IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cuf/journl/y2016v17i2anyanwu.html

Empirical Analysis of the Main Drivers of Income Inequality in Southern Africa

Author

Listed:
  • John C. Anyanwu

    (Development Research Department, African Development Bank)

Abstract

Using the dynamic system GMM estimation procedure, this paper empirically analyzes the principal drivers of market income inequality in Southern Africa, which has the highest income inequality in Africa. Our novel finding shows strong support for a dynamic, non-monotonic, inverted U-shaped, effect of inequality in the model. We find evidence of existence of the Kuznets curve in the sub-region. A non-monotonic, inverted Kuznets-type effect is found for political globalization. Our results show that access to secondary education and natural resources dependence strongly and significantly equalize income. We find that population growth and domestic investment rate appear to be income disequalizing.

Suggested Citation

  • John C. Anyanwu, 2016. "Empirical Analysis of the Main Drivers of Income Inequality in Southern Africa," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 17(2), pages 337-364, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:cuf:journl:y:2016:v:17:i:2:anyanwu
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://down.aefweb.net/AefArticles/aef170205Anyanwu.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Flore Gubert & Thomas Lassourd & Sandrine Mesplé-Somps, 2010. "Do remittances affect poverty and inequality? Evidence from Mali," Working Papers DT/2010/08, DIAL (Développement, Institutions et Mondialisation).
    2. Nissanke, Machiko & Thorbecke, Erik, 2006. "Channels and policy debate in the globalization-inequality-poverty nexus," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(8), pages 1338-1360, August.
    3. Sámano, Claudia & Szekely, Miguel, 2012. "Did Trade Openness Affect Income Distribution in Latin America? Evidence for the Years 1980-2010," WIDER Working Paper Series 003, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    4. Oguzhan C. Dincer & Burak Gunalp, 2012. "Corruption And Income Inequality In The United States," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 30(2), pages 283-292, April.
    5. Iris Claus & Jorge Martinez-Vazquez & Violeta Vulovic, 2012. "Government Fiscal Policies and Redistribution in Asian Countries," ADB Economics Working Paper Series 310, Asian Development Bank.
    6. Angus Deaton & Christina Paxson, 1997. "The effects of economic and population growth on national saving and inequality," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 34(1), pages 97-114, February.
    7. Atif, Syed Muhammad & Srivastav, Mudit & Sauytbekova, Moldir & Arachchige, Udeni Kathri, 2012. "Globalization and Income Inequality: A Panel Data Analysis of 68 Countries," EconStor Preprints 65664, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    8. Persson, Torsten & Tabellini, Guido, 1991. "Is Inequality Harmful for Growth? Theory and Evidence," CEPR Discussion Papers 581, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    9. Andrew G. Berg & Jonathan D. Ostry, 2017. "Inequality and Unsustainable Growth: Two Sides of the Same Coin?," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 65(4), pages 792-815, November.
    10. Jan-Egbert Sturm & Jakob De Haan, 2015. "Income Inequality, Capitalism, and Ethno-linguistic Fractionalization," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(5), pages 593-597, May.
    11. Alesina, Alberto & Di Tella, Rafael & MacCulloch, Robert, 2004. "Inequality and happiness: are Europeans and Americans different?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(9-10), pages 2009-2042, August.
    12. Miles Corak, 2013. "Income Inequality, Equality of Opportunity, and Intergenerational Mobility," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 27(3), pages 79-102, Summer.
    13. Mthuli Ncube & John C. Anyanwu & Kjell Hausken, 2014. "Inequality, Economic Growth and Poverty in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 26(3), pages 435-453, September.
    14. M.O. Odedokun & Jeffery Round, 2004. "Determinants of Income Inequality and its Effects on Economic Growth: Evidence from African Countries," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 16(2), pages 287-327.
    15. Zhou Lei & Biswas Basudeb & Bowles Tyler & Saunders Peter J, 2011. "Impact of Globalization on Income Distribution Inequality in 60 Countries," Global Economy Journal, De Gruyter, vol. 11(1), pages 1-18, March.
