Supervisors info:
Κωστελέτου Νικολίνα, Αναπληρώτρια Καθηγήτρια, Τμήμα Οικονομικών Επιστημών, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών
Summary:
The objective of the present thesis is tο measure and study the inequality of income and the poverty among the Eurozone countries. To be more specific, what is studied and analysed is the impact of pensions and social transfers on inequality of income and poverty.
Both inequality of income and poverty consist rather complex and sophisticated notions surpassing economic analysis. They constitute issues pertaining to the society structure itself and hence, they may fall into fields such as Sociology, Political Science or even Philosophy. In the analysis below the main focus is not going to be on issues pertaining to Sociology, Political Science of Philosophy, but rather on economic analysis that is using measurements and indexes utilized in such issues as a prime tool.
In the first place, there is an introduction as well as a reference to certain theories about poverty and inequality of income formulated by social scientists- economists over time so that the continuity and the range of these issues can be demonstrated. Moving on, definitions of poverty and of inequality of income are presented, as well as the distinction between absolute and relative poverty. Furthermore, some effects of poverty and of inequality of income are established. In addition, Gini index is analysed on the grounds that it consists the index used in the present thesis for inequality measuring. With the help of Gini index, the results are quantified, and the study of inequality becomes easier, which allows comparisons not only among different periods but also among different countries. İn other words, it tends to function as a unit of measurement that assists to be determined whether there is improvement or deterioration of inequality.
Moving on, what is presented is the evolution of poverty and of inequality of income in eurozone countries in the light of three different categories of the disposable income. The aforementioned categories are: i) equivalised disposable income ii) equivalised disposable income without social transfers (pensions excluded from social transfers) and iii) equivalised disposable income without social transfers (pensions included in social transfers). Additionally, a percentage of GDP that pensions and social transfers represent in each country is presented and it is analysed how much they curb inequality of income and poverty for every percentage point they consist to GDP. Furthermore, an econometric model has been developed taking into account- apart from the percentage of pensions and social transfers to GDP- figures affecting inequality, such as the rate of unemployment, the level of education, and the percentage of population living in households where no-one works .
Keywords:
Inequality of Income, Poverty, Pensions, Social Tranfers, Gini Coefficient, Lorenz Curve
