임가의 소득불평등도와 요인분해

김민경,박소희,민지애,유리화,정병헌 한국농촌경제연구원 2024 농촌경제 Vol.47 No.1

본 연구는 2018년부터 2022년까지의 임가경제조사 원자료를 활용하여 임가의 소득불평등도를 살펴보고, 임가의 소득불평등에 미치는 영향요인을 규명하는 것을 목적으로 한다. 이러한 연구목적의 달성을 위하여 임가 소득불평등도의 추이를 살펴보고 소득분배의 양극화 여부를 확인한다. 더 나아가 소득원천별·구성집단별 불평등도 분해를 통해 임가 소득불평등의 영향요인을 규명한다. 연구결과 저소득층의 소득저하와 고소득층으로의 소득 쏠림현상으로 임가의 소득불평등과 양극화가 점차 심화되고 있는 것으로 나타났다. 임가의 소득불평등도에 가장 많이 영향을 미치는 소득원천은 임업소득이었으며, 임업투자보조금의 불평등도 완화 효과는 미미한 것으로 나타났다. 또한 전체 임가의 약 70%를 차지하고 있는 임지면적 1ha 미만의 소규모 임가가 소득불평등도에 가장 많은 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 특히 1인 가구의 소득불평등도 증가폭이 더 큰 것으로 나타나 향후 1인 가구의 비중이 증가할수록 임가의 소득불평등이 더욱 심화될 것으로 예상된다. 이러한 연구결과를 바탕으로 임가 및 임업 유지와 임가 소득불평등도 완화를 위해 전업 및 주업임가와 소규모 임가, 1인 가구 중 저소득층을 대상으로 한 소득보전 지원제도를 제언한다. The purpose of this study is to examine the income inequality of forestry households using the raw data of the Forestry Household Economy Survey from 2018 to 2022, and to identify the factors which affect the income inequality. To that end, we analyze the income inequality trend and determine whether the polarization of income distribution is present. The determinants of income inequality are examined through the decomposition of inequality by income source and population subgroups. The results show that income inequality and polarization are gradually intensifying due to both the income decline for the low-income group and concentration of income toward the high-income group. In addition, we find that most of the increase in inequality is attributed to forestry households with forest lands less than 1ha. Particularly, the income inequality is expected to increase as the proportion of single-person households increased. Forestry income is the income source that has the most influence on the income inequality. It is found that forestry subsidies is insufficient to reduce the inequality. For maintaining forestry and forestry households and decreasing the income inequality, these results suggested to expand forestry subsidies for forestry households with low income.

불평등 인식이 재분배와 소득분배에 대한 선호에 미치는 영향: 불평등하다고 인식할수록 평등을 더 지지하는가?

우명숙,남은영 성균관대학교 국정전문대학원 2023 국정관리연구 Vol.18 No.2

This study examines the effects of inequality perception on preferences regarding redistribution and income distribution. Inequality perception consists of outcome inequality perception and opportunity inequality perception in the labor market, referring to perception of income inequality and perception of job opportunity inequality respectively. Preferences regarding redistribution and income distribution represent the strength of supportive attitudes on equality. Preferences for redistribution point to whether people support the government’s responsibility for redistribution. Preferences for income distribution mean support for either income equality or income fairness. Support for both government’s responsibility for redistribution and more equal income represents consistent support for equality. Using the Korean data of the World Values Survey Wave 7 (2017-2020), our multiple regression analysis shows the following results. First, perception on job opportunity inequality is positively related to preferences for both redistribution and income equality. Second, perception of income inequality has a positive relationship with preferences for redistribution, but it is more supportive of income fairness than income equality. We find the gap between inequality perception and support for equality in the results regarding preferences for income distribution. As a policy implication for income inequality problem, the study suggests that we need to establish a wage system strengthening fairness of income distribution but not necessarily aiming at a lesser income difference itself in order to deal with the problem of income inequality. 이 연구는 불평등 인식이 재분배와 소득분배에 대한 선호에 미치는 영향을 분석한다. 불평등인식은 노동시장의 결과불평등과 기회불평등에 대한 인식으로 구성되며, 각각 소득불평등 인식과 취업기회 불평등 인식을 말한다. 재분배와 소득분배에 대한 선호는 평등에 대한 지지 정도를 보여주는 태도이다. 재분배 선호는 정부의 재분배 정책에 대한 선호를 말하고, 소득분배에 대한 선호는 소득평등을 더 선호하는지, 소득공정성을 더 선호하는지를 말한다. 재분배 대한 지지와 소득분배에서 소득평등에 대한 동시적 지지는 평등에 대한 일관된 지지를 나타낸다. 세계가치관조사(World Values Survey) 7차 조사(2017-2020)의 한국 자료를 활용한 다중회귀분석의 결과를 보면 다음과 같다. 첫째, 기회의 불평등인 취업기회 불평등에 대한 인식은재분배를 지지하고, 소득공정성보다는 소득평등을 지지하는 데 긍정적 영향을 미친다. 둘째, 결과의 불평등인 소득불평등에 대한 인식은 재분배와는 긍정적 관계를 가지는 반면, 소득평등보다는 소득공정성과 긍정적 관계를 가진다. 소득분배 선호에 대한 결과에서 불평등 인식과 평등에 대한 지지 사이에 간극이 나타난다. 이 연구는 소득불평등 문제에 대한 정책적 함의를 제시할 수 있는데, 소득불평등 문제를 다루기 위해서는 소득격차 자체의 축소보다는 소득분배의공정성을 강화하는 임금체계의 확립이 필요한 것으로 보인다.

