IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/imf/imfwpa/2016-160.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Testing Piketty’s Hypothesis on the Drivers of Income Inequality: Evidence from Panel VARs with Heterogeneous Dynamics

Author

Listed:
  • Carlos Góes

Abstract

Thomas Piketty's Capital in the Twenty-First Century puts forth a logically consistent explanation for changes in income and wealth inequality patterns. However, while rich in data, the book provides no formal empirical testing for its theoretical causal chain. In this paper, I build a set of Panel SVAR models to check if inequality and capital share in the national income move up as the r-g gap grows. Using a sample of 19 advanced economies spanning over 30 years, I find no empirical evidence that dynamics move in the way Piketty suggests. Results are robust to several alternative estimates of r-g.

Suggested Citation

  • Carlos Góes, 2016. "Testing Piketty’s Hypothesis on the Drivers of Income Inequality: Evidence from Panel VARs with Heterogeneous Dynamics," IMF Working Papers 2016/160, International Monetary Fund.
    • Handle: RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2016/160
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.aspx?sk=44165
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Maura Francese & Mr. Carlos Mulas-Granados, 2015. "Functional Income Distribution and Its Role in Explaining Inequality," IMF Working Papers 2015/244, International Monetary Fund.
    2. Peter Pedroni, 2013. "Structural Panel VARs," Econometrics, MDPI, vol. 1(2), pages 1-27, September.
    3. Daron Acemoglu & James A. Robinson, 2015. "The Rise and Decline of General Laws of Capitalism," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 29(1), pages 3-28, Winter.
    4. N. Gregory Mankiw, 2015. "Yes, r > g. So What?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(5), pages 43-47, May.
    5. Florence Jaumotte & Carolina Osorio Buitron, 2015. "Inequality and Labor Market Institutions," IMF Staff Discussion Notes 15/14, International Monetary Fund.
    6. Pesaran, M. Hashem & Smith, Ron, 1995. "Estimating long-run relationships from dynamic heterogeneous panels," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 79-113, July.
    7. Corak, Miles, 2016. "Inequality from Generation to Generation: The United States in Comparison," IZA Discussion Papers 9929, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Ms. Florence Jaumotte & Ms. Carolina Osorio-Buitron, 2015. "Inequality and Labor Market Institutions," IMF Staff Discussion Notes 2015/014, International Monetary Fund.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Móczár, József, 2017. "Ergodic Versus Uncertain Financial Processes – Part II: Neoclassical and Institutional Economics," Public Finance Quarterly, Corvinus University of Budapest, vol. 62(4), pages 478-501.
    2. Škare, Marinko & Soriano, Domingo Riberio & Porada-Rochoń, Małgorzata, 2021. "Impact of COVID-19 on the travel and tourism industry," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    3. Jurgen Spaanderman, 2018. "An urgent call to get better prepared for unexpected events," DNB Occasional Studies 1602, Netherlands Central Bank, Research Department.
    4. Konstantin A. Kholodilin & Sebastian Kohl, 2021. "Rent Price Control – Yet Another Great Equalizer of Economic Inequalities?: Evidence from a Century of Historical Data," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1927, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    5. Fan, Xuecheng & Xu, Zeshui & Qin, Yong & Škare, Marinko, 2023. "Quantifying the short- and long-run impact of inflation-related price volatility on knowledge asset investment," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    6. Zakaria Chtouki, 2020. "Income inequities: Diagnosis and theoretical challenges," Post-Print hal-03198224, HAL.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kyoji Fukao & Cristiano Perugini, 2021. "The Long‐Run Dynamics of the Labor Share in Japan," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 67(2), pages 445-480, June.
    2. Meszaros, John, 2018. "Inequality and unionization within the United States," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 326-333.
    3. Christopher Hartwell, 2022. "Institutions and trade‐related inequality," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(3), pages 3246-3264, July.
    4. Kevin Pineda‐Hernández & François Rycx & Mélanie Volral, 2022. "How collective bargaining shapes poverty: New evidence for developed countries," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 60(4), pages 895-928, December.
    5. Giovanni Dosi & Marcelo Pereira & Andrea Roventini & Maria Enrica Virgillito, 2016. "The Effects of Labour Market Reforms upon Unemployment and Income Inequalities: an Agent Based Model," Working Papers hal-03459264, HAL.
    6. Bonnet, Odran & Chapelle, Guillaume & Trannoy, Alain & Wasmer, Etienne, 2021. "Land is back, it should be taxed, it can be taxed," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    7. Odran Bonnet & Guillaume Flamerie de La Chapelle & Alain Trannoy & Etienne Wasmer, 2019. "Secular Trends in Wealth and Heterogeneous Capital: Land is Back... and Should Be Taxed," Working Papers hal-03570837, HAL.
    8. Giovanni DOSI & Maria Enrica VIRGILLITO, 2019. "Whither the evolution of the contemporary social fabric? New technologies and old socio‐economic trends," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 158(4), pages 593-625, December.
    9. Mishra, Prachi & Montiel, Peter & Pedroni, Peter & Spilimbergo, Antonio, 2014. "Monetary policy and bank lending rates in low-income countries: Heterogeneous panel estimates," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 117-131.
    10. Dirk Bezemer & Anna Samarina, 2019. "Debt shift, financial development and income inequality," DNB Working Papers 646, Netherlands Central Bank, Research Department.
    11. Yannick Malevergne & Didier Sornette, 2016. "Wealth and Income Inequalities ← → r > g," Swiss Finance Institute Research Paper Series 16-69, Swiss Finance Institute.
    12. Islam, Md. Rabiul & Madsen, Jakob B. & Doucouliagos, Hristos, 2018. "Does inequality constrain the power to tax? Evidence from the OECD," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 1-17.
    13. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/56k383m9o9kpb1g6f8rvv74ok is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Andrea Coveri & Mario Pianta, 2019. "The Structural Dynamics of Income Distribution:Technology, Wages and Profits," Working Papers 1901, University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Department of Economics, Society & Politics - Scientific Committee - L. Stefanini & G. Travaglini, revised 2019.
    15. Tonia NOVITZ, 2020. "Engagement with sustainability at the International Labour Organization and wider implications for collective worker voice," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 159(4), pages 463-482, December.
    16. Zhang, Yixiang & Xiong, Yali & Li, Feng & Cheng, Jinhua & Yue, Xiaochen, 2020. "Environmental regulation, capital output and energy efficiency in China: An empirical research based on integrated energy prices," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    17. Brancaccio, Emiliano & Garbellini, Nadia & Giammetti, Raffaele, 2018. "Structural labour market reforms, GDP growth and the functional distribution of income," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 34-45.
    18. Romain Duval & Prakash Loungani, 2021. "Designing Labor Market Institutions in Emerging Market and Developing Economies: A Review of Evidence and IMF Policy Advice," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 63(1), pages 31-83, March.
    19. Dilip Mookherjee & Debraj Ray, 2022. "Growth, Automation and the Long-Run Share of Labor," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 46, pages 1-26, October.
    20. Farhad Taghizadeh‐Hesary & Naoyuki Yoshino & Sayoko Shimizu, 2020. "The impact of monetary and tax policy on income inequality in Japan," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(10), pages 2600-2621, October.
    21. Karsten Kohler & Alexander Guschanski & Engelbert Stockhammer, 2019. "The impact of financialisation on the wage share: a theoretical clarification and empirical test," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 43(4), pages 937-974.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2016/160. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Akshay Modi (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/imfffus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.