    16. Khaled Elmawazini & Adil Sharif & Pran Manga & Peter Drucker, 2013. "Trade globalization, financial globalization and inequality within south-east Europe and cis countries," Journal of Developing Areas, Tennessee State University, College of Business, vol. 47(2), pages 303-317, July-Dece.
    17. repec:unu:wpaper:wp2012-03 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. John C. Anyanwu, 2014. "Determining the correlates of poverty for inclusive growth in Africa," European Economic Letters, European Economics Letters Group, vol. 3(1), pages 12-17.
    19. Axel Dreher & Noel Gaston, 2008. "Has Globalization Increased Inequality?," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(3), pages 516-536, August.
    20. Xiaobo Zhang & Kevin Zhang, 2003. "How Does Globalisation Affect Regional Inequality within A Developing Country? Evidence from China," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(4), pages 47-67.
    21. H. Naci Mocan, 1999. "Structural Unemployment, Cyclical Unemployment, and Income Inequality," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 81(1), pages 122-134, February.
    22. Herzer, Dierk & Nunnenkamp, Peter, 2012. "The effect of foreign aid on income inequality: Evidence from panel cointegration," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 245-255.
    23. Daniele Checchi & Cecilia García‐Peñalosa, 2010. "Labour Market Institutions and the Personal Distribution of Income in the OECD," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 77(307), pages 413-450, July.
    24. Acosta, Pablo & Calderon, Cesar & Fajnzylber, Pablo & Lopez, Humberto, 2008. "What is the Impact of International Remittances on Poverty and Inequality in Latin America?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 89-114, January.
    25. Douzounet Mallaye & Gaëlle Tatiana Timba & Urbain Thierry Yogo, 2015. "Oil Rent and Income Inequality in Developing Economies: Are They Friends or Foes?," Working Papers halshs-01100843, HAL.
    26. Campante, Filipe & Do, Quoc-Anh, 2007. "Inequality, Redistribution, and Population," Working Paper Series rwp07-046, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    27. Adams, Richard H., Jr. & Cuecuecha, Alfredo & Page, John, 2008. "The impact of remittances on poverty and inequality in Ghana," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4732, The World Bank.
    28. Li, Hongyi & Squire, Lyn & Zou, Heng-fu, 1998. "Explaining International and Intertemporal Variations in Income Inequality," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 108(446), pages 26-43, January.
    29. Marilena Giannetti & Daniele Federici & Michele Raitano, 2009. "Does Migration Help Reducing Inequality and Social Exclusion?," Working Papers in Public Economics 118, Department of Economics and Law, Sapienza University of Rome.
    30. Virginia Maestri & Andrea Roventini, 2012. "Inequality and Macroeconomic Factors: A Time-Series Analysis for a Set of OECD Countries," Working Papers 34/2012, University of Verona, Department of Economics.
    31. Cojocaru, Alexandru & Diagne, Mame Fatou, 2014. "Should income inequality be reduced and who should benefit ? redistributive preferences in Europe and Central Asia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7097, The World Bank.
    32. Park, Kang H., 1996. "Educational expansion and educational inequality on income distribution," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 51-58, February.
    33. William Easterly, 2007. "Are aid agencies improving? [‘Who gives foreign aid to whom and why?’]," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 22(52), pages 634-678.
    34. Era Dabla-Norris & Kalpana Kochhar & Nujin Suphaphiphat & Franto Ricka & Evridiki Tsounta, 2015. "Causes and Consequences of Income Inequality; A Global Perspective," IMF Staff Discussion Notes 15/13, International Monetary Fund.
    35. Mr. Jonathan David Ostry & Mr. Andrew Berg & Mr. Charalambos G Tsangarides, 2014. "Redistribution, Inequality, and Growth," IMF Staff Discussion Notes 2014/002, International Monetary Fund.
    36. Jean‐Claude Berthélemy, 2006. "Bilateral Donors’ Interest vs. Recipients’ Development Motives in Aid Allocation: Do All Donors Behave the Same?," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(2), pages 179-194, May.
