Back | Programme Area: Special Events (2000 - 2009)
Inequality and Structural Change (Draft)
This paper presents an updated data set on inequality in structures of manufacturing pay for the years 1963–2002, using the standard methods of the University of Texas Inequality Project. The paper then compares these measures with evidence on structural change, taken as changing shares of agriculture, manufacturing and services in total employment. A key finding is that low inequality is closely associated with low variability in inequality through time, and that movement out of agriculture is associated with high variability in the inequality of manufacturing pay. Thus the level of inequality is a reasonable index of underdevelopment, and the change of the UTIP inequality measure is an indicator of overall structural change in the process of development.