The Labour Share, Government Expenditure and Income Inequality of Post-Soviet Countries

Bruno S. Sergi (), Svetlana Balashova and Svetlana Ratner
Additional contact information
Bruno S. Sergi: Department of Economics, University of Messina, Piazza Pugliatti, 198122 Messina, Italy
Svetlana Balashova: Department of Economic and Mathematical Modelling, Faculty of Economics, Peoples’ University of Russia (RUDN University), Miluh-Maklaya, 6, 117519 Moscow, Russia
Svetlana Ratner: Department of Economic and Mathematical Modelling, Faculty of Economics, Peoples’ University of Russia (RUDN University), Miluh-Maklaya, 6, 117519 Moscow, Russia
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Светлана Алексеевна Балашова

Economies, 2023, vol. 11, issue 12, 1-22

Abstract: This study analyses the influence of economic growth on inequality, concentrating on the role of governments as mediators. The period studied is from 2000 to 2020, encompassing 11 post-Soviet countries. The primary estimation method used is the two-stage least squares for panel data. Despite the differences in the economic and political systems at the current development stage, the post-Soviet countries share a common pattern in terms of the relationship between economic growth, the labour income share and the level of inequality, which we first show in this article. Government expenditure has the potential to reduce inequality. However, its effectiveness depends largely on government efficiency and the development of democratic institutions. Despite the increase in government spending on education, more is needed to reduce income inequality. Increased economic performance, productivity, and high-quality state institutions are necessary for this change.

Keywords: labour share; income inequality; post-Soviet countries; government expenditures; income distribution; TSLS (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E F I J O Q (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7099/11/12/288/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7099/11/12/288/ (text/html)

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:gam:jecomi:v:11:y:2023:i:12:p:288-:d:1289828

Access Statistics for this article

Economies is currently edited by Ms. Adore Zhou

More articles in Economies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().