关于二元经济体制下的中国地区所得差距研究

刘曼璐,강승호 중국학연구회 2015 중국학연구 Vol.- No.74

Since the reform and opening up, income inequality problem appears to be the major obstacle to Chinese society stability and sustainable growth. Chinese inequality problems includes income inequality between hierarchies , income inequality between regions, between urban and rural areas, income inequality between industries, but among those income inequality problems, inter-regional, inter-urban and rural income inequality problems the major problem when we interpretation chinese income inequality problems. Meanwhile, there have been a number of studies in this area , most of those studies focus on the whole China or one specific destination. But in the case of China, there is a limitations with those analysis. Meanwhile, since the openness and magnetization chinese government allows some areas be worth at first, so many people pay attention to the income inequality problem between hierarchies. Most rural families arise their operating income through agricultural income. those non-agricultural workers receive labor income, while most workers in urban families take the labor income. In the course of market economy a wide range of industries in the city make a lot of people get property income such as equity investments or rents. Thus, the change in the source of income put a lot of impact with the total income inequality problems. In this study, we analysis the urban and rural, coastal and inland areas, each sector put how much impact to the inequality income problems. While the coastal areas receives the benefits of opening up and the influence of the foreign-invested enterprises has developed rapidly, but in inland areas the economic development slowed down. 改革开放以来经济发展带来的地域差距和所得不平等问题成为了中国社会安定和持续发展的绊脚石。农村(农业)和城市(工业)间的地域差距,沿海和内陆的地域差距等地区间的差距是国土广阔中国为了持续行经济发展资源分配的效率和公平性的指标,是中国一直以来备受瞩目的议题。

An Effect of Internet Penetration on Income Inequality in Southeast Asia Countries

