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Effects of Government Policies on Income Distribution and Welfare

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  • Wu, Ximing
  • Perloff, Jeffrey M.
  • Golan, Amos

Abstract

A variety of parametric and semiparametric models produce qualitatively similar estimates of government policies' effects on income distribution and welfare (as measured by the Gini, standard deviation of logarithms, relative mean deviation, coefficient of variation, and various Atkinson indexes). Taxes and the Earned Income Tax Credit are an effective way to redistribute income to the poor and raise welfare. The minimum wage lowers welfare. Social insurance programs have little effect except for Supplemental Security Income, which raises welfare. Transfer programs (AFDC/TANF and food stamps) either have no statistically significant effect or lower welfare.

Suggested Citation

  • Wu, Ximing & Perloff, Jeffrey M. & Golan, Amos, 2002. "Effects of Government Policies on Income Distribution and Welfare," CUDARE Working Papers 25031, University of California, Berkeley, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:ucbecw:25031
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.25031
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    Cited by:

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    2. T.O. Abiloro & A. Olawole & T.E. Adeniran, 2019. "Corruption, Income Inequality, and Economic Development in Nigeria," International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, vol. 9(4), pages 304-319, October.
    3. Leigh, Andrew, 2008. "Estimating the impact of gubernatorial partisanship on policy settings and economic outcomes: A regression discontinuity approach," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 256-268, March.
    4. Nguyen, Jessica & Dinh, Tue & Selart, Marcus, 2020. "The predicting abilities of social trust and good governance on economic crisis duration," SocArXiv bjkpd, Center for Open Science.
    5. Wu, Ximing & Perloff, Jeffrey M. & Golan, Amos, 2004. "Government Policy Effects on Urban and Rural Income Inequality," CUDARE Working Papers 25125, University of California, Berkeley, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
    6. El-Osta, Hisham S. & Mishra, Ashok K., 2005. "Dimensions of Wealth Dispersion Among Farm Operator Households: An Assessment of the Impact of Farm Subsidies," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 37(1), pages 187-208, April.
    7. Łukasz Rawdanowicz & Eckhard Wurzel & Ane Kathrine Christensen, 2013. "The Equity Implications of Fiscal Consolidation," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 1013, OECD Publishing.
    8. Craig Gundersen & James Ziliak, 2004. "Poverty and macroeconomic performance across space, race, and family structure," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 41(1), pages 61-86, February.
    9. Minoiu, Camelia & Andres, Antonio Rodriguez, 2008. "The effect of public spending on suicide: Evidence from U.S. state data," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 237-261, February.
    10. Andrew Leigh, 2005. "What’s the Difference Between a Donkey and an Elephant? Using Panel Data from US States to Estimate the Impact of Partisanship on Policy Settings and Economic Outcomes," CEPR Discussion Papers 504, Centre for Economic Policy Research, Research School of Economics, Australian National University.
    11. Kalenborn, Christine & Lessmann, Christian, 2014. "Regional Income Inequality lowers Life Satisfaction: Evidence from OECD Countries," VfS Annual Conference 2014 (Hamburg): Evidence-based Economic Policy 100561, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.

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