IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ebl/ecbull/eb-22-00717.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does institutional quality matter in financial development and income inequality nexus? new evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Valentine Soumtang Bime

    (University of Yaounde II)

  • Itchoko Motande Mondjeli Mwa Ndjokou

    (University of Maroua)

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to evaluate the effect of institutional quality on the financial development- income inequality nexus in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). To this end, we estimate a dynamic panel model using data from thirty-three (33) SSA countries between 1990 and 2018 through the generalized method of moments in system. To capture financial development, we use its fourth dimensions namely depth, efficiency, access and stability, and we construct a composite index using principal component analysis. We also use set of institutional quality indicators. The results show that the poor quality of institutions in SSA countries worsens the effect of financial development on income inequality overall. However, this effect is mitigated for financial efficiency. These results are consistent with the robustness tests. These results call for the implementation of programs to strengthen institutional quality in SSA countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Valentine Soumtang Bime & Itchoko Motande Mondjeli Mwa Ndjokou, 2023. "Does institutional quality matter in financial development and income inequality nexus? new evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 43(3), pages 1395-1410.
    • Handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-22-00717
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.accessecon.com/Pubs/EB/2023/Volume43/EB-23-V43-I3-P119.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. La Porta, Rafael & Lopez-de-Silanes, Florencio & Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert, 1999. "The Quality of Government," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 15(1), pages 222-279, April.
    2. Samuel Adams & Edem Kwame Mensah Klobodu, 2016. "Financial development, control of corruption and income inequality," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(6), pages 790-808, November.
    3. Christopher F Baum & Mark E. Schaffer & Steven Stillman, 2003. "Instrumental variables and GMM: Estimation and testing," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 3(1), pages 1-31, March.
    4. Bourguignon, Francois & Verdier, Thierry, 2000. "Oligarchy, democracy, inequality and growth," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(2), pages 285-313, August.
    5. Lim, G.C. & McNelis, Paul D., 2016. "Income growth and inequality: The threshold effects of trade and financial openness," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 403-412.
    6. David Roodman, 2009. "How to do xtabond2: An introduction to difference and system GMM in Stata," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 9(1), pages 86-136, March.
    7. Oded Galor & Joseph Zeira, 1993. "Income Distribution and Macroeconomics," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 60(1), pages 35-52.
    8. Daron Acemoglu & James A. Robinson, 2013. "Economics versus Politics: Pitfalls of Policy Advice," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 27(2), pages 173-192, Spring.
    9. Oliver Denk & Boris Cournède, 2015. "Finance and income inequality in OECD countries," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 1224, OECD Publishing.
    10. Yongfen Shi & Sudeshna Paul & Sudharshan Reddy Paramati, 2022. "The impact of financial deepening on income inequality: Empirical evidence from Australia," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(3), pages 3564-3579, July.
    11. Altunbaş, Yener & Thornton, John, 2019. "The impact of financial development on income inequality: A quantile regression approach," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 51-56.
    12. Carolyn Chisadza & Mduduzi Biyase, 2023. "Financial Development and Income Inequality: Evidence From Advanced, Emerging and Developing Economies," Annals of Financial Economics (AFE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 18(01), pages 1-27, March.
    13. Álvarez, Inmaculada C. & Barbero, Javier & Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés & Zofío, José L., 2018. "Does Institutional Quality Matter for Trade? Institutional Conditions in a Sectoral Trade Framework," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 72-87.
    14. Chong, Alberto & Calderon, Cesar, 2000. "Institutional Quality and Income Distribution," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 48(4), pages 761-786, July.
    15. Banerjee, Abhijit V & Newman, Andrew F, 1993. "Occupational Choice and the Process of Development," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 101(2), pages 274-298, April.
    16. Alberto Chong & Mark Gradstein, 2007. "Inequality and Institutions," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 89(3), pages 454-465, August.
    17. Sourafel Girma & Anja Shortland, 2008. "The political economy of financial development," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 60(4), pages 567-596, October.
    18. Azmat Gani, 2011. "Governance and Growth in Developing Countries," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(1), pages 19-40.
    19. Blundell, Richard & Bond, Stephen, 1998. "Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 115-143, August.
    20. Wooldridge, Jeffrey M., 2007. "Inverse probability weighted estimation for general missing data problems," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 141(2), pages 1281-1301, December.
    21. Mohsen Bahmani-Oskooee & Ruixin Zhang, 2015. "On the impact of financial development on income distribution: time-series evidence," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(12), pages 1248-1271, March.
    22. Acemoglu, Daron & Johnson, Simon & Robinson, James A., 2005. "Institutions as a Fundamental Cause of Long-Run Growth," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 6, pages 385-472, Elsevier.
