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National Income and Its Distribution

Author

Listed:
  • Markus Bruckner
  • Ms. Era Dabla-Norris
  • Mr. Mark Gradstein
Abstract
Does the distribution of income within a country become more equal as it grows richer? This paper uses plausibly exogenous variations in trade-weighted world income and international oil price shocks as instruments for within-country variations in countries real GDP per capita to examine this issue for a large sample of advanced and developing countries. Our findings indicate that increases in national income have a significant moderating effect on income inequality: a one percent increase in real GDP per capita, on average, reduces the Gini coefficient by around 0.08 percentage points, a result that is robust across income levels, different time horizons, and alternative estimation techniques. From a policy perspective, our results suggest that education policies that promote equity and help individuals continue on to higher levels of education could help reduce income inequality.

Suggested Citation

  • Markus Bruckner & Ms. Era Dabla-Norris & Mr. Mark Gradstein, 2014. "National Income and Its Distribution," IMF Working Papers 2014/101, International Monetary Fund.
    • Handle: RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2014/101
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    3. Filippidis, Michail & Tzouvanas, Panagiotis & Chatziantoniou, Ioannis, 2021. "Energy poverty through the lens of the energy-environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    4. Duong, Khanh & Nguyen Phuc Van, 2023. "Innovation and Globalization: Benefactors or Barriers to Inclusive Growth?," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1357, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    5. Liang Frank Shao & Melanie Krause, 2020. "Rising mean incomes for whom?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(12), pages 1-20, December.
    6. Jesús Crespo Cuaresma & Stephan Klasen & Konstantin M. Wacker, 2022. "When Do We See Poverty Convergence?," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 84(6), pages 1283-1301, December.
    7. Cobbe, Jim, 2014. "Managing Development and Public Policy: A Personal View," MPRA Paper 60427, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Majumderad, Monoj Kumar & Raghavan, Mala & Vespignani, Joaquin, 2020. "Oil Curse," MPRA Paper 101138, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2020.
    9. Banna, Hasanul & Alam, Ashraful & Chen, Xihui Haviour & Alam, Ahmed W., 2023. "Energy security and economic stability: The role of inflation and war," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    10. Majumder, Monoj Kumar & Raghavan, Mala & Vespignani, Joaquin, 2020. "Oil curse, economic growth and trade openness," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    11. Brueckner, Markus & Dabla-Norris, Era & Gradstein, Mark & Lederman, Daniel, 2018. "The rise of the middle class and economic growth in ASEAN," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 48-58.
    12. Guilherme Amorim & Marcelo E. A. Silva, 2023. "Governance and growth: A panel VAR approach," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 43(4), pages 1896-1907.
    13. Ọláyínká Oyèkọ́lá, 2021. "Finance and inequality in a panel of US States," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 61(5), pages 2739-2795, November.
    14. Eric A. Hanushek, 2017. "Education and the Growth-Equity Trade-Off," NBER Chapters, in: Education, Skills, and Technical Change: Implications for Future US GDP Growth, pages 293-312, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Ọláyínká Oyèkọ́lá, 2024. "Life may be unfair, but do democracies make it any less burdensome?," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 22(3), pages 577-602, September.
    16. Brueckner,Markus & Lederman,Daniel, 2015. "Effects of income inequality on aggregate output," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7317, The World Bank.
    17. Gustavo A. Marrero & Juan Gabriel Rodríguez, 2019. "Inequality and growth: The cholesterol hypothesis," Working Papers 501, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    18. Era Dabla-Norris & Mark Gradstein & Fedor Miryugin & Florian Misch, 2019. "Productivity and Tax Evasion," CESifo Working Paper Series 8002, CESifo.
    19. Gustavo A. Marrero & Luis Servén, 2022. "Growth, inequality and poverty: a robust relationship?," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 63(2), pages 725-791, August.
    20. Kammas, Pantelis & Sarantides, Vassilis, 2019. "Do dictatorships redistribute more?," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 176-195.
    21. Aiyar, Shekhar & Ebeke, Christian, 2020. "Inequality of opportunity, inequality of income and economic growth," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    22. Song, Yuegang & Paramati, Sudharshan Reddy & Ummalla, Mallesh & Zakari, Abdulrasheed & Kummitha, Harshavardhan Reddy, 2021. "The effect of remittances and FDI inflows on income distribution in developing economies," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 255-267.
    23. Ronald Fischer & Diego Huerta, 2016. "Economic Performance, Wealth Distribution and Credit Restrictions with Continuous Investment," Documentos de Trabajo 326, Centro de Economía Aplicada, Universidad de Chile.
    24. Zeira, Joseph & Battisti, Michele, 2018. "Inequality and Public Policy," CEPR Discussion Papers 13134, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    WP; GDP p.c.; least squares; GDP share; income share; income growth; ls estimate; National income; inequality; growth; significance level; country Fe; Income inequality; Personal income; Income distribution; Oil prices; Sub-Saharan Africa; Asia and Pacific;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O4 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity

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