On the Persistence of Cross-Country Inequality Measures

Dimitris Christopoulos and Peter McAdam ()

No 216, School of Economics Discussion Papers from School of Economics, University of Surrey

Abstract: We examine inequality persistence in a multi-country unbalanced panel framework using a battery of stationarity and long-run memory tests. Inequality is measured by the (gross and net) Gini indices of income inequality. Results suggests that we cannot reject a unit root in the inequality measures. This applies to both gross and net indices: thus whilst redistributive measures have reduced the level of inequality, they have not sufficiently modified its apparent unit root. A more likely conclusion is that inequality measures are exceptionally persistent if not strictly speaking a unit root. Thus shocks to inequality have very long-lasting effects. We also introduce a new panel stationarity test useful for series subject to unknown structural breaks.

JEL-codes: C23 D63 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 20 pages
Date: 2016-01
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Related works:
Journal Article: On the Persistence of Cross‐Country Inequality Measures (2017)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sur:surrec:0216

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