Caria Ningsih,최용제 한국정보사회학회 2019 정보사회와 미디어 Vol.20 No.3

Recently income inequality has become one of the major economic policy issues in developed and developing countries alike. High and sustained level of inequality intails large social cost (Stiglitz, 2012) and reducing income inequality is considered as one of the key conditions for economic growth and sustainability. A number of previous empirical studies have been conducted to explain the causes of income inequality for the various sets of countries. However, they report mixed empirical results. According to The Chartbook of Economic Inequality (2017) and World Development Indicator (2017), over the recent years income inequality has been deteriorating in four ASEAN countries (The Association of Southeast Asia Nations), namely Indonesia, Lao, Singapore and Vietnam. Particularly, Indonesia has suferred the biggest increase in the Gini index. Meanwhile the rest ASEAN countries, such as Cambodia, Malaysia, Philippines, and Thailand have shown more or less reduced income inequality. These observations and the existing empirical results motivate us to investigate the determinants of income inequality in ASEAN countries focusing on globalization, technological change and tax policy, controlling other factors influencing income inequality. Specifically, the contribution of this paper is that we use internet penetration as a proxy of technological change and examine its impact on income inequality. Witnessing internet has a significant impact on the ways of consumption, production and lifestyle, this analysis could provide meaningful implication for policies to reduce income inequality. There are several measurements of income inequality, including Gini index, Theil index, quintile ratio, income shares of the top 1 percent or 5 percent of population, and a growth incidence curve. Among these measurements, the Gini index is the most popular one and data is readily available. The Gini index can take a range of values from 0 (all individuals have the same income: perfect equality) to 1 (income is taken by only one person in the population: perfect inequality). In this paper, the standard Gini index is multiplied by 100 for ease of interpretation. It is shown that globalization measured by FDI or trade to GDP ratio increases income inequality, although the impact of FDI is not significant. When ASEAN countries mostly export simply assembled products without much forward or backward linkage with domestic market, trade openness may bring about benefits only for exporting industry and cause income inequality to rise. Internet penetration as a proxy of technological change significantly reduces income inequality. We may conclude that the inequality-reducing effect that comes from better access to the internet for the younger generation dominates the inequality-increasing effect due to higher use of the internet by the rich. In addition to promotion of Internet penetration, the policies facilitating universal access to internet would also be needed to further reduce income inequality. Tax revenue to GDP ratio does not have a significant effect on income inequality. We do not attempt to make any assertive conclusion here. This insignificance of tax policy may be attributed to the fact that the proxy we use for tax policy does not fully capture the effects of tax policy on income inequality. We could have better measured the effects if the data for the progressiveness of tax system have been available. Other control variables, such as ratio of secondary education enrollment, real GDP per capita and depreciation of real exchange rate significantly improve income inequality. On the other hand, real interest rate and inflation turn out to be insignificant for explanation of income inequality in ASEAN countries. The sample size of this paper is rather limited. In order to improve estimation, we need to extend our sample to cover other regions such as Europe, Latin America, Africa and other Asian countries. With a larger sample, we can not only ...

특집 : 소득불평등 심화의 메커니즘과 정책 선택

장지연 ( Ji Yeun Chang ),이병희 ( Byung Hee Lee ) 민주사회정책연구원 2013 민주사회와 정책연구 Vol.23 No.-

소득불평등의 심화 현상을 노동시장 임금불평등, 인구 고령화, 가구의 노동공급, 그리고 재분배 정책의 효과성 측면에서 검토하였다. 소득불평등도를 시계열적으로 살펴보면, 1980년대 말에 불평등도가 크게 완화되었다가 1990년대 중반 이후에 다시 악화되는 추세가 발견된다. 이 시기는 1987년 노동운동이 활성화된 시점과 1997년 외환위기 시점과 각각 일치한다. 최근 15년간 소득불평등의 악화를 초래한 요인으로 가장 주목해야 할 것은 노동시장 임금불평등의 확대이다. 임금불평등의 추이는 가구소득 변화와 추세적으로 일치한다. 그럼에도 임금불평등이 가구소득불평등으로 온전히 전이되지는 않았는데, 이것은 저소득층의 적극적인 소득활동 참여에 힘입은 것이었다. 그러나 이러한 효과를 향후에도 지속적으로 기대하기는 어려울 것으로 예상된다. 저소득층 여성의 노동시장 진입이 가구주의 임금불평등을 상쇄하는 역할을 하였다는 이전 연구결과가 있으나, 최근까지 관찰기간을 연장해서 살펴본 바에 따르면 그런 효과는 나타나지 않았다. 또한 선진국 여성과 커다란 격차를 보이는 부분이 고소득 가구주배우자의 노동시장 참여인 것을 감안하면 향후 가구소득 불평등이 심화될 가능성은 더 커진다. 저소득층의 적극적인 노동시장 참여가 포화상태에 이르고 나면, 노동시장의 임금불평등이 고스란히 가구소득 불평등으로 이어지게 되므로 재분배 정책을 통해 소득불평등을 완화해야 할 부담은 지금보다 훨씬 더 커지게 된다.부족한 공적 소득이전을 지속적으로 확대해나가야 하는 것은 분명하지만, 계속 확대되는 임금격차를 방치한 채 소득이전을 통해 불평등을 줄여나가는 정책은 한계가 있다. The intensification of income inequality was studied based on the wage inequality of the labor market, aging of the population and household labor supply and the effectiveness of wealth redistribution policies. From a times series approach, income inequality dropped significantly in the late 80s and began to intensify after the mid 90s. The changes coincide with the activation of labor movements in 1987 and the financial crisis in 1997. During the last 15 years, the most noteworthy factor driving income equality is the increase of wage inequality in the labor market. The rise and fall of wage inequality coincides with the changes and trends of household income. Even so, wage inequality did not fully translate to household income inequality thanks to the active labor force participation of the low income classes. However, it is unlikely that such effects will continue. Labor market participation from low-income class females offset the wage inequality of household heads, but analyses of recent years show that such effects have disappeared. Considering that spouses` labor market participation of high-income household heads in Korea shows a large difference with females in developed countries, it is unlikely that household labor supply patterns will continue to mitigate inequality. Once labor market participation from low-income classes saturates, the wage inequality in the labor market will directly translate to household income inequality. Hence, redistribution policies will have to play a larger role in easing income inequality. Public income transfer must be gradually increased, but there are limits to reducing inequality through income transfer without tending to the wage gap.

