IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/mul/je8794/doi10.1429-94536y2019i2p173-208.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Geography of Italian Income Inequality: Recent Trends and the Role of Employment

Author

Listed:
  • Emanuele Ciani
  • Roberto Torrini

Abstract

We study the role of regional imbalances in explaining the high household income inequality in Italy. In the first part of the work we use the Survey of Household Income and Wealth (SHIW) to describe the trends in income inequality between and within areas since the early 2000s. We illustrate that the between-area inequality has been relatively stable, while the within-area component increased significantly after the recession and during the recovery. In 2016, the large geographical divide and the higher inequality within the South contributed to almost one fifth of national inequality. In the second part we show that the distribution of employment is key in explaining the regional differences in both average income and its dispersion. By means of simulations based on matching and reweighting, we estimate that national inequality would be reduced by 15% if the distribution of work hours across Southern households were similar to the one in the more developed Centre-North. Regional employment differentials are so important in determining overall inequality that income dispersion would decline substantially even if this increase in employment were associated with a drop in Southern regions' average labour income.

Suggested Citation

  • Emanuele Ciani & Roberto Torrini, 2019. "The Geography of Italian Income Inequality: Recent Trends and the Role of Employment," Politica economica, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 2, pages 173-208.
    • Handle: RePEc:mul:je8794:doi:10.1429/94536:y:2019:i:2:p:173-208
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.rivisteweb.it/download/article/10.1429/94536
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://www.rivisteweb.it/doi/10.1429/94536
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tito Boeri & Andrea Ichino & Enrico Moretti & Johanna Posch, 2021. "Wage Equalization and Regional Misallocation: Evidence from Italian and German Provinces [“Regional Wage Disparities and Migration.”]," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 19(6), pages 3249-3292.
    2. Fortin, Nicole & Lemieux, Thomas & Firpo, Sergio, 2011. "Decomposition Methods in Economics," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 1, pages 1-102, Elsevier.
    3. Fabrizio Colonna & Stefania Marcassa, 2015. "Taxation and female labor supply in Italy," IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-29, December.
    4. Giovanni D'Alessio & Andrea Brandolini, 2001. "Household Structure and Income Inequality," LIS Working papers 254, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    5. Faini, Riccardo, 1999. "Trade unions and regional development," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 457-474, February.
    6. David Kantor, 2006. "MAHAPICK: Stata module to select matching observations based on a Mahalanobis distance measure," Statistical Software Components S456703, Boston College Department of Economics, revised 15 Nov 2012.
    7. Massimo Baldini & Stefano Toso & Paolo Bosi, 2002. "Targeting welfare in Italy: old problems and perspectives on reform," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 23(1), pages 51-75, March.
    8. Ciani, Emanuele & David, Francesco & de Blasio, Guido, 2019. "Local responses to labor demand shocks: A Re-assessment of the case of Italy," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 1-21.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Giulia Bovini & Emanuele Ciani & Marta De Philippis & Stefania Romano, 2023. "Labour income inequality and in-work poverty: a comparison between euro area countries," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 806, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    2. Niccolò Comerio & Fausto Pacicco, 2024. "The role of tourism in reducing economic inequalities: the case of Italy," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 41(3), pages 839-880, October.
    3. Gabriele Ruiu, 2023. "Exploring polarisation in economic hardship among Italian macro-regions," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 57(1), pages 787-817, February.
    4. Demetrio Guzzardi & Salvatore Morelli, 2024. "A New Geography of Inequality: Top incomes in Italian Regions and Inner Areas," LEM Papers Series 2024/16, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    5. Bloise, Francesco & Chironi, Daniela & Pianta, Mario, 2019. "Inequality and elections in Italian regions," MPRA Paper 96416, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Albanese, Andrea & Gallo, Giovanni, 2020. "Buy flexible, pay more: The role of temporary contracts on wage inequality," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    7. d'Agostino, Giorgio & Patriarca, Fabrizio & Pieroni, Luca & Scarlato, Margherita, 2020. "The perverse effects of hiring credits as a place-based policy: Evidence from Southern Italy," MPRA Paper 102240, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Cristian Barra & Anna Papaccio & Nazzareno Ruggiero, 2023. "Government effectiveness and inequality in Italian regions," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 56(2), pages 781-801, April.
    9. Bartak, Jakub & Jabłoński, Łukasz & Tomkiewicz, Jacek, 2022. "Does income inequality explain public debt change in OECD countries?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 211-224.
    10. Marco Baudino, 2020. "Environmental Engel curves in Italy: A spatial econometric investigation," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 99(4), pages 999-1018, August.
    11. Jasmine Mondolo, 2022. "Product and labour market imperfections in the Italian manufacturing sector: a firm-level analysis," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 39(3), pages 813-838, October.
    12. Francesca Carta, 2020. "Timely Indicators for Inequality and Poverty Using the Italian Labour Force Survey," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 149(1), pages 41-65, May.
