IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/75630.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Paradox of Thrift in an Inegalitarian Neoclassical Economy

Author

Listed:
  • Mabrouk, Mohamed

Abstract

[Schilcht 1975] and [Bourguignon 1981] studied the case of a convex saving function in the [Stiglitz 1969] model. They have shown that if one of the two proportions of the rich or the poor is below a certain threshold, there is a two-class equilibrium. However, they have only proved the existence of this threshold. We give here a system of equations to calculate this threshold which we interpret as the maximum proportion of rich for having a stable two-class configuration. If the proportion of rich exceeds this threshold, the economy enters a phase of decline although the golden-rule capital has not yet been reached. This decline is due to a specific articulation between the rate of decrease in the productivity of capital and the rate of increase in the depreciation of capital. The mechanism of this decline recalls the description given in [Keynes 1936], of the decline which happens when there is too much savings in an inegalitarian context. This is an example of what is known as the "paradox of thrift". It is remarkable that this paradox takes place in a neoclassical setting that does not include key Keynesian elements such as saturation of demand, monetization of savings, short-term effects, expectation problems, involuntary unemployment and rigidities. Numerical simulations are given to illustrate and analyze the mechanisms involved.

Suggested Citation

  • Mabrouk, Mohamed, 2016. "The Paradox of Thrift in an Inegalitarian Neoclassical Economy," MPRA Paper 75630, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:75630
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/75630/3/MPRA_paper_75630.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/76025/3/MPRA_paper_75630.pdf
    File Function: revised version
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/76026/10/MPRA_paper_76026.pdf
    File Function: revised version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Karen E. Dynan & Jonathan Skinner & Stephen P. Zeldes, 2004. "Do the Rich Save More?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 112(2), pages 397-444, April.
    2. Bourguignon, Francois, 1981. "Pareto Superiority of Unegalitarian Equilibria in Stiglitz' Model of Wealth Distribution with Convex Saving Function," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 49(6), pages 1469-1475, November.
    3. Barro, Robert J, 2000. "Inequality and Growth in a Panel of Countries," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 5(1), pages 5-32, March.
    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. Mabrouk, Mohamed, 2017. "Is Rentier Capitalism That Bad? Rent, Efficiency and Inequality Dynamics," MPRA Paper 81565, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    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. Grossmann, Volker, 2008. "Risky human capital investment, income distribution, and macroeconomic dynamics," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 19-42, March.
    2. Stephan Litschig & María Lombardi, 2019. "Which tail matters? Inequality and growth in Brazil," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 24(2), pages 155-187, June.
    3. Reto Foellmi, 2008. "Inequality and aggregate savings in the neoclassical growth model," IEW - Working Papers 395, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - University of Zurich.
    4. Florian Dorn, 2016. "On Data and Trends in Income Inequality around the World," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 14(04), pages 54-64, December.
    5. Yoshiaki Sugimoto, 2003. "Inequality, Growth, and Overtaking," Data 0304001, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. repec:ces:ifodic:v:14:y:2016:i:4:p:19267790 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Florian Dorn, 2016. "On Data and Trends in Income Inequality around the World," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 14(4), pages 54-64, December.
    8. Yoshiaki Sugimoto, 2005. "Inequality, Growth, and Overtaking," Development and Comp Systems 0508012, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Shinhye Chang & Rangan Gupta & Stephen M. Miller, 2018. "Causality Between Per Capita Real GDP and Income Inequality in the U.S.: Evidence from a Wavelet Analysis," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 135(1), pages 269-289, January.
    10. Jang Ok Cho & Hyo-Youn Chu & Hyung Seok E. Kim & Jaywon Lee, 2016. "Productivity Distribution and Economic Growth," Korean Economic Review, Korean Economic Association, vol. 32, pages 23-40.
    11. 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.
    12. Kirill Borissov & Stefano Bosi & Thai Ha-Huy & Leonor Modesto, 2017. "Heterogeneous Human Capital, Inequality and Growth: The Role of Patience and Skills," EUSP Department of Economics Working Paper Series 2017/03, European University at St. Petersburg, Department of Economics.
    13. Gustavo A. Marrero & Juan Gabriel Rodríguez, 2019. "Inequality and growth: The cholesterol hypothesis," Working Papers 501, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    14. Oded, Galor, 2011. "Inequality, Human Capital Formation, and the Process of Development," Handbook of the Economics of Education, in: Erik Hanushek & Stephen Machin & Ludger Woessmann (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Education, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 0, pages 441-493, Elsevier.
    15. Bofinger, Peter & Scheuermeyer, Philipp, 2016. "Income Distribution and Aggregate Saving: A Non-Monotonic Relationship," CEPR Discussion Papers 11435, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    16. Yohannes G. Hailu & Mulugeta S. Kahsai & Tesfa G. Gebremedhin & Randall W. Jackson, 2011. "Is Income Inequality Endogenous In Regional Growth?," Journal of Income Distribution, Ad libros publications inc., vol. 20(3-4), pages 43-56, September.
    17. Mehmet Balcilar & Rangan Gupta & Wei Ma & Philton Makena, 2021. "Income inequality and economic growth: A re‐examination of theory and evidence," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(2), pages 737-757, May.
    18. Murtin, Fabrice, 2006. "American economic development since the civil war or the virtue of education," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 19775, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    19. Chih-Mei Luo, 2020. "Answering economic inequality other than with populism and protectionism: the Danish formula of inclusive capitalism," Asia Europe Journal, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 139-155, March.
    20. Ozan Hatipoglu, 2007. "A Demand Based Theory of Income Distribution and Growth," Working Papers 2007/08, Bogazici University, Department of Economics.
    21. Vincenzo Lombardo, 2008. "Income distribution and Growth: A Critical Survey," Working Papers 11_2008, D.E.S. (Department of Economic Studies), University of Naples "Parthenope", Italy.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Paradox of Thrift; Inequality; Saving; Growth.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O49 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Other

    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:pra:mprapa:75630. 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: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.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.