공적보조금이 지역내 지역간 농가소득불평등에 미치는 영향 분석

김태이 ( Tae Yi Kim ),임정빈 ( Jeong Bin Im ),안동환 ( Dong Hwan An ) 한국농업경제학회 2012 農業經濟硏究 Vol.53 No.1

In this study, we examined the effect of public subsidies on the intra-and inter-regional income inequality of farm households during the period of 2003-2007 by using Gini coefficient as a measure of income inequality. We used a decomposition method to investigate intra-and inter-regional income inequality and the effects of of income sources on income inequality. Our results show that the structure and the pattern of farm household income distribution are different among regions. We also found that public subsidy, in particular agricultural support such as direct payment, lessened the income inequality of farm households during the study period.A And the income inequality can be mostly attributable to the inter-regional inequality rather than intra-regional inequality. While household income from farming is major sources of income inequality rather than off-farm income or transfer income, the contribution of non-farm income to income inequality has been increasing.

1990년대 이후 소득 불평등 변화 요인에 관한 연구

정준호 ( Jeong Jun Ho ),전병유 ( Cheon Byung You ),장지연 ( Chang Jiyeun ) 한국사회복지정책학회 2017 사회복지정책 Vol.44 No.2

본 연구는 1990년대 이후 소득 불평등의 변동 요인들을 분석하였다. 특히, 2008년 이전 소득 불평등상승을 이끌었던 요인들이 방향을 바꾸었는지, 아니면 새로운 불평등 요인들이 생성되었는지를 소득원천별과 가구특성별 요인분해 방법으로 분석하였다. 분석 결과, 2008년 이후 소득불평등이 정체된 것은 이전 시기 불평등 상승 요인이었던 가구주근로소득과 가구주의 학력, 직업, 종사상 지위 요인들이 불평등 완화 요인으로 전환한 데 가장 크게 기인한다. 배우자근로소득, 맞벌이, 인구고령화 등은 지속적인 불평등 상승 요인이었으나, 노동시장에서의 불평등 완화 요인들의 효과를 상쇄할 수 없었다. 재산소득(특히, 주택임대소득)이 2008년 이후 새로운 불평등 상승 요인으로 등장하였으며, 공적이전의 불평등 완화 효과가 아직은 미흡하고, 이전지출의 불평등 완화 효과는 불평등 상승기에 더 크다는 사실도 확인하였다. 정책적 시사점으로, 소득불평등을 완화하기 위해서는 노동시장 격차를 줄이는 것이 우선적인 과제라는 점, 그럼에도 재산소득, 맞벌이, 인구고령화 등 새로운 불평등 요인에 대응해야 한다는 점, 공적이전의 보편성을 확보하여 불평등 완화 메커니즘이 확고해져야 한다는 점 등을 제시했다. This study analyzed the factors that led to the transition of income inequality from 2008 to the mitigation in Korea. Before 2008, we analyzed whether the factors that led to the increase in income inequality changed direction or whether new inequality factors were generated. The analysis shows that the decrease in income inequality since 2008 is due to the fact that househead income, which was a factor of increase in inequality in the previous period, and househead`s education, occupation, and job status turned to inequality mitigation. Increase in spouse earned income, increase in dual income, and aging population continued to cause inequality, but they could not offset the effects of inequality mitigation in the labor market. We also confirmed the fact that property income (housing rental income) has emerged as a new factor of inequality increase since 2008, that the effect of mitigation of inequality before the public is still insignificant, and that the public expenditure functions as an automatic stabilization of inequality. The policy implication is that reducing labor market gaps is a priority for mitigating inequality, but there is a high possibility that new income inequality will emerge as a result of property income, double income, and population aging. However, that the public transfer`s effects of mitigating inequality can work in the future.

