Income Distribution Commons^™

Scarcity Or Economic Insecurity? Two Yardsticks For Measuring Capitalism’S Performance, Costas Panayotakis

Publications and Research

This article argues that capitalism’s relationship to economic insecurity is as important for the evaluation of that system as its relationship to scarcity. Critically analyzing the neoclassical and Marxist focus on capitalism’s relationship to scarcity, the article describes how capitalism’s relationship to economic insecurity offers a more cogent elaboration of these traditions’ shared belief that the economic system should serve people. In particular, while critical of the neoclassical portrayal of capitalism as a system using scarce resources efficiently, this paper also argues, against Marxism, that an alternative to capitalism might be preferable even if scarcity is not abolished.

The Effect Of A Financial Crisis On Household Finances: A Case Study Of Iceland’S Financial Crisis, Axel Hall, Andri S. Scheving, Gylfi Zoega

Journal of Financial Crises

Iceland experienced a financial crisis in 2008–2009 when its banking system collapsed, the currency lost half its value, most businesses became technically insolvent, house prices fell, and household debt increased due to indexation to foreign currencies or the price level. This paper tells the story of the crisis and maps the losses to households using a dataset from tax returns that includes all taxpayers in the country and contains the value of housing, mortgage debt, disposable income, and net worth. For relative losses in net worth, the results show that families with children, especially those with parents aged between 24 …

A Study On Impact Of Library Resource Utilisation And Ict Literacy On Earning Of The Post-Graduate Students Of Assam, India, Arnob Paul, Masuma Ahmed

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Information and communication technology, or ICT, is a broad term for information technology that emphasises the importance of unified communications and telecommunications integration, as well as intelligent building management systems and audio-visual systems in modern information technology. ICT refers to all technical tools that are used to manage data and facilitate communication. It consists of computer and network hardware, as well as software and required applications. With the increasing demand for information and communication technology literacy among the young students, it is important to know the impact of ICT literacy on the level of part time income of the students. …

Livelihood And Happiness In A Resource (Natural And Cultural)-Rich Rural Municipality In The Philippines, Rosalina Palanca-Tan, Sheila Bayog

Economics Department Faculty Publications

This paper looks at the economic and welfare conditions of residents in Lake Sebu, a largely rural but natural and cultural resource-rich municipality in Southern Mindanao in the Philippines. Two notions of welfare are used in the study: economic welfare, measured in terms of household income and vulnerability to hunger; and social welfare, measured in terms of self-reported happiness. The study uses primary data collected through a household survey and analyzed with statistical and econometric procedures (tests of difference between sub-populations; and ordinary least squares, binary probit, and ordered logistic regressions). The results suggest mixed implications of abundant natural and …

Housing Affordability Index: Mountain West Cities, November 2021, Olivia K. Cheche, Joshua Padilla, William E. Brown Jr.

Housing & Real Estate

This fact sheet highlights data on the median household income, median home price, estimated monthly mortgage and taxes, and share of income used for homeownership in fifteen Mountain West housing markets, as originally outlined in the “RealtyHop Housing Affordability Index: November 2021” report. The RealtyHop report analyzes the affordability of housing markets for the 100 most populous cities in the United States.

Investment Patterns In Mountain West States, Counties, And Nevada Cities 2005-2019, Peter Grema, Zachary Walusek, Katie M. Gilbertson, William E. Brown Jr.

Economic Development & Workforce

The purpose of this fact sheet is to summarize findings on capital flows across Mountain West states and counties, and within Nevada cities. The “Gauging Investment Patterns across the US” report by the Urban Institute present findings of overall volume of capital deployed, racial equity of investments, and income equity for each respective geographic area. The full report further breaks down these three main categories into 18 other metrics.

The Google Tour Project, Colton Saylor

Assignment Prompts

Context: This assignment helps culminate our class theme, “Reading and Writing the City,” in which we explore representations of urban life from a variety of perspectives and academic disciplines. Our final unit takes on the issue of gentrification; more specifically, we explore how the issue revolves around stories of either progress or subjugation (depending on who is telling the story). After scaffolding some background on the issue and what it means, students form into groups and create these digital tours that serve as visual essays. In creating their own arguments either for or against gentrification, they take on their own …

Cdc Social Vulnerability Index (Svi): Nevada Counties, Vanessa Booth, Ally M. Beckwith, Kelliann Beavers, William E. Brown Jr.

