IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp10636.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Structural Transformation and Income Distribution: Kuznets and Beyond

Author

Listed:
  • Kanbur, Ravi

    (Cornell University)

Abstract

This paper explores the question of structural transformation and income distribution through the eyes of the pioneer in such analysis, Simon Kuznets. It argues that his 1955 paper stands the test of time in providing insights which are relevant to understanding current phenomena like the evolution of Chinese inequality. The paper shows how the Kuznetsian framework can be used, for example, in predicting the differential relationship between urbanization and inequality in India versus China, in assessing the detail of the contribution of sectoral mean and inequality evolution to overall inequality change, and in linking the recent inequality of opportunity literature to rural-urban migration. Thus the original Kuznets framework has the seeds of getting us beyond Kuznets as sometimes (mis)understood in the literature on structural transformation and income distribution.

Suggested Citation

  • Kanbur, Ravi, 2017. "Structural Transformation and Income Distribution: Kuznets and Beyond," IZA Discussion Papers 10636, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10636
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp10636.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Zhang, Xiaobo & Yang, Jin & Wang, Shenglin, 2011. "China has reached the Lewis turning point," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 542-554.
    2. Saavedra-Chanduví, Jaime & Molinas, José R. & De Barros, Ricardo Paes & Ferreira, Francisco H. G., 2009. "Measuring Inequality of Opportunities in Latin America and the Caribbean," IDB Publications (Books), Inter-American Development Bank, number 361.
    3. Ravi Kanbur & Xiaobo Zhang, 2005. "Fifty Years of Regional Inequality in China: a Journey Through Central Planning, Reform, and Openness," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 9(1), pages 87-106, February.
    4. Deininger, Klaus & Squire, Lyn, 1998. "New ways of looking at old issues: inequality and growth," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(2), pages 259-287.
    5. Ahluwalia, Montek S, 1976. "Income Distribution and Development: Some Stylized Facts," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 66(2), pages 128-135, May.
    6. Robinson, Sherman, 1976. "A Note on the U Hypothesis Relating Income Inequality and Economic Development," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 66(3), pages 437-440, June.
    7. Yanan Li & Ravi Kanbur & Carl Lin, 2019. "Minimum Wage Competition between Local Governments in China," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(12), pages 2479-2494, December.
    8. Ricardo Paes de Barros & Francisco H.G. Ferreira & Jose R. Molinas Vega & Jaime Saavedra Chanduvi, 2009. "Measuring Inequality of Opportunities in Latin America and the Caribbean," World Bank Publications, The World Bank, number 2580, September.
    9. repec:idb:brikps:60098 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Ahluwalia, Montek S., 1976. "Inequality, poverty and development," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 307-342, December.
    11. Kanbur, Ravi, 2012. "Does Kuznets Still Matter?," Working Papers 128794, Cornell University, Department of Applied Economics and Management.
    12. Anand, Sudhir & Kanbur, S. M. R., 1993. "Inequality and development A critique," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 19-43, June.
    13. Anand, Sudhir & Kanbur, S. M. R., 1993. "The Kuznets process and the inequality--development relationship," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 25-52, February.
    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. Diego Martínez-Navarro & Ignacio Amate-Fortes & Almudena Guarnido-Rueda, 2020. "Inequality and development: is the Kuznets curve in effect today?," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 37(3), pages 703-735, October.
    2. Cinar Baymul & Kunal Sen, 2020. "Was Kuznets Right? New Evidence on the Relationship between Structural Transformation and Inequality," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(9), pages 1643-1662, July.
    3. Zhou, Yixiao & Tyers, Rod, 2019. "Automation and inequality in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    4. Jena , Devasmita, 2021. "International Trade, Structural Transformation and Economic Catch-Up: An Analysis of The Asean Experiences," Journal of Economic Development, The Economic Research Institute, Chung-Ang University, vol. 46(3), pages 135-155, September.

    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. Ravi Kanbur, 2017. "Working Paper 266 - Structural Transformation and Income Distribution: Kuznets and Beyond," Working Paper Series 2377, African Development Bank.
    2. Bourguignon, Francois, 2005. "The Effect of Economic Growth on Social Structures," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 27, pages 1701-1747, Elsevier.
    3. Frazer, Garth, 2006. "Inequality and development across and within countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(9), pages 1459-1481, September.
    4. Kanbur, Ravi, 2012. "Does Kuznets Still Matter?," Working Papers 128794, Cornell University, Department of Applied Economics and Management.
    5. Temple, Jonathan & Ying, Huikang, 2014. "Life During Structural Transformation," CEPR Discussion Papers 10297, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    6. Wei Zou & Yong Liu, 2010. "Skilled Labor, Economic Transition and Income Differences: A Dynamic Approach," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 11(2), pages 247-275, November.
    7. Kanbur, Ravi & Wang, Yue & Zhang, Xiaobo, 2021. "The great Chinese inequality turnaround," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(2), pages 467-482.
    8. Martin Ravallion & Shaohua Chen, 2022. "Is that really a Kuznets curve? Turning points for income inequality in China," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 20(4), pages 749-776, December.
    9. Christopher Hoy & Andy Sumner, 2021. "The End of Global Poverty: Is the UN Sustainable Development Goal 1 (Still) Achievable?," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 12(4), pages 419-429, September.
    10. Jalil, Mohammad Muaz, 2009. "Re-examining Kuznets Hypothesis: Does Data Matter?," MPRA Paper 72557, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Takahiro Akita, 2024. "Urbanization and Income Inequality," Working Papers EMS_2024_01, Research Institute, International University of Japan.
    12. Isaac Ehrlich & Jinyoung Kim, 2007. "The Evolution of Income and Fertility Inequalities over the Course of Economic Development: A Human Capital Perspective," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 1(1), pages 137-174.
    13. Bourguignon, Francois & Morrisson, Christian, 1998. "Inequality and development: the role of dualism," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(2), pages 233-257.
    14. Krishna Mazumdar, 2000. "Inter-Country Inequiality in Social Indicators of Development," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 49(3), pages 335-345, March.
    15. Ananya Ghosh Dastidar, 2004. "Structural Change and Income Distribution in Developing Economies: Evidence from a Group of Asian and Latin American Countries," Working papers 121, Centre for Development Economics, Delhi School of Economics.
    16. Andrés Rodríguez‐Pose & Vassilis Tselios, 2009. "Education And Income Inequality In The Regions Of The European Union," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(3), pages 411-437, August.
    17. Markus Brueckner & Era Dabla Norris & Mark Gradstein, 2015. "National income and its distribution," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 149-175, June.
    18. Frances Stewart, 2003. "Income distribution and development," Chapters, in: John Toye (ed.), Trade and Development, chapter 10, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    19. Kanbur, Ravi, 2009. "Poverty and Distribution: Twenty Years Ago and Now," Working Papers 48918, Cornell University, Department of Applied Economics and Management.
    20. Elina Tuominen, 2015. "Reversal of the Kuznets Curve: Study on the Inequality-Development Relation Using Top Income Shares Data," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2015-036, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Kuznets curve; inequality and development; rural-urban migration; Chinese inequality; place of birth and equality of opportunity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O41 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - One, Two, and Multisector Growth Models
    • O14 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Industrialization; Manufacturing and Service Industries; Choice of Technology
    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:iza:izadps:dp10636. 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: Holger Hinte (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.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.