This article investigates the income and expenditure patterns of individuals, with a specific focus on investments in luxury items, real estate, and expensive modes of transportation. Using global databases such as “Luxury Goods—Worldwide/Statista Market Forecast” and “Data—WID—World Inequality Database”, the authors explore the correlation between high demand for luxury items and economic inequality. The study emphasizes the role of luxury tax as essential for implementing a progressive personal income tax system in Russia. By examining country-specific factors, particularly in China and Russia, and conducting a comparative analysis of progressive tax systems globally, the research highlights the potential of luxury tax to enhance the efficacy of income tax in reducing inequality.

This study examines the relationship between macroeconomic determinants and education levels in eight selected African oil-exporting countries (AOECs) over the period 2000–2022. Drawing on human capital theory, the paper scrutinizes the impact of factors such as income inequality, health outcome, economic growth, human development, unemployment, education expenditure, institutional quality, and energy consumption on education levels. Employing robust estimation techniques such as fixed effects (FE), random effects (RE), pooled mean group (PMG) and cross-section autoregressive distributed lag model (CS-ARDL), the study unveils vital static and dynamic interactions among these determinants and education levels. Findings reveal notable positive and significant connections between education levels and some of the variables—human capital development, institutional quality, government expenditure on education, and energy consumption, while income inequality demonstrates a consistent negative relationship. Unexpectedly, health outcomes exhibit a negative impact on education levels, warranting further investigation. Furthermore, the analysis deepens understanding of long-run and short-run relationships, highlighting, for example, the contradictory impact of gross domestic product (GDP) and unemployment on education levels in AOECs. Finally, the study recommends targeted human development programs, enhanced public investment in education, institutional reforms for good governance, and sustainable energy infrastructure development.

This study aims to determine the extent of gender inequality in human resource development in Indonesia against Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). This research using secondary data from various relevant sources. There are five dimensions that and are important for measuring gender equality, namely economic participation, economic opportunities, political empowerment, educational attainment, and health and welfare. The assessment was carried out on Indonesia and other countries in Southeast Asia. The results of the study show that Indonesia has the lowest gender development index (GDI) score compared to the average in ASEAN. Then, gender empowerment measure (GEM) Indonesia increased slowly. The most striking gap is in the income dimension, where men’s income far exceeds women’s income. This happens because women work less than men because women are more traditional in domestic roles in Indonesia, where women are prioritized in managing the household. However, for political indicators, there has been an increase in the number of women in parliament, but the target has not yet reached 30 percent of the total number of women in parliament. This situation shows that there is a reduction in the gender gap in the economy and politics. But the number is still too small, it is necessary to increase the equally distributed equivalent percentage (EDEP) for the Economic Participation Index, Parliamentary Representation Index and Income Index.

Poverty, and especially the widening disparity between the rich and the poor, leads to social unrest that can interrupt the harmonious development of human society. Understanding the reasons for income inequality, and supporting the development of an effective strategy to reduce this inequality, have been major goals in socioeconomic research around the world. To identify the determinants of the income gap, we calculated the Gini coefficients for Chinese provinces and performed regression analysis and contribution analysis for heterogeneity, using data from 30 Chinese provinces from 2002 to 2018. We found that urbanization, higher education, and foreign direct investment in eastern China and energy in central and western China were important factors that increased the Gini coefficient (i.e., decreased equality). Therefore, paying more attention to the fair distribution of the factors that can increase the Gini coefficient and investing more in the factors that can reduce the Gini coefficient will be the keys to narrowing the income gap. Our approach revealed factors that should be targeted for solutions both in China and in other developing countries that are facing similar difficulties, although the details will vary among countries and contexts.