Demography

This fact sheet highlights how Nevada counties rank on the Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) as defined by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ASTDR). Socially vulnerable populations are often disproportionately harmed during public health emergencies such as natural disasters and infectious disease outbreaks. The Geospatial Research, Analysis, and Services Program (GRASP) created the CDC/ATSDR Social Vulnerability Index (CDC/ATSDR SCI) to help public health officials and emergency response planners meet community health needs during response and recovery efforts (ATSDR, 2020).

Institutions, State Capacity, And Intra-State Conflict: Evidence From A Decade-Long Civil War In Nepal, Nishant Yonzan

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

First, while mass armed civil conflicts predominantly occur in weak states, which are states that lack state capacity, it is unclear why not all weak states experience mass armed civil conflict. Second, political stability and highly unequal distribution of resources are opposing forces that are unlikely to coexist together. However, highly unequal societies have existed with relative stability. Indeed, cross-country literature on civil war finds little relationship between conflict and unequal distribution of resources. This dissertation attempts to address these issues using the Civil War in Nepal which lasted from 1996 to 2006.

Institutions are fundamental for the proper functioning …

Homelessness Estimates In The Mountain West, 2020, Saha Salahi, Vanessa Booth, William E. Brown Jr.

Demography

This fact sheet summarizes a recent report titled, “The 2020 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress,” by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. By synthesizing homelessness vulnerability categories to the Mountain West states, this report offers data for Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah.

Small Business Equity In Nevada, 2021, Ally M. Beckwith, Olivia K. Cheche, William E. Brown Jr.

Economic Development & Workforce

This fact sheet highlights data on minority and women-owned small businesses in Nevada in 2021, as originally reported by the Small Business Equity Tool. This tool examines the representation of Black, Asian, Latino, minority, and women-owned small businesses in the largest metropolitan areas and cities across the United States.

Financial Stress In Mountain West Cities And Townships, 2020, Saha Salahi, Kristian Thymianos, Eshaan Vakil, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Economic Development & Workforce

This factsheet highlights financial stressors facing 16 cities in four Mountain West states: Arizona, Colorado Nevada, and New Mexico. The data included are reported in the 2020 “SmartAsset Study” by Ben Geier.

How Did Homelessness Change During The Great Recession And Recovery?, Jenny Schuetz, Matthew Ring

Policy Briefs and Reports

Job losses from the COVID-19 pandemic have exacerbated housing insecurity among low-income renters over the past year. Federal, state, and local policymakers have created temporary measures to help reduce displacement among people who have lost their jobs, but there is considerable uncertainty about what will happen when these temporary measures end. To gain insight into how homelessness changes over macroeconomic cycles, we examine changes in homelessness rates from 2007 to 2020. Our analysis focuses on four metro areas that were particularly hard-hit by the foreclosure crisis: Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Riverside. Overall homelessness rates declined in all metros …

Cash Transfers And Temptation Goods: An Analysis On The Impact Of Cash Transfers On Poor Households’ Consumption Of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages In The Philippines, Janelle S. Tiu, Vince Eisen C. Yao

Angelo King Institute for Economic and Business Studies (AKI)

Sugar intake has been increasing globally and locally for individuals. Meanwhile, Philippine institutions continue to provide cash transfers (CTs) to poor households. Past literature found varying results of the impact of transfers on expenditure, consumption, and temptation goods. Most studies focused on alcohol and tobacco consumption and neglected the impact of cash transfers on the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs). Thus, this paper used propensity score matching and average treatment effects on the treated (ATET) evaluation method to compare the consumption of poor households with transfers to their consumption if they had not received cash transfers and determine the characteristics …

“You Never Know” Work And Precarity In Las Vegas Before And During Covid-19, Richard Reeves, Morgan Welch, Hannah Van Drie

Policy Briefs and Reports

In this brief we examine work and work-based policies in Las Vegas, Nevada – a theme that emerged strongly from focus group data collected in the fall of 2019. The middle-class Americans we talked with were concerned about upward mobility, the changing landscape of work as a result of automation and skills training, scheduling uncertainty, and employee benefits like time off and paid leave. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted and exacerbated these pre-existing issues for many workers. Much of the policy agenda in the last year has been understandably reactionary, as policymakers addressed immediate issues such as unemployment insurance, keeping workers …

Metro Monitor 2021: Las Vegas And Reno, Eshaan Vakil, Katie M. Gilbertson, Emmanuel A. Berrelleza, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Economic Development & Workforce

This fact sheet measures changes in Nevada’s economic growth performance indicators using data provided by the Brookings Institution’s Metro Monitor analysis. Researchers at Brookings’ Metropolitan Policy Program measure various indicators of economic well-being across 192 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) for a 10-year period (from 2009-2019) to provide a thorough time series analysis of isolated variables. This fact sheet presents data for the Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, NV MSA and the Reno, NV MSA.