주거자본주의 불평등 지형: 소득의 상대화와 주거불평등의 독자성을 중심으로

이후빈,홍다솜 한국주택학회 2023 주택연구 Vol.31 No.4

The scholarship of residential capitalism contends that capitalist inequality was reshaped centering around housing problems. However, the importance of housing inequality, particularly compared to conventional income inequality, should be identified to demonstrate the argument. If people cannot purchase houses and accumulate assets due to low income, housing inequality is only the result and extension of income inequality. Thus, this study contrasts income and housing inequalities using the concept of housing income, a measure of monetizing the relative benefits of homeownership to other tenures. The results suggest that the housing income of Chonsei households is not higher than that of rental households, and the 2nd to 4th income quintiles have lower housing income than the 1st income quintile. This implies that high income cannot guarantee a dominant position in the landscape of housing inequality in South Korea. Moreover, the result implies that the housing tenure hierarchy (homeownership-Chonsei-rent), which traditionally intermediated housing and income inequalities, does not work anymore. The differentiation of housing inequality from income inequality is especially prominent in the 2nd to 4th income quintiles of Chonsei households. These households utilized debts, called Chonsei deposit loans, to keep up with the rising Chonsei prices, but it aggravated interest burdens and reduced Chonsei households’ monetary benefits in housing income. In conclusion, although Chonsei households could sustain their housing tenure via debts, it closed the gap between Chonsei and rent.

개인지방소득세 세수격차의 소득 원천별 기여도 분석 및납세지 개편에 대한 시사점

허등용(Deung-Yong Heo) 한국재정학회(구 한국재정·공공경제학회) 2018 재정학연구 Vol.11 No.2

본 연구는 불평등지수 분해를 통하여 소득유형별 개인지방소득세 세수가 지역간 개인지방소득세의 전체적인 세수 불평등에 기여하는 정도를 분석하고 납세지 개편에서의 시사점을 제공하고 있다. 본 연구는 개인지방소득세의 소득유형을 종합·양도·이자·배 당·사업·근로·기타·퇴직·연금소득으로 구분하고 있으며, 광역자치단체 수준의 세수자 료를 사용하고 있다. 불평등도에 대한 지수는 지니계수를 사용하였으며, 소득유형별 불평등도 분해 방법은 평균 Shapley 값 분해와 영점 Shapley 값 분해 방법을 사용하였다. 평균 Shapley 값 분해 결과에 따르면, 분석기간(2014~2016년) 동안 개인지방소득세 세수 불평등에 대한 유형별 세수의 기여도 중 근로소득분의 기여도는 45% 이상으로 가장 큰 기여를 하고 있는 것으로 나타났다. 이는 근로소득분의 세수 점유율이 전 기간 동안 48% 이상으로 높게 나타나고 있기 때문이다. 반면 영점 Shapley 값 분해 결과에 따르면, 연금·사업·이자·기 타·배당·퇴직소득분의 기여도가 10%대로 나타났으며, 근로소득분의 기여도는 음의 값을 가져 불평등도를 오히려 완화시키고 있는 것으로 나타났다. 이러한 분석결과, 전체적인 개인 지방소득세 세수의 불평등도를 낮추기 위해서는 지역 간 근로소득분을 형평화하는 정책을 사용하는 것이 효과적이며, 각 유형별 세수의 불평등도를 낮추기 위해서는 연금·사업·이자· 기타·배당·퇴직소득분 순으로 지역 간 세수를 형평화하는 정책을 사용하는 것이 효과적임을 알 수 있었다. 다음으로 납세지를 주소지로 개편할 경우 평균 Shapley 값 분해와 영점 Shapley 값 분해 모두에서 근로소득분의 불평등 기여도 증가로 인해 전체적인 지역 간 개인 지방소득세 세수의 불평등이 증가하게 되는 것으로 나타났다. 반면, 납세지를 소득발생지로 개편할 경우 두 가지 분해 결과 모두에서 양도소득분과 사업소득분의 불평등 기여도 감소로 인해 전체적인 개인지방소득세 세수 불평등이 감소하는 것으로 나타났다. 따라서 향후 개인 지방소득세 세수 비중 확대 논의 시, 지역 간 세수 불평등도를 완화하는 방법으로 소득발생지 원칙을 적용하는 납세지 개편방안을 함께 고려해 볼 수 있을 것이라 판단된다. This study analyzes the extent to which local personal income tax revenues by income type contribute to inequality of overall local personal income tax revenue through the decomposition of inequality index and provides implications for place of tax payment reform in Korea. In this study, the income types of local personal income tax are classified into general, transfer, interest, dividend, business, earned, other, retirement, and pension income. Gini coefficient is used as an index of inequality and the mean equalized Shapley value decomposition and the zero Shapley value decomposition method are used as a method of inequality decomposition by income type. The result of mean equalized Shapley value decomposition shows that the contribution of local earned income tax revenue to overall local personal income tax revenue inequality is over 45% during the analysis period (2014 ~ 2016). On the other hand, as a result of zero Shapley value decomposition, the contribution of local earned income is negative, easing inequality. Contributions of local pension, business, interest, other, dividend and retirement income tax revenue to overall local personal income tax revenue inequality are in 10%-band. As a result of this analysis, it is effective to use the policy of balancing local earned income tax revenue among regions to reduce the inequality of overall local personal income tax revenue. In order to lower the inequality of each type of local income tax revenue, it is effective to use the policy of balancing local pension, business, interest, other, dividend and retirement income tax revenue. Next, in both the mean equalized Shapley decomposition and the zero Shapley decomposition, the overall local personal income tax revenue inequality increases due to the increase in the inequality contribution of local earned income tax when we apply residence principle to the place of tax payment reform. On the other hand, in both decomposition results, the overall inequality of local personal income tax revenue inequality decreases due to the decrease in inequality contribution of local transfer and business income tax revenue when we apply income generation principle to the reform. Therefore, it can be considered to apply income generation principle to the place of tax payment as a way of alleviating overall local personal income tax revenue inequality when discussing the increase of local personal income tax revenue as a way of reinforcing fiscal capacity of local government in the future.

