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Social Comparisons, Inequality, and Growth

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Author Info
Markus Knell

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Abstract

In this paper we will study the interaction of inequality and growth when people are assumed to care about their relative standing. We show that an increase in a societies' concern for relative standing aggravates a negative impact of inequality on growth if two conditions are fulfilled: Individuals have a higher concern for their present than for their future relative standing and they have a tendency to find their reference groups among people who are wealthier than they are themselves. We present some empirical evidence that conforms to this line of explanantion.

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Publisher Info
Article provided by Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen in its journal Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics.

Volume (Year): 155 (1999)
Issue (Month): 4 (December)
Pages: 664-
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Handle: RePEc:mhr:jinste:urn:sici:0932-4569(199912)155:4_664:sciag_2.0.tx_2-e

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomics: Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
O40 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - General
D30 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - General

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:

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    Other versions:
  3. Benhabib, Jess & Rustichini, Aldo, 1996. " Social Conflict and Growth," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 1(1), pages 125-42, March.
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  5. Layard, Richard, 1980. "Human Satisfactions and Public Policy," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 90(363), pages 737-50, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Clark, Andrew E. & Oswald, Andrew J., 1996. "Satisfaction and comparison income," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(3), pages 359-381, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  7. Boskin, Michael J & Sheshinski, Eytan, 1978. "Optimal Redistributive Taxation when Individual Welfare Depends upon Relative Income," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 92(4), pages 589-601, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  15. Banerjee, Abhijit V & Newman, Andrew F, 1991. "Risk-Bearing and the Theory of Income Distribution," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 58(2), pages 211-35, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  16. Frank, Robert H, 1984. "Are Workers Paid Their Marginal Products?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 74(4), pages 549-71, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  20. Fershtman, Chaim & Murphy, Kevin M & Weiss, Yoram, 1996. "Social Status, Education, and Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 104(1), pages 108-32, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  21. Clark, Andrew E. & Oswald, Andrew J., 1998. "Comparison-concave utility and following behaviour in social and economic settings," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(1), pages 133-155, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  26. Tornell, Aaron & Velasco, Andes, 1992. "The Tragedy of the Commons and Economic Growth: Why Does Capital Flow from Poor to Rich Countries?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 100(6), pages 1208-31, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  31. Deininger, Klaus & Squire, Lyn, 1996. "A New Data Set Measuring Income Inequality," World Bank Economic Review, Oxford University Press, vol. 10(3), pages 565-91, September.
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Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Brown, Gordon D. A. & Gardner, Jonathan & Oswald, Andrew & Qian, Jing, 2005. "Does Wage Rank Affect Employees’ Wellbeing?," IZA Discussion Papers 1505, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  2. Carlsson, Fredrik & Nam, Pham Khanh & Linde-Rahr, Martin & Martinsson, Peter, 2005. "Are Vietnamese Farmers Concerned with their Relative Position in Society?," Working Papers in Economics 165, Göteborg University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Armin Falk & Markus Knell, . "Choosing the Joneses On the Endogeneity of Reference Groups," IEW - Working Papers iewwp053, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
  4. Carlsson, Fredrik & Gupta, Gautam & Johansson-Stenman, Olof, 2005. "Keeping Up with the Vaishyas: Caste and Relative Standing," Working Papers in Economics 171, Göteborg University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  5. Markus Knell, 2008. "The Optimal Mix Between Funded and Unfunded Pensions Systems When People Care About Relative Consumption," Working Papers 146, Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian Central Bank). [Downloadable!]
  6. Klaus Reiner Schenk-Hoppé & Björn Schmalfuss, . "Random Fixed Points in a Stochastic Solow Growth Model," IEW - Working Papers iewwp065, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  7. Stephanie Seguino, 2005. "All types of inequality are not created equal: divergent impacts of inequality on economic growth," Working Papers 10, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, revised Oct 2005. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  8. Andersson, Fredrik W., 2006. "Is Concern for Relative Consumption a Function of Relative Consumption?," Working Papers in Economics 220, Göteborg University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  9. Josef Zweimueller, . "Inequality, Redistribution, and Economic Growth," IEW - Working Papers iewwp031, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  10. Figini, P, 1999. "Inequality and Growth Revisited," Trinity Economics Papers 992, Trinity College Dublin, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  11. Alpizar, Francisco & Carlsson, Fredrik & Johansson-Stenman, Olof, 2001. "How Much Do We Care About Absolute Versus Relative Income and Consumption?," Working Papers in Economics 63, Göteborg University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  12. Falk, Armin & Knell, Markus, 2004. "Choosing the Joneses: Endogenous Goals and Reference Standards," IZA Discussion Papers 1152, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  13. Alexis Direr, 2000. "Relative Consumption and Saving," Econometric Society World Congress 2000 Contributed Papers 1056, Econometric Society. [Downloadable!]
  14. Thomas Leoni & Wolfgang Pollan, 2003. "The Impact of Inequality on Economic Growth," WIFO Working Papers 211, WIFO. [Downloadable!]
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