Gary S. Fields

Bio: Gary S. Fields is an academic researcher from Cornell University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Poverty & Income distribution. The author has an hindex of 52, co-authored 241 publications receiving 9417 citations. Previous affiliations of Gary S. Fields include Yale University & World Bank.

Distribution and Development: A New Look at the Developing World

Abstract: Most of the world's people live in "developing" economies, as do most of the world's poor. The predominant means of economic development is economic growth. In this book Gary Fields asks to what extent and in what circumstances economic growth improves the material standard of living of a country's people. Most development economists agree that economic growth raises the incomes of people in all parts of the income distribution and lowers the poverty rate. At the same time, some groups lose out because of changes accompanying economic growth. Fields examines these beliefs, asking what variables should be measured to determine whether progress is being made and what policies and circumstances cause some countries to do better than others. He also shows how the same data can be interpreted to reach different, even conflicting, conclusions. Using both theoretical and empirical approaches, Fields defines and examines inequality, poverty, income mobility, and economic well-being. Finally, he considers various policies for broad-based growth.Copublished with the Russell Sage Foundation.

World development report 1990 : poverty

Abstract: This report is the thirteenth in the annual series addressing major development issues. This report is about the poor. It is thus about the fundamental issue in economic development the eradication of poverty from the world. The report defines poverty in broad terms, to include literacy, nutrition, and health, as well as income. The evidence suggests that rapid and politically sustainable progress on poverty has been achieved by pursuing a strategy with two equally important elements. The first is to promote the efficient use of the poor's most abundant asset labor. It calls for policies that harness market incentives, social and political institutions, infrastructure and technology. The second element is the provision of basic social services to the poor (e.g. primary health care, family planning, nutrition, and primary education). The report concludes that eliminating poverty altogether is not a realistic goal for the 1990s, but that reducing it greatly is entirely possible. Using plausible assumptions about the global economic environment, and with some policy improvements, the report projects a fall of one third in the number of people in poverty by the year 2000.

Poverty, inequality, and development

Abstract: Economists have traditionally concentrated on aggregate economic growth to measure a country's development, but previously they have also considered income distribution performance. In this book Gary Fields reverses conventional approaches by using income distribution as the primary indicator. He examines what is known about the distribution of income and poverty, inequality, and development. He explores the main causes of poverty and inequality and the extent to which they have been reduced by individual countries in the course of their economic growth. Recognizing that conclusions vary with the type of income distribution measure used, Fields proposes that changes in absolute poverty be adopted as the primary index of a developing nation's progress and suggests that the growth rate of the GNP and character of that growth be regarded as the principal determinants of the levels of poverty and inequality. This framework calls for new models new data. and new microanalytic techniques in order to understand the results of development efforts. Fields employs evidence from case studies of six developing nations to suggest some explanations for differing patterns of development and calls for development planning founded on a firm commitment to helping the poor.

Accounting for Income Inequality and its Change: A New Method, With Application to the Distribution of Earnings in the United States

Abstract: This paper devises a new method for using the information contained in income-generating equations to “account for” or “decompose” the level of income inequality in a country and its change over time. In the levels decomposition, the shares attributed to each explanatory factor are independent of the particular inequality measure used. In the change decomposition, methods are presented to break down the contribution of each explanatory factor into a coefficients effect, a correlation effect, and a standard deviation effect. In an application to rising earnings inequality in the United States, it is found that schooling is the single most explanatory variable, only one other variable (occupation) has any appreciable role to play, and all of schooling’s effect was a coefficients effect.

Economic growth and income inequality

Abstract: We investigate whether income inequality affects subsequent growth in a cross-country sample for 1965-90, using the models of Barro (1997), Bleaney and Nishiyama (2002) and Sachs and Warner (1997), with negative results. We then investigate the evolution of income inequality over the same period and its correlation with growth. The dominating feature is inequality convergence across countries. This convergence has been significantly faster amongst developed countries. Growth does not appear to influence the evolution of inequality over time. Outline

Multiple Imputation for Nonresponse in Surveys

Abstract: 25. Multiple Imputation for Nonresponse in Surveys. By D. B. Rubin. ISBN 0 471 08705 X. Wiley, Chichester, 1987. 258 pp. £30.25.

A New Data Set Measuring Income Inequality

Abstract: This article presents a new data set on inequality in the distribution of income. The authors explain the criteria they applied in selecting data on Gini coefficients and on individual quintile groups' income shares. Comparison of the new data set with existing compilations reveals that the data assembled here represent an improvement in quality and a significant expansion in coverage, although differences in the definition of the underlying data might still affect intertemporal and international comparability. Based on this new data set, the authors do not find a systematic link between growth and changes in aggregate inequality. They do find a strong positive relationship between growth and reduction of poverty.

A New Data Set Measuring Income Inequality

Abstract: This article presents a new data set on inequality in the distribution of income. The authors explain the criteria they applied in selecting data on Gini coefficients and on individual quintile groups' income shares. Comparison of the new data set with existing compilations reveals that the data assembled here represent an improvement in quality and a significant expansion in coverage, although differences in the definition of the underlying data might still affect inter temporal and international comparability. Based on this new data set, the authors do not find a systematic link between growth and changes in aggregate inequality. They do find a strong positive relationship between growth and reduction of poverty.