Improving K-12 Education For Hispanic Students In Las Vegas And Beyond, Richard Reeves, Ember Smith

Policy Briefs and Reports

Public K-12 education serves as a launching pad for economic mobility and opportunity, preparing students for college or a good-paying job. Despite K-12 education’s influence on later-in-life outcomes, schools often underserve students of color. Hispanic students in particular constitute a significant and growing portion of the U.S. student population yet are often overlooked in education literature because they are not the lowest performing demographic. In this brief, we examine how well public K-12 education serves Hispanic students in Clark County, where nearly half of students are Hispanic. We then consider factors that may influence student performance, including both in-school factors …

2020 Most Dynamic Micropolitans In The Mountain West, Kelliann Beavers, Katie M. Gilbertson, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Cities & Metros

This fact sheet draws from the “Most Dynamic Micropolitans 2020” report released by Heartland Forward, “an institute for economic renewal […] with a mission to improve economic performance in the center of the United States.” In this report, Heartland Forward offers the Most Dynamic Micropolitan Index to analyze the economies of smaller communities for a total of 515 micropolitan areas nationally. This fact sheet includes information on job growth, annual pay growth, and personal income growth for micropolitan areas in the Mountain West region.

Access To Financial Services And Income Inequality: A Panel Data Analysis, John Raymond A. Maniable, Marissa T. Barba

Angelo King Institute for Economic and Business Studies (AKI)

The allocation of capital through finance alters economic opportunities. Access and use of financial services allow individuals to facilitate their daily payment transactions, think for the long term through borrowing and savings, or manage unexpected emergencies. Extending financial access universally should arguably benefit those on the lower end of the income distribution. Accordingly, this paper investigated the relationship between financial inclusion and income inequality using panel data of select countries for the period 2000–2017.

Pengaruh Kebijakan Peningkatan Upah Minimum Terhadap Ketimpangan Upah (Studi Kasus Provinsi-Provinsi Di Jawa), Zaitun Rohmah, Prani Sastiono

Jurnal Ekonomi dan Pembangunan Indonesia

This research estimates the effect of the minimum wage increase on the wage inequality in Java provinces between 2008 and 2014 using semiparametric methods. It is found that the increase in minimum wage decrease the wage inequality in DKI Jakarta, West Java, Central Java, and Banten Provinces if the employment effects of the minimum wage increase are ignored and the opposite results if we consider the employment effects. Different results occur in Yogyakarta Special Region and East Java provinces, the minimum wage increase will lead to an increase in wage inequality both for the inclusion or exclusion of the employment …

Domestic Workers In The Mountain West, Olivia K. Cheche, Saha Salahi, Katie M. Gilbertson, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr., Eshaan Vakil

Economic Development & Workforce

This fact sheet explores the number of domestic workers employed in the Mountain West (Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah), as originally reported in the Economic Policy Institute’s “Domestic Workers Chartbook.” Data for domestic worker median wages compared to the median wages of nondomestic workers are also included.

Measuring The Impact Of Loan-To-Deposit Ratio (Ldr) On Banks' Liquidity In Nigeria, A. O. Adenuga, J. A. Mohammed, C. V. Laniyan, A. A. Akintola, O. C Asuzu

Economic and Financial Review

The study measures the impact of loan to deposit ratio (LDR) on Banks' liquidity in Nigeria between 2000Q1 and 2019Q3. The paper applied the Factor-Augmented Vector Autoregressive (FAVAR-X) methodology for estimation and forecasting. The result suggests that an LDR of 70.0 per cent, which reduces Banks' liquidity from N187.95 billion in 2019Q4, through N153.09 billion in 2020Q2 to close at N135.15 billion in 2020Q4, may require cautious acceptance. Thus, increasing LDR beyond 70.0 per cent may impact Banks' liquidity negatively. Furthermore, a direct relationship is established between LDR and inflation. The findings conform to a priori expectations as higher LDRs …

Economic And Social Factors Of The Mexican Community In Queens, Robert Utzinger, Jose Higuera Lopez

CUNY Mexican Studies Institute

In this project, we hope to better understand the educational needs of the local Mexican communities across New York. We have used data drawn from the American Community Survey (ACS) public use microsample to see how the community has changed over time. For this study, we have focused on the borough of Queens, New York, with a particular focus on several key factors such as the average individual income levels, education levels, and age. In time, this will be followed up with more detailed reports into aspects of health, poverty, and family characteristics.