경제성장과 적정 소득불균등

강종구 ( Jonggu Kang ) 한국국제경제학회 2022 국제경제연구 Vol.28 No.2

본 연구는 경제성장에 대한 소득불균등의 영향과 관련하여 경제성장을 최대화하는 적정한 수준의 소득불균등도가 있으며 그 적정 수준은 각국의 경제 및 사회적 특성에 따라 다르다는 관점에서 접근한다. 본고는 이를 실증적으로 검증하기 위해 국가를 소득수준별로 나누어 패널회귀분석을 수행하였다. 실증분석을 수행한 결과, 저소득 국가 그룹의 경우 대체로 적정 소득불균등도가 실제 소득불균등도보다 낮으나, 고소득 국가에서는 적정 소득불균등도가 실제 소득불균등도와 유사하게 도출되었다. 적정 소득불균등도에 영향을 주는 요인에 관해 실증분석을 수행한 결과, 경제발전 정도의 상승은 저소득 국가와 고소득 국가 모두에서 적정 소득불균등도를 높이는 방향으로 영향을 주었다. 인구수의 증가는 저소득 국가에서 적정 소득불균등도를 높이지만, 고소득 국가에서는 이를 낮추는 효과가 있는 것으로 나타났다. 무역의존도의 상승은 고소득 국가에서 적정 소득불균등도를 낮추는 효과가 있으며, 민간부채의 증가는 저소득 국가를 중심으로 적정 소득불균등도를 낮추는 방향으로 영향을 주었다. Regarding effects of income inequality on economic growth, this paper approaches the subject from the point of view that there is an adequate level of income inequality that maximizes economic growth, and that the adequate level differs depending on the economic and social characteristics of each country. In order to empirically test this, this paper carried out a panel regression analysis by dividing countries with different income levels. The result of empirical analysis shows that the adequate level of income inequality is generally lower than the actual level of income inequality in the low-income countries, but in the high-income countries, the level of adequate income inequality is similar to the actual level of income inequality. The result of empirical analysis on factors affecting the adequate level of income inequality shows that an increase in the degree of economic development raises the level of adequate income inequality in both low and high income countries. An increase in population raises the adequate level of income inequality in low-income countries, but lowers it in high-income countries. An increase in trade openness lowers the adequate level of income inequality in high-income countries, and an increase in private debt lowers the adequate income inequality, mainly in low-income countries.