcome, however, should not been attributed only to
harsher competition in international markets. This paper highlights
that the slight recovery of the labour share which has occurred at the
turn of the century in some EU-15 economies should be traced back
to reforms in the labour market and in welfare benefits. The institutional
constraint impinging on the technological choices of the firms
was lessened, and the employment rate thus increased.
Tecnologia, commercio e disuguaglianze in Europa
Mario Pianta
Technology, trade and inequality in Europe
Technological change and international trade have changed the
structure of advanced economies, the patterns of demand for labour,
the distribution between wages and profits and within wages, resulting
in greater polarization and inequality. The article provides a
review and original evidence on the mechanisms that have linked
innovation and trade to inequality, considering the role of different
technological strategies and patterns of international integration across
industries. The increase of inequality is assessed in terms of the relative
growth of wages and profits, on the polarization of the employment
structure on the basis of skills, and on the polarization of wages.
Tendenze della distribuzione dei redditi in Italia e impoverimento della classe media : percezione o realtà?
Elena Pisano, Simone Tedeschi
Tendencies in income distribution and the crisis of the middle-class in
Italy: perception or reality?
The aim of the paper is to assess distributional changes occurred
in Italy in the last thirty years, focusing in particular on the last
decade. Computations are based on Bank of Italy’s Survey of
Households Income and Wealth and are aimed at drawing a consistent
picture of the major distributional episodes around three main
issues: income inequality, poverty and mobility. Although most of
synthetic indices show limited changes along the last decade, the use
of alternative non-static tools such as transition matrices reveal a
significant downward mobility for the middle and the upper-middle
quantiles, which is also associated to a higher persistence for the
bottom part of the distribution. These findings suggests that, in
absence of a «risk premium» due to poor growth performances, the
greater uncertainty and the risk-shift caused by recent reforms being
extremely relevant in explaining the puzzle between the empirical
evidence of stability in distributional indices and the feeling of
impoverishment experienced by Italian households.
La povertà in Italia e in Europa : estensione, caratteristiche e nuove tendenze
Sandro Franco
Poverty in Italy and Europe:
the phenomenon, its characteristics and new trends
Using Istat and Eurostat data, the paper analyzes, first of all, the
incidence of poverty in Italy and in European Union in recent years,
focussing also on child poverty. The data show that in Italy, both general
poverty and child poverty reach very high level, even though differences
between the North and the South are sharp. The main family
characteristics responsible for a higher risk of poverty are also
reviewed, among with the number of family members, especially if
they include children or elderly, is prominent. In the last part of work,
an econometric test is performed to reach the conclusion that the
chances for young graduates to avoid poverty after 2 or 3 years from
the degree have significantly increased in the last decade in Italy. This
seems particularly worrying in the light of the importance usually
attached to human capital as an anti-poverty policy.
The super-rich and the income inequality:
the evolution of top incomes in the West in the last century
The aim of this work is to explore the wide and «take off» literature
on empirical evidence about top incomes shares series over the 20th
century in several countries. Despite the methodological differences
due to the availability of data (tax returns), the findings of the recent
studies on the upper tail of income distribution are similar for most of
the countries analyzed: they show indeed a common pattern of pronounced
decline in top incomes in the first half of the century –
mainly due to shocks on capital incomes engendered by the two
World Wars and the Great Depression – with no recovery in the following
decades, probably owed to the introduction of mass progressive
tax schemes. Since the half of the 1970s, however, top income shares
in English-speaking-countries – unlike continental Europe series –
have shown a quite substantial increase. This dramatic surge in income
concentration – maybe linked to fiscal and redistributive policies
adopted after the political conservative turn in the USA and the UK –
appears to be mostly referable to a marked rise in top wages probably
resulting from a new labour market order led by a mix of technological
and fiscal changes coupled with the emerging of a new corporate
governance class (i.e. the CEO). Factors other than technology such
as social norms are proposed to account for the observed facts, rising
doubts on the technical change view of inequality in the long run.
Welfare State e redistribuzione : il ruolo di universalismo e selettività
Michele Raitano
Welfare State and redistribution:
the role of universalism and targeting
Notwithstanding many theoretical contributions, few studies have
so far analyzed in quantitative terms the link between Welfare State
and redistribution. Besides, such studies have many methodological
shortcomings, concerning both how redistribution is computed and
how Welfare State features are synthesized through indexes. After
having described the trend of inequality in the last twenty years in the
developed countries, in the first part of the paper we will critically
review such shortcomings. Then, we will focus on one of the most
crucial dimensions of welfare systems, i.e. the choice between universal
or targeted schemes, and, surveying the existing literature, we
compare the pros and cons of both schemes and their impact on inequality
and redistribution.
L'istruzione dei genitori e dei figli: disuguaglianze che persistono
Maurizio Franzini, Michele Raitano
Fathers and sons education levels: the persistence of inequality
The paper deals with the problem of intergenerational transmission
of inequality and in particular with the persistence of education
attainments through generations. In the first part of the paper an
empirical analysis of the phenomenon at world level is carried out,
coming to the conclusion that, despite national differences, persistence
of education levels is a widespread and serious phenomenon. With
specific reference to Italy an original empirical analysis is carried out,
which allows to get a rich picture of the intensity and manifestation of
this form of inequality persistence. In the second part of the paper an
attempt is made to identify the main factors responsible for the observed
tendencies and a theoretical scheme is proposed for classifying
such factors and also for distinguishing more clearly between social
mobility, equality of opportunity and intergenerational transmission
of advantages and disadvantages.
Guerra totale : le dinamiche della violenza narrate da Gabriella Gribaudi attraverso i vissuti e le memorie delle popolazioni
Maria Antonietta Selvaggio
Il ritorno di Banfield
Antonino Blando