• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.11
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• pp.529-540
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• 2020

The objective of this research paper is to study the simultaneous relationship between fiscal decentralization, corruption, and income inequality among Vietnamese provinces. We use a balanced panel data set of 63 provinces/cities in Vietnam in the period from 2011 to 2018. The study used 3SLS-GMM (Three Stage Least Squares - Generalized Method of Moments estimator) and GMM-HAC (Generalized Method of Moments - Heteroskedastic and Autocorrelation Consistent estimator). Empirical evidence shows a strong simultaneous relationship: increased corruption will increase regional income disparities, income inequality, and increase fiscal decentralization. In addition, the results also suggest that an increase in per-capita income will reduce the level of corruption, or better control corruption of each province. The degree of increase in income inequality, which reduces fiscal decentralization, is the same for trade liberalization. All demonstrate that there is a simultaneous relationship between fiscal decentralization, corruption, and income inequality. In a region of high public governance quality, fiscal decentralization positively effects its economic growth. This issue will indirectly increase income inequality between provinces within a country. Our findings imply that a country's fiscal decentralization strategy should be linked to improving corruption control and local governance effectiveness, indirectly improving income inequality between localities or regions.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.635-641
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• 2021

This article analyzes the factors affecting income inequality in Vietnam, with data from 63 provinces and cities collected from the Vietnam Household Living Standards Survey of the General Statistics Office of Vietnam from 2010 to 2018. The article will firstly build a research model to identify factors affecting income inequality. Then, it uses the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) method to evaluate the effect of factors on income inequality in Vietnam. The empirical estimate result shows that, in the period from 2010 to 2018, the factors such as the proportion of the working employees, income per capita, and inflation have positive effects on the Gini coefficient. That is, when these factors increase, there will be negative effects on improving income inequality in Vietnam. Conversely, when the factors such as the proportion of the literate adults, the proportion of the urban population, and population density increase they will have a positive impact on improving income inequality in Vietnam during this period. The estimated coefficients satisfied the sign expectation except the proportion of the literate adults. It means that, in Vietnam, the increase and more equilibrium in educational attainment balance the distribution of income and bring an improvement in income inequality.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.59 no.1
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• pp.199-221
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• 2007

This study examines the conditions and causes of income inequality and seeks assignments for mitigating income inequality. An analysis of the conditions and causes of income inequality is summarized as follows. First, income inequality, which rapidly increased after the economic crisis, increased and reduced repeatedly during 1999-2004, and remained a level in 2005 as high as that of the year directly after the economic crisis. Second, an analysis of the causes of income inequality by utilizing the long-term data(1985-2004) shows that unemployment rate, nonstandard employment rate, and the rising rate of land prices positively affect income inequality. Third, an analysis of the causes of income inequality by utilizing the data before and after the economic crisis(1995-2004) demonstrates that unemployment rate, nonstandard employment rate, and the workers' income ratio between large enterprises and small enterprises positively affect income inequality. Fourth, the rising rate of land prices which significantly affects income inequality in the data of 1985-2004 does not affect income equality in the data of 1995-2004, and the workers' income ratio between large enterprises and small enterprises which does not affect income inequality in the data of 1985-2004 significantly affect income equality in the data of 1995-2004. These results suggest several implications for mitigating income inequality. First, alternative plans to reduce unemployment rate must be prepared. Second, policies to reduce nonstandard employment rate should be established. Third, programs to stabilize or lower the land prices must be deliberated. Fourth, a master-plan to support small to medium enterprises must be carried out in order to reduce the wage differentials between large enterprises and small to medium enterprises.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.65-84
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• 2010

The purpose of Inequality Index Decomposition is to know the cause of overall inequality through decomposing aggregate inequality index into relevant components. Previous studies have mostly focused on the absolute contribution meaning that how much each component possesses out of overall inequality. However it could be more important to know the marginal contribution and inequality effect of each component in order to implement policies reducing overall inequality effectively. For this, we decomposed Gini Coefficient as representative inequality index into income sources or social welfare programs and calculated each Gini Income Elasticity(GIE). Analysis result says that regular employee income and employer(or the self-employed) income, of which GIE are 1.205 and 1.867, are classified as inequality-increasing income source. GIE can be one of good methods to analyse the inequality effect of various income sources and social welfare programs.

