Status Aspirations, Wealth Inequality, and Economic Growth

Oded Stark

No 166, Economics Series from Institute for Advanced Studies

Abstract: This paper argues that an increase in the inequality of wealth prompts a stronger quest for status that in turn fosters the accumulation of wealth. It proposes a measure for an individual’s want of social status. For a given level of a population’s wealth, the corresponding aggregate measure of want of social status is shown to be positively related to the Gini coefficient of wealth inequality. Hence the Gini coefficient and growth are positively correlated, holding the population’s wealth constant.

Keywords: Quest for status; Distribution of wealth; Economic growth (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A13 A14 D31 D63 O40 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 9 pages
Date: 2005-01
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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https://irihs.ihs.ac.at/id/eprint/1613 First version, 2005 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Status Aspirations, Wealth Inequality, and Economic Growth (2006)
Working Paper: Status Aspirations, Wealth Inequality, and Economic Growth (2005)
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