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The transmission of uncertainty shocks on income inequality: State-level evidence from the United States

Manfred M. Fischer, Florian Huber, Michael Pfarrhofer

arXiv 21 Jun 2018 · Econometrics

arXiv:1806.08278 · PDF · DOI · OpenAlex · Extracted main text

Abstract

In this paper, we explore the relationship between state-level household income inequality and macroeconomic uncertainty in the United States. Using a novel large-scale macroeconometric model, we shed light on regional disparities of inequality responses to a national uncertainty shock. The results suggest that income inequality decreases in most states, with a pronounced degree of heterogeneity in terms of shapes and magnitudes of the dynamic responses. By contrast, some few states, mostly located in the West and South census region, display increasing levels of income inequality over time. We find that this directional pattern in responses is mainly driven by the income composition and labor market fundamentals. In addition, forecast error variance decompositions allow for a quantitative assessment of the importance of uncertainty shocks in explaining income inequality. The findings highlight that volatility shocks account for a considerable fraction of forecast error variance for most states considered. Finally, a regression-based analysis sheds light on the driving forces behind differences in state-specific inequality responses.

Citation extraction

30
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Most heavily cited references

The works this paper leans on most, across its whole bibliography — not restricted to papers in our corpus. Ranked by composite intensity, which combines how often a work is mentioned, how many sections mention it, and how much of that falls in the main text rather than the appendix.

ReferenceIntensityMentionsSectionsMain text
1Baker et al (2016) Measuring Economic Policy Uncertainty1.00053100%
2Bloom (2009) The Impact of Uncertainty Shocks0.87452100%
3Pesaran et al (2004) Modeling regional interdependencies using a global error-correcting macroeconometric model0.64422100%
4Carriero et al (2016) Measuring uncertainty and its impact on the economy0.64422100%
5Jurado et al (2015) Measuring uncertainty0.64422100%
6Mumtaz and Theophilopoulou (2017) The impact of monetary policy on inequality in the UK. An empirical analysis0.64422100%
7Aguilar and West (2000) Bayesian dynamic factor models and portfolio allocation0.5853333%
8Caldara et al (2016) The macroeconomic impact of financial and uncertainty shocks0.51121100%
9McCracken and Ng (2016) FRED-MD: A Monthly Database for Macroeconomic Research0.51121100%
10Fernández-Villaverde et al (2011) Risk Matters: The Real Effects of Volatility Shocks0.40511100%

Showing the top 10 of 30 scored citations.