Gain versus pain from status and ambition: Effects on growth and inequality

Frederic Tournemaine and Christopher Tsoukis

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: To shed lights on growth, distribution and the relationships between the two, we develop a growth model with heterogeneous individuals who care about social status. Individuals' heterogeneity stems from two sources: their innate skills and their degree of ambition. While the willingness of individuals to accumulate wealth depends whether they experience gain or pain from loss of status, we show that ambition of individuals plays an important role regarding growth and distribution: ambition can inhibit or foster accumulation of wealth, then in turn growth. In such a context, we show that growth can be positively or negatively correlated with inequalities.

Keywords: social aspirations; ambition; inequality; growth (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O41 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cse, nep-dev and nep-soc
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Gain versus pain from status and ambition: Effects on growth and inequality (2010)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pra:mprapa:8670

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