The developer's dilemma: A survey of structural transformation and inequality dynamics

Armida Alisjahbana, Kyunghoon Kim, Kunal Sen, Andy Sumner and Arief Yusuf

No wp-2020-35, WIDER Working Paper Series from World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER)

Abstract: This paper discusses the 'developer's dilemma'—a tension emerging from the fact that developing countries are simultaneously seeking structural transformation and broad-based growth to raise incomes of the poor. Simon Kuznets originally hypothesized that structural transformation may have a tendency—in the absence of policy intervention—to put upward pressure on income inequality. However, broad-based economic growth requires steady or even falling income inequality to maximize the growth of incomes at the lower end of the distribution.

Keywords: Income inequality; Structural transformation; Economic development; Kuznets (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-mac
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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