Labor income polarization in greater Buenos Aires

Viollaz, Mariana and Olivieri, Sergio and Alejo, Javier (2009): Labor income polarization in greater Buenos Aires. Published in: Serie de Documentos de Trabajos del CEDLAS No. 89 (October 2009): pp. 1-41.

Abstract

This paper presents and analyzes a group of statistics which characterize the level and evolution of the labor income polarization in Greater Buenos Aires over the past two decades (1986-2006). The empirical evidence reveals two stages throughout those years: the first one distinguished by an increment of all indices and the second one, by shrinkage of them. Inspecting potential factors which could explain those changes, returns to education surge as the main polarization force in the labor market. Hence, an equalizing distribution of the human capital is a possible alternative for a less polarized labor market.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: polarization, labor, cohesion, inequality, Argentina, Greater Buenos Aires
• Subjects: D - Microeconomics > D6 - Welfare Economics; D - Microeconomics > D3 - Distribution; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I3 - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty

References

Alesina, and Spolaore (1997), On the number and size of nations Quarterly Journal of Economics, 113, pp. 1027-1056.

Atkinson, A. and Bourguignon, F. (2000). Income distribution and economics. Handbook of Income Distribution. Elsevier Science B.V. Pg. 1-5, 41-50.

Bourguignon, F and Ferreira, F, (2005) Decomposing changes in the Distribution of household incomes: Methodological aspects, in Bourguignon, Ferreira and

Lustig, The microeconomics of income distribution dynamics (in East Asia and Latin America), Oxford University Press, pp 17-46.

Collier, P. and Hoeffler, A.,(2001) Greed and grievance in civil war, World Bank (Washington D.C).

Cowell, F. (2000). Measuring inequality. LSE Handbooks in Economic Series, Prentice Hall/Harvester Wheatsheaf

D’ Ambrosio, C (2001) Household characteristics and the distribution of income in Italy: an application of social distance measures, Review of Income and Wealth, (Series 47, Number 1, March 2001)

D’ Ambrosio, C and Wolf, E. (2001) Is Wealth Becoming More Polarized in The United States?, Working paper 330, Levy Economics Institute, Bard College.

Deaton, A. (1997). The analysis of household surveys. Microeconomic analysis for development policy. Washington D.C.: The World Bank.

Duclos, JY, Esteban, J. and Ray, D. (2004). Polarization: Concepts, Measurements, Estimation. Econometrica 72 (6), November, pp. 1737-1772.

Esteban, J. (2004) Economic integration and cross-country inequality: the European experience, International Policy Workshop (September, Berlin)

Esteban, J. and Ray, D. (1994), On the Measurement of Polarization. Econometrica 62, (4), November, pp. 819-852.

Esteban, J., Gradín, C. and Ray, D. (1999) Extensions of the measure of Polarization, with an application to the income distribution of five OECD countries, mimeo, Instituto de Análisis Económico.

Foster, J. and Wolfson, M. (1992), Polarization and the Decline of the Middle Class: Canada and the US, mimeo, Vanderbilt University.

Ganuza, E., Paes de Barros, R., Taylor, L. and Vos, R. (2001). Liberalización, desigualdad y pobreza: América Latina y el Caribe en los 90. Eudeba, PNUD, CEPAL.

Gasparini, L (2004 a) Different lives: inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean, Working paper CEDLAS. Chapter 2, 2004 World Bank LAC Flagship Report.

Gasparini, L (2004 b) Argentina’s Distributional Failure. The role of Integration and Public Policies. Marquez, G. (ed.) Labor Markets and Globalization in LAC. Forthcoming, 2005.

Gasparini, L., Haimovich, F. and Pacheco, A. (2005a). Mercados Laborales y Cohesión Social en América Latina. Working paper CIEPLAN, Chile.

Gasparini,L., Horestein, M, Molina, E and Olivieri, S (2008), Polarización económica, instituciones y conflictos. Dinámicas de la cohesión social latinoamericana, PNUD-CIEPLAN, Chile.

Gasparini, L., Marchionni, M. and Sosa Escudero, W. (2001) “Distribución del Ingreso en la Argentina: Perspectivas y Efectos Sobre el Bienestar”, Premio Fulvio Salvador Pagani.

Gasparini, L, Marchionni, M and Sosa Escudero, W (2005b), Characterization of inequality changes through microeconometric decompositions: the case of Greater Buenos Aires, in Bourguignon, Ferreira and Lustig, The microeconomics of income distribution dynamics (in East Asia and Latin America), Oxford University Press, pp 47-83.

Gasparini, L. and Tornarolli, L., “Labor informality in Latin America and the Caribbean: patterns and trends from household microdata survey”, Working paper N46, CEDLAS–UNLP.

Gradín, C (2003) Polarization and inequality in Spain: 1973-1991, Universidade de Vigo (Vigo, Spain)

Gradín, C. (2000) Polarization by sub-populations in Spain, 1973-91, Review of Income and Wealth, (Series 46, Number 4, December)

Haimovich, F., Gasparini, L. and Winkler, H. (2005). Distribución del Ingreso en América Latina: Explorando las Diferencias entre Países. XL Reunión de la AAEP, La Plata.

Horenstein, M. and Olivieri, S. (2004), Income polarization in Argentina: Pure Income Polarization, Theory and Applications, Económica, Nº 1-2, Año L, (La Plata, Argentina, Enero-Diciembre). IADB (1998). América Latina frente a la desigualdad. Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo, Washington, D.C.

Lambert, P. (2001). The distribution and redistribution of income. Manchester University Press.

Morley, S. (2000). La distribución del ingreso en América latina y el Caribe. Fondo de Cultura Económica. Reynal-Querol, M. (2001) Ethnicity, political system and civil wars, Institut d’Analisis Economic (IAE), CSIC (Barcelona, Spain).

Ricardo, D. (1817). Principles of Political Economy. Dent, London.

Sánchez-Páramo, C. and Schady, N. (2003). Off and running? Technology, trade and rising demand for skilled workers in Latin America. Closing the gap in education and technology in Latin America, background paper.

SEDLAC (2008). Socio-economic database for Latin American and the Caribbean. www.depeco.econo.unlp.edu.ar/cedlas

Sen, A. (2000). Social justice and the distribution of income. Handbook of Income Distribution. Elsevier Science B.V.

Shorrocks, A (1999) Decomposition procedures for distributional analysis: A unified framework based on the Shapley values. University of Essex, Essex, U.K. Processed.

Sosa Escudero, W. and Gasparini,L (2000) A Note on the statistical significance of changes in inequality, Económica, Nº1, Año XLVI, (La Plata, Argentina).

Viollaz, M. (2008), Polarización de ingresos laborales. Argentina 1992-2006, Working paper N70, CEDLAS-UNDP.

Wodon, Q. et al. (2000). Poverty and policy in Latin America and the Caribbean. World Bank Technical Paper 467.

Wolfson, M. (1994), When Inequality Diverges, American Economic Review, 84, 353-358.

Zhang, X. and Kanbur, R (2001), What difference do polarization measures make? An application to China, Journal of Development Studies, 37, pp. 85-98.