    13. Surico, Paolo & Andreolli, Michele, 2021. "Less is More: Consumer Spending and the Size of Economic Stimulus Payments," CEPR Discussion Papers 15918, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    14. Michele Costa & Flavio Delbono & Francesco Linguiti, 2023. "Cooperative movement and widespread prosperity across Italian regions," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 94(2), pages 475-494, June.
    15. Franecsca Carta, 2019. "Timely indicators for labour income inequality," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 503, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    16. Michele Costa & Flavio Delbono & Francesco Linguiti, 2021. "Cooperative Movement and Prosperity across Italian Regions," Working Papers wp1161, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    17. Ferri, Giovanni & Lagravinese, Raffaele & Resce, Giuliano, 2024. "Inequality and Gambling," Economics & Statistics Discussion Papers esdp24095, University of Molise, Department of Economics.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ciani, Emanuele & de Blasio, Guido & Poy, Samuele, 2022. "A freeway to prosperity? Evidence from Calabria, South of Italy," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 29(C).
    2. Matteo Alpino & Irene Di Marzio & Maurizio Lozzi & Vincenzo Mariani, 2022. "Labor market spillovers of a large plan opening. Evidence from the oil industry," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 1386, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    3. Salverda, Wiemer & Checchi, Daniele, 2014. "Labour-Market Institutions and the Dispersion of Wage Earnings," IZA Discussion Papers 8220, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Thomas Y. Mathä & Alessandro Porpiglia & Michael Ziegelmeyer, 2014. "Wealth differences across borders and the effect of real estate price dynamics: Evidence from two household surveys," BCL working papers 90, Central Bank of Luxembourg.
    5. Joanna Tyrowicz & Lucas van der Velde, 2017. "When the opportunity knocks: large structural shocks and gender wage gaps," GRAPE Working Papers 2, GRAPE Group for Research in Applied Economics.
    6. Chung Choe & SeEun Jung & Ronald L. Oaxaca, 2020. "Identification and decompositions in probit and logit models," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 59(3), pages 1479-1492, September.
    7. Marco Caliendo & Frank M. Fossen & Alexander Kritikos & Miriam Wetter, 2015. "The Gender Gap in Entrepreneurship: Not just a Matter of Personality," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 61(1), pages 202-238.
    8. Valentine Fays & Benoît Mahy & François Rycx, 2023. "Wage differences according to workers' origin: The role of working more upstream in GVCs," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 37(2), pages 319-342, June.
    9. Francesco Devicienti & Valentina Gualtieri & Mariacristina Rossi, 2014. "The Persistence Of Income Poverty And Lifestyle Deprivation: Evidence From Italy," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 66(3), pages 246-278, July.
    10. Huong Thu Le & Ha Trong Nguyen, 2018. "The evolution of the gender test score gap through seventh grade: new insights from Australia using unconditional quantile regression and decomposition," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 7(1), pages 1-42, December.
    11. David Card & Ana Rute Cardoso, 2022. "Wage Flexibility under Sectoral Bargaining," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 20(5), pages 2013-2061.
    12. Martti Kaila & Emily Nix & Krista Riukula, 2021. "Disparate Impacts of Job Loss by Parental Income and Implications for Intergenerational Mobility," Opportunity and Inclusive Growth Institute Working Papers 53, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
    13. Adamopoulou, Effrosyni & Villanueva, Ernesto, 2020. "Wage Determination and the Bite of Collective Contracts in Italy and Spain: Evidence from the Metalworking Industry," IZA Discussion Papers 13542, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Leone Leonida & Marianna Marra & Sergio Scicchitano & Antonio Giangreco & Marco Biagetti, 2020. "Estimating the Wage Premium to Supervision for Middle Managers in Different Contexts: Evidence from Germany and the UK," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 34(6), pages 1004-1026, December.
    15. Mathieu Narcy & Joseph Lanfranchi & Chloé Duvivier, 2016. "Les sources de l’écart de rémunération entre femmes et hommes dans la fonction publique," Économie et Statistique, Programme National Persée, vol. 488(1), pages 123-150.
    16. Töpfer, Marina, 2017. "Detailed RIF decomposition with selection: The gender pay gap in Italy," Hohenheim Discussion Papers in Business, Economics and Social Sciences 26-2017, University of Hohenheim, Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences.
    17. Katie Meara & Francesco Pastore & Allan Webster, 2020. "The gender pay gap in the USA: a matching study," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 33(1), pages 271-305, January.
    18. Sergio Longobardi & Margherita Maria Pagliuca & Andrea Regoli, 2018. "Can problem-solving attitudes explain the gender gap in financial literacy? Evidence from Italian students’ data," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 52(4), pages 1677-1705, July.
    19. Cemal Eren Arbatlı & Quamrul H. Ashraf & Oded Galor & Marc Klemp, 2020. "Diversity and Conflict," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 88(2), pages 727-797, March.
    20. Elvin Afandi & Majid Kermani, 2015. "Bridging The Gender Gap In Entrepreneurship: An Empirical Analysis," Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship (JDE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 20(02), pages 1-22.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Inequality; North-South Divide; Work Intensity.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • R10 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - General
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:mul:je8794:doi:10.1429/94536:y:2019:i:2:p:173-208. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.rivisteweb.it/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.