Systemic Racism In The United States, Ari Emilia Short

Libraries

This bibliography contains an annotated selection of articles and studies related to systemic racism in the United States of America, covering 21st-century racial inequities in criminal justice, housing, employment, voting, education, and healthcare. Given the contentious nature of this topic - whether and to what extent systemic racism exists in the United States - sources were selected for relative neutrality, authority, and quality of methodologies used. This piece is intended to assist leaders, educators, activists, and any who wish to become better informed about this topic, develop empathy toward impacted groups, and prepare to address institutional concerns related to diversity, …

An Inferentially Robust Look At Two Competing Explanations For The Surge In Unauthorized Migration From Central America, Nick Santos

Dissertations

The last 8 years have seen a dramatic increase in the flow of Central American apprehensions by the U.S. Border Patrol. Explanations for this surge in apprehensions have been split between two leading hypotheses. Most academic scholars, immigrant advocates, progressive media outlets, and human rights organizations identify poverty and violence (the Poverty and Violence Hypothesis) in Central America as the primary triggers responsible. In contrast, while most government officials, conservative think tanks, and the agencies that work in the immigration and border enforcement realm admit poverty and violence may underlie some decisions to migrate, they instead blame lax U.S. immigration …

America's Best Small Cities In The Mountain West, Katie M. Gilbertson, Kelliann Beavers, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr., Fatma Nasoz

Cities & Metros

This fact sheet reports the rankings of small cities in the Mountain West, based on perceived desirability for living, visiting, and investment. Resonance Consultancy’s “America’s Best Small Cities 2020,” report examines six key metrics: “People,” “Place,” “Product,” “Programming,” “Promotion,” and “Prosperity.” 11 small cities in the Mountain West are ranked within the top 100 in the United States.

Measuring Rental Affordability Dynamics For The Southern United States With Constant Quartile Mismatch, Bradley Curtis

Honors Theses

This project centers on the topic of rental housing affordability for southern metropolitan areas in the United States. In an attempt to understand how rents have changed in relation to incomes in cities throughout the American south, this study uses IPUMS data to compare changes in the distributions of rents and incomes from 2000 to 2019 for each of the geographies in question. The Constant Quartile Mismatch metric employed in this project was first implemented in the study "A constant quartile mismatch indicator of changing rental affordability in US Metropolitan areas, 2000 to 2016". This thesis hopes to extend the …

Are Small Businesses The Framework For A Successful U.S. Economy?, Carson Clevenger

Accounting Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis will investigate the impact of small businesses on the United States’ economy. I will be assessing several impact areas including gross domestic product, employment, and local economy contribution. This thesis will cover a study from the time periods of 1998-2014 of the gross domestic product and employment levels and will use numbers from the years of 2018- present for other impact areas. Furthermore, I will be analyzing certain sectors of the economy, comparing small businesses contribution to corporate contribution, in order to discuss if small businesses are necessary for our country’s successful economy.

The Impact Of Socioeconomic Status On Single Women, Catherine Martens

Marketing Undergraduate Honors Theses

Since its formation in the 1700’s, America has been home to varying degrees of discrepancies between social classes, which include assumptions inherently held within these differences. Considering the fact that America was largely built by the hands of human slaves ruled by those with political influence often landowners, social hierarchy has been intricately woven into the fabric of America’s story from the beginning. Despite the progress that has been made to create and advance equal economic opportunity, there is still a considerable lack of social mobility available for those in lower socioeconomic statuses. More specifically, the impact of poverty is …

How The Level Of Job Complexity Impacts The Gender Wage Gap Across Occupations, Zytlaly Magaña Corona

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The present study focused on unpacking the social and structural aspects of job complexity to better understand its effects on the gender wage gap. Previous research on the job complexity-compensation dynamic has primarily focused on cognitive complexity. Job complexity across occupations were examined using work activity data from O*NET and merging it with the Current Population Survey data sponsored by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (N=67,003). Results revealed that higher complexity jobs in this study yielded greater wage disparities across different occupations as predicted. Furthermore, physical activities and gaining knowledge from the Generalized Work Activities were the two most …