The income inequality curve in the last 100 years: What happened to the Inverted-U?

Adham Sayed and Peng Bin ()

Research in Economics, 2020, vol. 74, issue 1, 63-72

Abstract: This paper examines the shape of the curve that represents the long-run relationship between income inequality and economic growth, using data from four developed countries (USA, UK, France, and Germany) over the period 1915 – 2014. The analysis is carried using a panel data technique (fixed, random, and interactive effects) that takes into account common shocks. We find that in the long-term, this curve has the shape of an “N-shape” and that the Kuznets curve does not explain this path. We also present many factors that may affect the path of inequality up or down, the most important is political, economic and demographic, specifically technological change, globalization, social transfers, economic policies, trade unions, taxation, education, war, and epidemics.

Keywords: Developed countries; N-shaped; Income inequality; Kuznets curve; Common shocks; Panel data (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C33 N32 N34 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1090944319304181
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: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:reecon:v:74:y:2020:i:1:p:63-72

DOI: 10.1016/j.rie.2019.12.001

Access Statistics for this article

Research in Economics is currently edited by Federico Etro

More articles in Research in Economics from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().