    37. Alberto Chong & Mark Gradstein & Cecilia Calderon, 2011. "Erratum to: Can foreign aid reduce income inequality and poverty?," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 147(3), pages 529-529, June.
    38. Era Dabla-Norris & Gabriela Inchauste, 2008. "Informality and Regulations: What Drives the Growth of Firms?," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 55(1), pages 50-82, April.
    39. Raghuram G. Rajan, 2010. "Fault Lines: How Hidden Fractures Still Threaten the World Economy," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 9111, December.
    40. Florence Jaumotte & Subir Lall & Chris Papageorgiou, 2013. "Rising Income Inequality: Technology, or Trade and Financial Globalization?," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 61(2), pages 271-309, June.
    41. Barro, Robert J, 2000. "Inequality and Growth in a Panel of Countries," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 5(1), pages 5-32, March.
    42. Thi Hong Hanh Pham, 2015. "Income Inequality and Foreign Aid," Working Papers hal-01158240, HAL.
    43. Milanovic, Branko, 2000. "The median-voter hypothesis, income inequality, and income redistribution: an empirical test with the required data," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 367-410, September.
    44. Bjørnskov, Christian, 2010. "Do elites benefit from democracy and foreign aid in developing countries?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(2), pages 115-124, July.
    45. Ms. Era Dabla-Norris & Ms. Kalpana Kochhar & Mrs. Nujin Suphaphiphat & Mr. Franto Ricka & Ms. Evridiki Tsounta, 2015. "Causes and Consequences of Income Inequality: A Global Perspective," IMF Staff Discussion Notes 2015/013, International Monetary Fund.
    46. Calderon, Cesar & Chong, Alberto, 2001. "External sector and income inequality in interdependent economies using a dynamic panel data approach," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 71(2), pages 225-231, May.
    47. Mark Gradstein & Branko Milanovic, 2004. "Does Libertè = Egalité? A Survey of the Empirical Links between Democracy and Inequality with Some Evidence on the Transition Economies," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(4), pages 515-537, September.
    48. Dulani Seneviratne & Ms. Yan M Sun, 2013. "Infrastructure and Income Distribution in ASEAN-5: What are the Links?," IMF Working Papers 2013/041, International Monetary Fund.
    49. Axel Dreher, 2006. "Does globalization affect growth? Evidence from a new index of globalization," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(10), pages 1091-1110.
    50. Pierre Monnin, 2014. "Inflation and Income Inequality in Developed Economies," Working Papers 1401, Council on Economic Policies.
    51. John C. ANYANWU, 2011. "International Remittances And Income Inequality In Africa," Review of Economic and Business Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, issue 7, pages 117-148, May.
    52. Knight, J B & Sabot, R H, 1983. "Educational Expansion and the Kuznets Effect," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 73(5), pages 1132-1136, December.
    53. Branko Milanovic, 2005. "Can We Discern the Effect of Globalization on Income Distribution? Evidence from Household Surveys," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 19(1), pages 21-44.
    54. Jonathan David Ostry & Andrew Berg & Charalambos G Tsangarides, 2014. "Redistribution, Inequality, and Growth," IMF Staff Discussion Notes 14/02, International Monetary Fund.
    55. Mr. Romain Ranciere & Mr. Nathaniel A. Throckmorton & Mr. Michael Kumhof & Ms. Claire Lebarz & Mr. Alexander W. Richter, 2012. "Income Inequality and Current Account Imbalances," IMF Working Papers 2012/008, International Monetary Fund.
    56. Miguel Szekely & Claudia Sámano, 2012. "Did Trade Openness Affect Income Distribution in Latin America? Evidence for the Years 1980-2010," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2012-003, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    57. F. Wouterse, 2010. "Remittances, Poverty, Inequality and Welfare: Evidence from the Central Plateau of Burkina Faso," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(4), pages 771-789.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Kazeem B. Ajide & Olorunfemi Y. Alimi & Simplice A. Asongu, 2019. "Ethnic Diversity and Inequality in Sub-Saharan Africa: Do Institutions Reduce the Noise?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 145(3), pages 1033-1062, October.
