Kuznets at 70: the enduring significance of a curve and a hypothesis

James K. Galbraith, Ravi Kanbur, Kunal Sen and Andy Sumner

No wp-2025-46, WIDER Working Paper Series from World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER)

Abstract: Seven decades ago, Simon Kuznets put forward the hypothesis that as economies developed, national inequality would first increase and then decrease—an inverted U-shape. He provided preliminary evidence for the hypothesis on the basis of the limited data available at the time, and theorized the genesis of the curve as arising from the twin forces of structural transformation of the economy and political economy pressures.

Keywords: Kuznets; Inequality; Structural transformation; Political economy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his, nep-hpe and nep-pke
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