Extending the Kuznets Curve

Jordi Guilera ()

No 257, Working Papers in Economics from Universitat de Barcelona. Espai de Recerca en Economia

Abstract: Recent decades have been characterized by a steep increase in wage inequality globally. In order to explain this phenomenon, this paper extends the classic Kuznets Curve to include post-industrial economies. According to this Extended Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis, wage inequality may follow an N-curve. If the inverted U-shape of the EKC is attributable to the structural changes associated with industrialization, its right-hand side reflects the boom in human capital formation registered in modern and post-industrial economies. Thus, the main candidates to explain the recent upsurge in wage inequality, namely skill-biased technical change, globalisation and institutional factors, may be embodied in the evolution of the skill composition of the labour force. The available empirical evidence, albeit limited, tends to support the EKC hypothesis.

JEL-codes: D31 J21 J24 N34 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 0 pages
Date: 2011
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hme and nep-lab
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bar:bedcje:2011257

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