Inequality and growth: Some welfare calculations

Juan Cordoba () and Genevieve Verdier ()

Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, 2008, vol. 32, issue 6, pages 1812-1829

Abstract: The main lotteries individuals face during their lifetime are country and family of birth. How much consumption growth would a newborn sacrifice to avoid these lotteries? We find that he may be willing to sacrifice a large fraction, if not all, to avoid them. Critical elements for the results are time discounting and risk aversion. Both reduce the effect of growth on welfare while risk aversion increases the benefits of more equal outcomes. Another key factor is the staggering size of risk at birth. Our calculations suggest a research agenda that treats growth and inequality as priorities.

Date: 2008

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6V85 ... 77d8136dd58be8835701
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:dyncon:v:32:y:2008:i:6:p:1812-1829

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control is edited by J. Bullard, C. Chiarella, C. H. Hommes, P. N. Ireland, T. Cogley and M. Juillard

More articles in Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control from Elsevier
Series data maintained by Heidi Boesdal ().