scholarly journals Essays on inequality, economic growth and political polarization

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Juan Carlos Peña
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Income Inequality ◽  
Voting Behavior ◽  
Social Preferences ◽  
Developing Economies ◽  
Social Consequences ◽  
Political Polarization ◽  
Public Attention ◽  
Dynamic Relationship ◽  
Advanced Economies

Economic inequality has moved into the focus of academic debate in the last decade as it gained increasing public attention in the aftermath of the financial crisis in 2007. The present dissertation contributes to the growing and existing literature on income inequality by presenting three contributions that empirically analyze the economic, political and social consequences of income inequality. Chapter 1 explores the dynamic relationship between economic growth and the different metrics of income inequality using a compiled dataset covering 110 advanced and developing economies from 1980 to 2016. Chapter 2 examines the macroeconomic and social determinants of voting behavior, and especially of political polarization, using a compiled dataset for 20 advanced economies from 1980 to 2016 which covers 291 parliamentary elections. Finally, chapter 3 investigates the effects of group identity and income inequality on social preferences and polarization by means of a laboratory experiment.

scholarly journals The Effect of Financial Deepening on Economic Growth, Inequality, and Poverty: Evidence from 73 Countries

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 15-27
Author(s):  
Catur Sugiyanto ◽  
Zefania Yolanda
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Income Inequality ◽  
Developing Economies ◽  
Financial Deepening ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Panel Data Regression ◽  
Advanced Economies ◽  
Data Regression ◽  
Negative Effect

AbstractThis study aims to analyze the effect of financial deepening on economic growth, income inequality, and poverty rates in 73 countries during the period 1991–2015. Panel data regression and the interaction of dummy variables are used to measure the effect. The results indicate that financial deepening has positive effects on economic growth, but negative effects on income inequality and poverty rates; has significant effect on economic growth in advanced economies (AEs) and significant effect on income equality and poverty rates in emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs). These findings show that countries have to be selective in developing their financial sectors as it either can have positive or negative effect.

Wither Convergence?

2016 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Francisco C. Sercovich
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Global Convergence ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Developing Economies ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Catching Up ◽  
Advanced Economies ◽  
Main Driver ◽  
Global Economic Growth ◽  
First Time

For the first time since the industrial revolution, emerging economies are the main driver of global economic growth. For all its significance, this cannot be taken as an indicator of global convergence, since it resulted essentially from the successful catching-up processes of just a few Asian countries over the last few decades, whilst the productivity and income of the bulk of the developing economies have lagged persistently behind those of the advanced economies. The former continue to have the potential to grow faster than the latter, but realizing this potential on sustainable basis makes it necessary to meet a number of increasingly stringent conditions. Grounds for optimism are considerably less solid today than was the case in the recent past. This is highlighted by the large number of countries locked-up in the ‘middle-income trap”. This chapter offers a fresh view of this phenomenon, examines the nature of the conditions required for the potential for catching-up of middle-income economies to be realized, and attempts to arrive at a realistic outlook on this matter.

Statement by the Managing Director to the International Monetary and Financial Committee on the Global Economy and Financial Markets

Policy Papers ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 2010 (58) ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
Financial Markets ◽  
Emerging Economies ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Developing Economies ◽  
Social Consequences ◽  
Smooth Transition ◽  
Macroeconomic Policies ◽  
Advanced Economies ◽  
Key Policy ◽  
Policy Challenge

The recovery remains fragile and uneven. In many advanced economies, activity is still sluggish and unemployment high, while legacy problems in the financial system remain unresolved. Activity is more robust in many emerging and developing economies. However, their prospects also depend on a healthy, broad-based recovery among the advanced economies, owing to deep real and financial linkages. The key policy challenge is to effect a smooth transition from public- to private-sector-led growth in many advanced economies, and from external to domestically driven growth in key emerging economies. While short-term macroeconomic policies are broadly appropriate, completing the two rebalancing acts will require tackling the medium-term fiscal, financial, and structural challenges raised by the crisis. Without such reforms, growth could sputter, with grave economic and social consequences.

scholarly journals Innovations in achieving sustainable economic performance under income inequality

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 146-154
Author(s):  
Inna Cabelkova ◽  
Manuela Tvaronaviciene ◽  
Wadim Strielkowski
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Human Capital ◽  
Income Inequality ◽  
Economic Performance ◽  
Financial Services ◽  
Developing Economies ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
The Impact

The negative effect of income inequality on economic growth represents a topic that constitutes a broad topic of research in the standard economic theory. One of the immediate consequences of income inequality is diminished consumption. Many «poor» customers cannot provide sufficient demand for the producers, causing overproduction that might lead to an economic crisis. It constitutes a problem because sustainable economic performance needs to be achieved under the conditions of income inequality. Reducing social and economic inequality in countries is an essential step towards ensuring that no one is left behind. It is also part of the 10th Sustainable Development Goal aimed to reduce it by 2030. Inequality is based on the income distribution between the top 1% and the bottom 99% of households in any given country. The degree of inequality could play a beneficial role if it is driven by market forces and is associated with incentives to increase growth. In developing and emerging countries, greater equality and improvements in living standards are needed to enable populations to flourish. Inequality reduction is one of the most critical steps a government could take to improve the well-being of its population. The income inequality growth increases human capital in poor countries and reduces it in high and middle-income countries. In poorer countries, it increases them, but in higher – and middle-income countries, it reduces them. Income inequality could be reduced by improving human capital and general skill levels, correcting labor-market policies, and making better use of financial services. In turn, sustainable economic growth could reverse the negative effects of inequality, reducing the need for high-wage and higher-earning households. Thus, it provides higher economic growth. This paper discusses three ways to circumvent the impact of decreasing consumption on economic growth adopted in developing economies over the last fifty years, such as increasing exports, providing loans for consumption, and printing new money. The findings showed that none of these methods seem to be sustainable in the long run. Thus novel and innovative mechanisms that would allow our economy to reduce inequality are necessary and need to be put into place.

