IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ebl/ecbull/eb-20-01068.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How large is the effect of inequality on economic growth?

Author

Listed:
  • Sanghamitra Bandyopadhyay

    (Queen Mary University of London)

  • Rui Sun

    (London School of Economics)

Abstract

Economists and social scientists have long been interested in understanding the relationship between income inequality and economic growth. While the current empirical literature is inconclusive on the nature of their relationship, we also crucially do not know much about how large the effects of inequality and growth shocks are on each other. In this paper, we use a Bayesian structural vector autoregression approach to estimate the relationship between inequality and GDP growth for two comparable countries, the UK and the USA. We find that that the size of the effects of an inequality shock on growth, and vice versa, are very small, accounting for under 2% of the variance. We also find that the effects of the shocks dissipate within ten years, suggesting that the effects of these shocks are a short-term phenomenon. Inasmuch as the size of the effects of an inequality shock on growth, and a growth shock on inequality are so small, researchers should focus on uncovering macroeconomic mechanisms that govern the inequality-and-growth relationship using multi-equation models.

Suggested Citation

  • Sanghamitra Bandyopadhyay & Rui Sun, 2021. "How large is the effect of inequality on economic growth?," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 41(2), pages 523-531.
    • Handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-20-01068
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.accessecon.com/Pubs/EB/2021/Volume41/EB-21-V41-I2-P46.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Baumeister, Christiane & Hamilton, James D., 2018. "Inference in structural vector autoregressions when the identifying assumptions are not fully believed: Re-evaluating the role of monetary policy in economic fluctuations," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 48-65.
    2. Daniel Halter & Manuel Oechslin & Josef Zweimüller, 2014. "Inequality and growth: the neglected time dimension," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 81-104, March.
    3. Baumeister, Christiane & Hamilton, James, 2018. "Inference in Structural Vector Autoregressions When the Identifying Assumptions are Not Fully Believed: Re-evaluating the Role," CEPR Discussion Papers 12911, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    4. Alex Cobham & Luke Schlogl & Andy Sumner, 2015. "Inequality and the tails: The Palma proposition and ratio revised," Working Papers 366, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    5. Banerjee, Abhijit V & Duflo, Esther, 2003. "Inequality and Growth: What Can the Data Say?," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 8(3), pages 267-299, September.
    6. Oechslin, Manuel & Halter, David, 2010. "Inequality and Growth: The Neglected Time Dimension," CEPR Discussion Papers 8033, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    7. Markus Brueckner & Daniel Lederman, 2018. "Inequality and economic growth: the role of initial income," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 341-366, September.
    8. repec:zbw:bofrdp:2018_014 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Lisardo Erman & Daniel Marcel Kaat, 2019. "Inequality and growth: industry-level evidence," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 283-308, September.
    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. Dávila-Fernández, Marwil J. & Punzo, Lionello F., 2021. "The Kuznets curve of the rich," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 45(4).
    2. Gustavo A. Marrero & Luis Servén, 2022. "Growth, inequality and poverty: a robust relationship?," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 63(2), pages 725-791, August.
    3. Nasfi Fkili Wahiba & Mahmoudi Dina, 2023. "Technological Change, Growth and Income Inequality," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 13(1), pages 121-131, January.
    4. Gustavo A. Marrero & Juan Gabriel Rodríguez, 2019. "Inequality and growth: The cholesterol hypothesis," Working Papers 501, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    5. 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.
    6. José Carlos Coelho & José Alves, 2021. "How inequality drives growth: an investigation of the transmission channels for OECD countries," Working Papers REM 2021/0194, ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics and Management, REM, Universidade de Lisboa.
    7. Haiyan Lin & Markus Brueckner, 2024. "Inequality and growth in China," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 66(2), pages 539-585, February.
    8. Ms. Valerie Cerra & Mr. Ruy Lama & Norman Loayza, 2021. "Links Between Growth, Inequality, and Poverty: A Survey," IMF Working Papers 2021/068, International Monetary Fund.
    9. Hailemariam Abebe & Dzhumashev Ratbek, 2020. "Income Inequality and Economic Growth: Heterogeneity and Nonlinearity," Studies in Nonlinear Dynamics & Econometrics, De Gruyter, vol. 24(3), pages 1-15, June.
    10. Blotevogel, Robert & Imamoglu, Eslem & Moriyama, Kenji & Sarr, Babacar, 2022. "Income inequality measures and economic growth channels," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    11. Seher Gülşah Topuz, 2022. "The Relationship Between Income Inequality and Economic Growth: Are Transmission Channels Effective?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 162(3), pages 1177-1231, August.
    12. 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.
    13. Alain Desdoigts & Fernando Jaramillo, 2020. "Bounded Learning by Doing, Inequality, and Multi-Sector Growth: A Middle-Class Perspective," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 36, pages 198-219, April.
    14. 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.
    15. Chletsos, Michael & Fatouros, Nikolaos, 2016. "Does income inequality matter for economic growth? : An empirical investigation," MPRA Paper 75477, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Francesco Farina, 2015. "Development theory and poverty. A review," Working Papers 46-2015, Macerata University, Department of Studies on Economic Development (DiSSE), revised Jan 2015.
    17. Grzywińska-Rąpca Małgorzata & Grzybowska-Brzezińska Mariola & Gornowicz Mirosław, 2023. "Income inequality among European households and their biological type," International Journal of Management and Economics, Warsaw School of Economics, Collegium of World Economy, vol. 59(3), pages 197-208, September.
    18. Ademola Obafemi Young, 2019. "Growth Impacts of Income Inequality: Empirical Evidence From Nigeria," Research in World Economy, Research in World Economy, Sciedu Press, vol. 10(3), pages 226-262, December.
    19. Aiyar, Shekhar & Ebeke, Christian, 2020. "Inequality of opportunity, inequality of income and economic growth," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    20. Suresh Babu, M. & Bhaskaran, Vandana & Venkatesh, Manasa, 2016. "Does inequality hamper long run growth? Evidence from Emerging Economies," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 99-113.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    inequality; growth; vector autoregressions; Bayesian approach.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O1 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development
    • C3 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables

    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:ebl:ecbull:eb-20-01068. 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: John P. Conley (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.