|
|
 |
|
The Economic Roundup is an excerpted translation of the Chinese-language ROC Economic Yearbook published by the Economic Daily News, a sister publication of the Taiwan Economic News. The yearbook is the most comprehensive and authoritative source for understanding the fundamentals of Taiwan's economy, both in the macro and micro aspects. The excerpted translation gives foreign readers a concise view of the island's overall economic picture. It is divided into four parts: general economy, primary industries, secondary industries, and tertiary industries.
|
| General Economy > Income Distribution |
| Efficiency and fairness are two major objectives pursued by economics, but oftentimes both cannot be attained simultaneously. Developing countries appear to put priority on the enhancement of efficiency, and begin to pay attention to fairness and justice after their economies have developed to a certain level. Taiwan managed to achieve both fairness and efficiency in the early stage of its economic development, leading to the creation of an "even wealth" society. Income distribution, though, has started to become increasingly uneven along with elevation of income level. In 2004, the income unevenness was 0.338 according to the gauge of Gini coefficient of inequality, slightly lower than 2003's 0.343. Of the five income brackets, aggregate income of those in the top bracket was 6.03 times that in the lowest bracket, slightly lower than 2003's 6.07, which, though, is still within the range of most uneven income distribution by historical standards. One major factor is depressed income of the employed, due to decline in the economic development rate, change in industrial structure, and inadequate employment situation. The concentration of wealth boosts the level of property income. Another factor is the unreasonable stock-dividend system for employees in the booming information-technology and electronics industry. The concentration of wealth involves complicated reasonable and unreasonable factors. The government has noticed the trend of uneven income distribution and has been endeavoring to alleviate the problem with financial and fiscal policies, whose effects are still not evident, though.
Although Taiwan's income distribution tends to become more uneven, consumption distribution, as well as popularity in the ownership of houses and household appliances, has picked up, indicating that gap in the living standards of local people doesn't widen and the society basically remains one of even wealth. |
|