scholarly journals The Digitalization – Economic Growth Relationship in Developing Countries and the Role of Governance

2021 ◽  
Vol 68 (4) ◽  
pp. 481-493
Author(s):  
Van Bon
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
Digital Technology ◽  
Developing Economies ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Trade Openness ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Advanced Economies ◽  
The Difference

Digital technology is emerging as one of the suitable solutions to help developing economies catch up with advanced economies in the context of globalization. Progress in digital technology promotes economic growth in developing economies because it reduces transaction costs in economic activities and improves workers’ skills and knowledge. Meanwhile, governance is the primary cause of economic growth. Therefore, this study raises a research question of whether governance significantly contributes to the digitalization – economic growth relationship in developing countries or not. For the answer, the study uses the difference GMM Arellano-Bond estimators to empirically examine the effects of digitalization, governance, and their interaction on economic growth for a group of 35 developing countries from 2006 to 2019. Then, the study applies the FE-IV estimator to check the robustness of estimates. The results indicate that digitalization and governance boost economic growth while their interaction hinders it. Furthermore, trade openness also increases economic growth. These findings suggest some crucial policy implications that governments in developing countries should establish appropriate conditions to promote digital technology so that citizens can peacefully express their views on government policies and regulations, which contributes to the economic development of the country.

Does inequality benefit growth? New evidence using a panel VAR approach

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-76
Author(s):  
Marcelo Eduardo Alves da Silva
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Income Inequality ◽  
Capital Accumulation ◽  
State Level ◽  
Panel Var ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Poor Countries ◽  
Inequality Measures ◽  
Capital Market Imperfections ◽  
Dynamic Relationship

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the dynamic relationship between economic growth and income inequality, an issue that has not found a clear consensus in the literature. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses a Panel VAR approach, using state-level data for Brazil, to assess the dynamic effects of inequality on economic growth and vice versa. Findings The paper shows that inequality shocks lead to higher economic growth, therefore supporting the view that, in poor countries, higher inequality does benefit economic growth. The paper also presents evidence that higher growth leads to lower income inequality. The results are robust to different inequality measures and when a measure of human capital accumulation is included in the estimation. Originality/value Recent evidence has favored the idea that higher inequality hurts economic growth. This paper shows that this might not be the case when the dynamic relationship between growth and inequality is examined in a developing country with high inequality and capital market imperfections.

Income Inequality and Economic Growth: Heterogeneity and Nonlinearity

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abebe Hailemariam ◽  
Ratbek Dzhumashev
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Income Inequality ◽  
Measurement Errors ◽  
Developing Economies ◽  
Threshold Effect ◽  
Growth Effect ◽  
Developed Economies ◽  
Nonlinear Growth ◽  
Cross Country ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThis paper examines the relationship between income inequality and economic growth in a broad panel of countries over the period from 1965 to 2014. We utilize an improved dataset for inequality with reduced measurement errors, which fosters cross-country comparability. In addition, we investigate whether accounting for heterogeneity across countries alters the estimated effect of inequality on growth, and whether the inequality-growth nexus varies with the level of income inequality. Our estimates show that after accounting for heterogeneity, the nonlinear growth effect of income inequality remains statistically and economically significant. We find a threshold effect of inequality on economic growth, and this threshold is higher for developing economies than for developed economies.

scholarly journals The Dynamic Relationship between Inequality and Sustainable Economic Growth

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (14) ◽  
pp. 5740 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hwan-Joo Seo ◽  
HanSung Kim ◽  
Young Soo Lee
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
Income Inequality ◽  
Growth Model ◽  
Capital Accumulation ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Dynamic Relationship ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Sustainable Economic Growth

This study empirically tests the effects of income inequality on growth for 43 countries from 1991 to 2014 based on a cumulative growth model. The results show that, first, the estimation results using a reduced equation reveal a positive correlation between the income inequalities of lagging countries and the respective growth gaps with the frontier country. This confirms that the increase in income inequality negatively affects growth. Secondly, a cumulative growth model using 3SLS estimation shows that income inequality has a negative effect only on investment. However, we fail to find correlations between technological innovation and income inequality and between human capital accumulation and income inequality. Considering that investment has a positive impact on productivity, we conclude that income inequality has a negative impact on investment and that the resulting sluggish investment has a negative impact on productivity, which in turn negatively influences growth. Third, contrary to Kaldor and Barro’s prediction, we find that income inequality in developing countries is negatively correlated with growth, particularly for investment. The effects of income inequality on investment are found to be similar in both developed and developing countries. We also find region-specific differences in the paths through which income inequality affects sustainable economic growth.

Is inflation targeting useful for economic growth?

2017 ◽  
pp. 62-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Kartaev
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Monetary Policy ◽  
Test Performance ◽  
Inflation Targeting ◽  
Developing Economies ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Growth Regime ◽  
Potential Channels

The paper presents an overview of studies of the effects of inflation targeting on long-term economic growth. We analyze the potential channels of influence, as well as modern empirical studies that test performance of these channels. We compare the effects of different variants of inflation targeting (strict and mixed). Based on the analysis recommendations on the choice of optimal (in terms of stimulating long-term growth) regime of monetary policy in developed and developing economies are formulated.

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