    2. Gravina, Antonio Francesco & Lanzafame, Matteo, 2021. "Finance, globalisation, technology and inequality: Do nonlinearities matter?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 96-110.
    3. Mark Edem Kunawotor & Godfred Alufar Bokpin & Charles Barnor, 2020. "Drivers of income inequality in Africa: Does institutional quality matter?," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 32(4), pages 718-729, December.
    4. Adriaan Van Velthoven & Jakob De Haan & Jan-Egbert Sturm, 2019. "Finance, income inequality and income redistribution," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(14), pages 1202-1209, August.
    5. Bucevska Vesna, 2019. "Determinants of Income Inequality in EU Candidate Countries: A Panel Analysis," Economic Themes, Sciendo, vol. 57(4), pages 397-413, December.
    6. Vuković, Danijela Lazović & Damijan, Jože P., 2025. "Drivers of income inequality in OECD countries: Testing the Milanovic's TOP hypothesis," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 416-440.
    7. Regina Pleninger & Jakob de Haan & Jan‐Egbert Sturm, 2022. "The ‘Forgotten’ middle class: An analysis of the effects of globalisation," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(1), pages 76-110, January.
    8. Voinea, L. & Lovin, H. & Cojocaru, A., 2018. "The impact of inequality on the transmission of monetary policy," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 236-250.
    9. Sudip Ranjan Basu, 2017. "Do data show divergence? Revisiting global income inequality trends," Asia-Pacific Development Journal, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), vol. 24(1), pages 23-53, June.
    10. Peter Mikek, 2023. "Financial deepening and income inequality: is there a financial Kuznetz curve in Latin America?," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 13(1), pages 103-125, March.
    11. Umut Uzar, 2023. "Income Inequality, Institutions, and Freedom of the Press: Potential Mechanisms and Evidence," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-23, August.
    12. Andrea Colciago & Anna Samarina & Jakob de Haan, 2019. "Central Bank Policies And Income And Wealth Inequality: A Survey," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(4), pages 1199-1231, September.
    13. Serhan Cevik & Carolina Correa‐Caro, 2020. "Taking down the wall: Transition and inequality," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(1), pages 238-253, February.
    14. Tamara Maria Nae & Margareta-Stela Florescu & Gabriela-Ioana Bălășoiu, 2024. "Towards Social Justice: Investigating the Role of Labor, Globalization, and Governance in Reducing Socio-Economic Inequality within Post-Communist Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(6), pages 1-16, March.
    15. Valentin F. Lang & Ms. Marina Mendes Tavares, 2018. "The Distribution of Gains from Globalization," IMF Working Papers 2018/054, International Monetary Fund.
    16. Giray Gozgor & Priya Ranjan, 2017. "Globalisation, inequality and redistribution: Theory and evidence," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(12), pages 2704-2751, December.
    17. Tingyun Chen & Jean-Jacques Hallaert & Alexander Pitt & Haonan Qu & Maximilien Queyranne & Alaina Rhee & Anna Shabunina & Jérôme Vandenbussche & Irene Yackovlev, 2018. "Inequality and Poverty across Generations in the European Union," IMF Staff Discussion Notes 18/01, International Monetary Fund.
    18. Frost, Jon & van Stralen, René, 2018. "Macroprudential policy and income inequality," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 278-290.
    19. Tiberto, Bruno Pires, 2025. "How does central bank independence influence the relationship between inflation, income inequality and poverty?," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    20. Huang, Kaixing & Yan, Wenshou & Sim, Nicholas & Guo, Yuqing & Xie, Fang, 2022. "Can trade explain the rising trends in income inequality? Insights from 40 years of empirical studies," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
    • O40 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - General
    • O55 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Africa

    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:cuf:journl:y:2016:v:17:i:2:anyanwu. 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: Qiang Gao (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/emcufcn.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.