IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp9892.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Spatial Income Inequality in India, 1993-2011: A District Level Decomposition

Author

Listed:
  • Azam, Mehtabul

    (Oklahoma State University)

  • Bhatt, Vipul

    (James Madison University)

Abstract

Using nationally representative household survey data, and district and state as two levels of aggregation, we examine role of individual and geographical factors in determining the level and the change in income inequality in India. We find that between-state income differences account for the majority of between-district income inequality in rural India in 2011. However, in urban India within-state income differences explain most of the between- district inequality in 2011. We also find that the between-district component accounts for one-third of the increase in total income inequality in rural India between 1993 and 2011. We find significantly smaller level of inequality but similar trends using the consumption expenditure data.

Suggested Citation

  • Azam, Mehtabul & Bhatt, Vipul, 2016. "Spatial Income Inequality in India, 1993-2011: A District Level Decomposition," IZA Discussion Papers 9892, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9892
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp9892.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chaudhuri, Shubham & Ravallion, Martin, 2006. "Partially awakened giants : uneven growth in China and India," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4069, The World Bank.
    2. Alokesh Barua & Aparna Sawhney, 2015. "Development Policy Implications for Growth and Regional Inequality in a Small Open Economy: The Indian Case," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(3), pages 695-709, August.
    3. Kijima, Yoko, 2006. "Why did wage inequality increase? Evidence from urban India 1983-99," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(1), pages 97-117, October.
    4. Lerong Yu & Renfu Luo & Linxiu Zhang, 2007. "Decomposing Income Inequality and Policy Implications in Rural China," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 15(2), pages 44-58, March.
    5. Brewer, Mike & Wren-Lewis, Liam, 2012. "Accounting for changes in income inequality: decomposition analyses for Great Britain, 1968-2009," ISER Working Paper Series 2012-17, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    6. Gustafsson, Bjorn & Shi, Li, 2002. "Income inequality within and across counties in rural China 1988 and 1995," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 179-204, October.
    7. Kijima, Yoko, 2006. "Caste and Tribe Inequality: Evidence from India, 1983-1999," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 54(2), pages 369-404, January.
    8. Rubiana Chamarbagwala, 2010. "Economic liberalization and urban–rural inequality in India: a quantile regression analysis," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 39(2), pages 371-394, October.
    9. Cain, J. Salcedo & Hasan, Rana & Magsombol, Rhoda & Tandon, Ajay, 2010. "Accounting for Inequality in India: Evidence from Household Expenditures," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 282-297, March.
    10. Jonathan Haughton & Shahidur R. Khandker, 2009. "Handbook on Poverty and Inequality," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 11985.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Carlos Gradín, 2018. "Explaining cross-state earnings inequality differentials in India: An RIF decomposition approach," WIDER Working Paper Series 024, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    2. Abhiroop Mukhopadhyay & David Garcés Urzainqui, 2018. "The dynamics of spatial and local inequalities in India," WIDER Working Paper Series 182, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    3. Abhiroop Mukhopadhyay & David Garcés Urzainqui, 2018. "The dynamics of spatial and local inequalities in India," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2018-182, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    4. Sabyasachi Tripathi, 2017. "Source of Inequality in Consumption Expenditure in India: A Regression Based Inequality Decomposition Analysis," Journal of Income Distribution, Ad libros publications inc., vol. 25(1), pages 1-34, March.
    5. Vladimir Hlasny, 2017. "Different Faces of Inequality across Asia: Decomposition of Income Gaps across Demographic Groups," LIS Working papers 691, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    6. Carlos Gradín, 2018. "Explaining cross-state earnings inequality differentials in India: An RIF decomposition approach," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2018-24, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    7. Datta, Pritam & Dubey, Jay Dev & Choudhury, Mita, 2022. "Progressivity of Public Spending on Health care at the Sub-state Level in India: An Empirical Investigation in Tamil Nadu and Bihar," Working Papers 22/375, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy.
