Distribution, Development and Education: Taiwan, 1979-1994

49 Pages Posted: 8 Sep 2004

See all articles by Francois Bourguignon

Francois Bourguignon

Paris School of Economics

Martin Fournier

University of Lyon 2 - Groupe d'Analyse et de Théorie Economique (GATE)

Marc Gurgand

National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS); National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE) - Center for Research in Economics and Statistics (CREST)

Date Written: May 1998

Abstract

This paper studies the mechanisms underlying the apparent stability of the income distribution in Taiwan. An original decomposition methodology based on micro-simulation techniques is proposed. Applied to the distribution of income in Taiwan since 1979 it permits isolating the respective impact of changes in: a) earning structure; b) labor-force participation behavior; and c) the socio-demographic structure of the population. It appears that the stability of the distribution in Taiwan is the result of various structural forces which happened to offset each other. At the individual level, the small drop observed in inequality resulted from the combination of unequalizing changes in the wage structure and the effects of changes in female labor-force participation as well as changes in the educational structure of the population. The same offsetting forces, together with changes in the composition of households, resulted in a small increase in the inequality of the distribution of equivalized household incomes.

Keywords: Income distribution, decomposition, micro-simulation, education, Taiwan

Suggested Citation

Bourguignon, François and Fournier, Martin and Gurgand, Marc, Distribution, Development and Education: Taiwan, 1979-1994 (May 1998). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=587202 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.587202

François Bourguignon (Contact Author)

Paris School of Economics ( email )

48 Boulevard Jourdan
Paris, 75014 75014
France

Martin Fournier

University of Lyon 2 - Groupe d'Analyse et de Théorie Economique (GATE) ( email )

93, chemin des Mouilles
Ecully, 69130
France

Marc Gurgand

National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) ( email )

3, rue Michel-Ange
Paris cedex 16, 75794
France

National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE) - Center for Research in Economics and Statistics (CREST)

15 Boulevard Gabriel Peri
Malakoff Cedex, 1 92245
France

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