• Journal of Agricultural Extension & Community Development
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.229-241
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• 2023

This study aims to examine the farm household income and consumption structure change as well as farm income inequality. Data from the Agricultural Household Survey for the years 2016, 2021, and 2022 were hired to analyze farm income inequality by the Gini coefficient decomposition method. Results show that from 2016 to 2021, all income quintiles exhibited an increasing trend, but in 2022, income decreased across all quintiles. As a result of analyzing farm household consumption expenditure, consumption expenditure increased in all income quintiles in 2021 and 2022 compared to 2016, but consumption of optional goods decreased in the fifth quintile. In addition, it was found that farmers in the first quartile had higher consumption expenditures and expenditures on options than those in the second quartile. The analysis of farm income by region show that public subsidies increased significantly for general rural farmers than for farmers in special and metropolitan areas in all income quintiles during the period. In the case of the first quintile, farm household income in rural areas in special and metropolitan cities increased compared to general rural areas. In the fifth quartile, agricultural income and sideline income in general rural areas increased compared to rural areas in special and metropolitan cities, while rural areas in special and metropolitan cities increased non-business income compared to rural areas. Results of farming income inequality by income type show a steady decline in inequality from 2016 to 2022, indicating that the decreasing gini coefficinet of public subsidies is contributing to the decline in farm income inequality. Private subsidies and side income are shown to increase inequality.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.11
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• pp.21-29
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• 2021

The objective of this study is to see how a country's level of democracy impacts the relationship between financial development and income disparity. We argue that political regimes, supported by their degree of democracy, are important for various decentralization theories to predict the impact of financial development on income inequality. Our study tests this argument using Vietnam time series data for the period 2000-2020 through the ARDL model. The financial development variable is represented by five proxies, the income inequality variable is represented by the GINI coefficient and the role of democracy is represented by the Freedom House Index. Data serving for the study is taken from data sources with high reliability. The results of the study have strong evidence that (1) financial development has a positive impact on income inequality, (2) democratic government will reduce national income inequality. (3) And a higher degree of democracy tends to mitigate the positive impact of financial development on income inequality. Thus, our study contributes to the literature by providing a new look at the mixed results regarding the relationship between financial development and theoretical income inequality. Finally, the article provides policy implications for the Government of Vietnam.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.12
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• pp.19-29
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• 2021

This study aims to measure financial inclusion and examine its impact on income inequality in a panel of 18 Asian countries over the period 1997-2017. Two alternative approaches for developing financial inclusion index are used: one approach following the methodology of Sarma (2008), while the other is the Dynamic Factor Model (DFM)-based index. The impact of individual indicators and index of financial inclusion on inequality in income is analyzed. The Generalized Method of Moment (GMM) approach is used for empirical analysis. The results indicate that micro-level financial inclusion has a weak negative and statistically significant impact on income inequality. Macro-level index and all individual indicators of financial inclusion do not affect income inequality in the selected sample of economies. The income inequality issues have different natures and cannot be fixed by financial inclusion only. It needs holistic structural reforms to enable fair distribution of income and make an equitable financial system. Financial inclusion is a relatively less important intervention tool regarding fixing the issue of income inequality. This is one of the first studies that used the DFM method for financial inclusion indices construction.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.106 no.4
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• pp.497-508
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• 2017

This study conducted to examine about the income inequality and bi-polarization for forestry household. For this purpose, Gini coefficient and Atkinson index were used to analyze the income inequality for forestry household. Also, DER index were employed to show their income bi-polarization. Before using these methodologies, forestry household income was divided into three parts that was forestry income, non forestry business income and transfer income. And then, income inequality and bi-polarization were analyzed respectively. The result shows that forestry household income inequality was higher than whole household inequality. Apart from transfer income, forestry household income, forestry income and non forestry business income inequality was aggravated. At the same time, these tendency was able to observe the bi-polarization for forestry household income and other income sources.

• STI Policy Review
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.1-15
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• 2016

This study provides empirical evidences for the relationship between income inequality and economic growth, and relationship of income inequality with some of explanatory variables such as technological innovation, trade globalization, financial globalization and fiscal policy. We find out that income inequality has an adverse effect on economic growth, showing its dynamic features, for which we employed the polynomial distributed lags (PDL) model. The effect of income inequality on economic growth lasts over 9 years, and its dynamic effect peaks after 4 years. In addition, we also attempted to find out empirical evidences of sources of income inequality. The results show that income inequality is positively related to technological innovation, financial globalization, and fiscal policy; negatively related to the trade globalization. Many studies employ cross-country data, but it could have serious problems in collecting statistical data. Korean data is used over the time period of 1990-2015 in this study.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.5
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• pp.111-118
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• 2020

This paper examines the impacts of credit on income inequality in Vietnam. Though it is one of the most common measures of financial development, there is a dearth of research in this area. Unlike previous studies, the paper disaggregates the impact of each type of credit on income inequality, looking at the Gini coefficient. We employ the Generalized Method of Moment (GMM) to solve the endogenous problem. The primary data set contains a panel of 60 Provincial observations, from data collected from the General Statistics Office of Vietnam from 2002 to 2016. The empirical findings show that, while commercial credit increases income inequality, policy credit contributes to reducing income inequality in Vietnam. The results also confirm the important roles of education, institutional quality and foreign direct investment in fighting against income inequality in Vietnam. However, the paper does not provide adequate evidence to support the inverted U-shaped relationship between credit and income inequality. Based on the findings, we argue that the government should direct flows of credit to real economic activities rather than speculative investment; more bank credit should be allocated to rural areas and agriculture; and favorable credit programs should be designed to promote education, especially of those living in rural areas.