    8. Sabyasachi Tripathi & Komali Yenneti, 2024. "Does inequality in urban population distribution lead to income inequality? Evidence from India," Asia-Pacific Journal of Regional Science, Springer, vol. 8(3), pages 787-818, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mehtabul Azam & Vipul Bhatt, 2018. "Spatial Income Inequality in India, 1993–2011: A Decomposition Analysis," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 138(2), pages 505-522, July.
    2. GOH, Chor-ching & LUO, Xubei & ZHU, Nong, 2009. "Income growth, inequality and poverty reduction: A case study of eight provinces in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 485-496, September.
    3. Vladimir Hlasny, 2017. "Different Faces of Inequality across Asia: Decomposition of Income Gaps across Demographic Groups," LIS Working papers 691, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    4. Luo, Xubei & Zhu, Nong, 2008. "Rising income inequality in China : a race to the top," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4700, The World Bank.
    5. Azam, Mehtabul, 2019. "Accounting for growing urban-rural welfare gaps in India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 410-432.
    6. Shantanu Khanna & Deepti Goel & René Morissette, 2016. "Decomposition analysis of earnings inequality in rural India: 2004–2012," IZA Journal of Labor & Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 5(1), pages 1-26, December.
    7. Mohd Imran Khan, 2021. "Consequences of Labour Migration on Wages and Employment: Evidence from India," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 64(1), pages 23-47, March.
    8. Azam, Mehtabul, 2022. "Trade Liberalization and Human Capital Accumulation: Evidence from Indian Census," IZA Discussion Papers 15286, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Bhaumik, Sumon Kumar & Chakrabarty, Manisha, 2009. "Is education the panacea for economic deprivation of Muslims?: Evidence from wage earners in India, 1987-2005," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 137-149, March.
    10. Sonu Madan & Manisha Yadav, 2022. "Decomposing Skill Based Wage Inequality in India: An Application of Theil Index," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 65(4), pages 967-979, December.
    11. Vijay P. Ojha & Joydeep Ghosh, 2014. "Optimizing Public Expenditure Allocations between Secondary and Higher Education," Centre for International Trade and Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi Discussion Papers 14-02, Centre for International Trade and Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India.
    12. Mehtabul Azam, 2012. "A distributional analysis of social group inequality in rural India," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(4), pages 415-432, May.
    13. Mehta, Aashish & Hasan, Rana, 2012. "The effects of trade and services liberalization on wage inequality in India," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 75-90.
    14. Azam, Mehtabul, 2012. "Changes in Wage Structure in Urban India, 1983–2004: A Quantile Regression Decomposition," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(6), pages 1135-1150.
    15. Ojha, Vijay P. & Pradhan, Basanta K. & Ghosh, Joydeep, 2013. "Growth, inequality and innovation: A CGE analysis of India," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 35(6), pages 909-927.
    16. Arabsheibani, Gholamreza & Gupta, Prashant & Mishra, Tapas & Parhi, Mamata, 2018. "Wage differential between caste groups: Are younger and older cohorts different?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 10-23.
    17. Sumon Kumar Bhaumik & Manisha Chakrabarty, 2007. "Is Education the Panacea for Economic Deprivation of Muslims? Evidence from Wage Earners in India, 1987-2004," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series wp858, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
    18. Mehtabul Azam, 2017. "Are Urban-Rural Welfare Differences Growing in India?," Economics Working Paper Series 1715, Oklahoma State University, Department of Economics and Legal Studies in Business.
    19. Fulford, Scott, 2014. "Returns to Education in India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 434-450.
    20. Li, Yuheng, 2012. "Rural Household Income in China: Spatial-Temporal Disparity and Its Interpretation," Working Paper Series 2012-21, Stockholm School of Economics, China Economic Research Center.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    regional inequality; income inequality; India;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I30 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9892. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Holger Hinte (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.