Labor Income Share in Asia: Conceptual Issues and the Drivers

Description

This is the first study that puts together a comprehensive and in-depth analysis of the drivers of the labor income share across a number of countries in Asia. This book provides an insightful companion to the study of labor income shares that plays a vital role in understanding the relationship between national income and personal income, and the relationship between wage inequality and wealth inequality. The timing of the book is ideal, as the ongoing debate over a global decline in the labor income share is far from settled. To this extent, evidence from the Asian countries is mixed. The labor income share in some Asian countries has been rising since the 1990s. The purpose of this edited volume is to gain more insights on the potential drivers of the Asian experience. The first half of the book pays attention to the measurement problems related to the earnings of self-employed and workers in the informal sector. Then it puts together country case studies examining a wide range of factors driving the labor income share in Asia. Front Matter ....Pages i-viii Previous Literature and New Findings (Gary Fields, Saumik Paul)....Pages 1-14 Front Matter ....Pages 15-15 Does the Exposure to Routinization Explain the Evolution of the Labor Share of Income? Evidence from Asia (Mitali Das)....Pages 17-37 The Labor Share of Income Around the World: Evidence from a Panel Dataset (Marta Guerriero)....Pages 39-79 Technology, Market Regulations, and Labor Share Dynamics (Mary O’Mahony, Michela Vecchi, Francesco Venturini)....Pages 81-101 Globalization, Structural Transformation, and the Labor Income Share (Ken Suzuki, Yoko Oishi, Saumik Paul)....Pages 103-150 Democracy and the Labor Share of Income: A Cross-Country Analysis (Marta Guerriero)....Pages 151-176 Front Matter ....Pages 177-177 Trade, Labor Share, and Productivity in India’s Industries (Dibyendu Maiti)....Pages 179-205 What Explains the Increase in the Labor Income Share in Malaysia? (Allen Ng, Theng Theng Tan, Zhai Gen Tan)....Pages 207-230 Institutions, Deindustrialization, and Functional Income Distribution in Japan (Kyoji Fukao, Cristiano Perugini)....Pages 231-245 A Microeconomic Analysis of the Declining Labor Share in Japan (Kyoji Fukao, Koji Ito, Cristiano Perugini)....Pages 247-267