    23. Tough Chinoda & Tafirei Mashamba & Andrew Vivian, 2021. "Fintech, financial inclusion and income inequality nexus in Africa," Cogent Economics & Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(1), pages 1986926-198, January.
    24. Rabah Arezki & Thorvaldur Gylfason, 2011. "Commodity Price Volatility, Democracy and Economic Growth," CESifo Working Paper Series 3619, CESifo.
    25. Jauch, Sebastian & Watzka, Sebastian, 2016. "Financial development and income inequality: a panel data approach," Munich Reprints in Economics 43505, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
    26. Zhang, Ruixin & Ben Naceur, Sami, 2019. "Financial development, inequality, and poverty: Some international evidence," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 1-16.
    27. Bergh, Andreas & Nilsson, Therese, 2010. "Do liberalization and globalization increase income inequality?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 488-505, December.
    28. Shirley, Mary M., 2013. "Measuring institutions: how to be precise though vague," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 9(1), pages 31-33, March.
    29. Siong Law & Hui Tan & W. Azman-Saini, 2014. "Financial Development and Income Inequality at Different Levels of Institutional Quality," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(S1), pages 21-33.
    30. Marco Pagano & Paolo F. Volpin, 2005. "The Political Economy of Corporate Governance," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(4), pages 1005-1030, September.
    31. Rabah Arezki & Thorvaldur Gylfason, 2011. "Chapter 2 Commodity Price Volatility, Democracy, and Economic Growth," Frontiers of Economics and Globalization, in: Economic Growth and Development, pages 9-24, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    32. repec:idb:brikps:39798 is not listed on IDEAS
    33. D’Onofrio, Alexandra & Minetti, Raoul & Murro, Pierluigi, 2019. "Banking development, socioeconomic structure and income inequality," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 428-451.
    34. Anna Lo Prete, 2018. "Inequality and the finance you know: does economic literacy matter?," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 35(1), pages 183-205, April.
    35. Mauro, Paolo, 1998. "Corruption and the composition of government expenditure," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(2), pages 263-279, June.
    36. Syahrin Suhaimee & Mohd Azlan Shah Zaidi & Noorasiah Sulaiman & Jafri Zulkepli, 2021. "Impact of financial development on income inequality: evidence from system dynamics approach," Global Business and Economics Review, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 24(3), pages 225-247.
    37. Baiardi, Donatella & Morana, Claudio, 2018. "Financial development and income distribution inequality in the euro area," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 40-55.
    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. Gislain Stéphane Gandjon Fankem & Marthe Dorelle Melingui, 2021. "Le développement financier affecte‐t‐il l'inégalité de revenus en Afrique subsaharienne?," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 33(4), pages 620-633, December.
    2. Meniago, Christelle & Asongu, Simplice A., 2018. "Revisiting the finance-inequality nexus in a panel of African countries," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 399-419.
    3. Lawrence Adu Asamoah, 2021. "Institutional Quality and Income Inequality in Developing Countries: A Dynamic Panel Threshold Analysis," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 21(2), pages 123-143, April.
    4. Cong Minh Huynh & Nam Hoai Tran, 2023. "Financial development, income inequality, and institutional quality: A multi-dimensional analysis," Cogent Economics & Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(2), pages 2242128-224, June.
    5. de Haan, Jakob & Sturm, Jan-Egbert, 2017. "Finance and income inequality: A review and new evidence," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 171-195.
    6. Baiardi, Donatella & Morana, Claudio, 2018. "Financial development and income distribution inequality in the euro area," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 40-55.
    7. Roya Taherifar & Mark J. Holmes & Gazi M. Hassan, 2023. "Does economic openness matter in the impact of financial development on income inequality?," Working Papers in Economics 23/04, University of Waikato.
    8. Dirk Bezemer & Anna Samarina, 2019. "Debt shift, financial development and income inequality," DNB Working Papers 646, Netherlands Central Bank, Research Department.
    9. Brei, Michael & Ferri, Giovanni & Gambacorta, Leonardo, 2023. "Financial structure and income inequality," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    10. Chi-Chuan Lee & Chien-Chiang Lee, 2018. "The Impact of Country Risk on Income Inequality: A Multilevel Analysis," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 136(1), pages 139-162, February.
    11. Bolarinwa, Segun Thompson & Akinlo, Anthony Enisan, 2021. "Is there a nonlinear relationship between financial development and income inequality in Africa? Evidence from dynamic panel threshold," The Journal of Economic Asymmetries, Elsevier, vol. 24(C).
    12. Li, Xiang & Su, Dan, 2020. "Capital account liberalisation does worsen income inequality," IWH Discussion Papers 7/2020, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH).
    13. Dong-Hyeon Kim & Joyce Hsieh & Shu-Chin Lin, 2021. "Financial liberalization, political institutions, and income inequality," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 60(3), pages 1245-1281, March.
    14. Anjan K. Saha & Vinod Mishra & Russell Smyth, 2021. "Financial development and top income shares in OECD countries," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 87(3), pages 952-978, January.
    15. Gravina, Antonio Francesco & Lanzafame, Matteo, 2021. "Finance, globalisation, technology and inequality: Do nonlinearities matter?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 96-110.
    16. Ichraf Ouechtati, 2023. "Financial Inclusion, Institutional Quality, and Inequality: an Empirical Analysis," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 14(2), pages 620-644, June.
    17. de Haan, Jakob & Sturm, Jan-Egbert, 2017. "Finance and income inequality: A review and new evidence," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 171-195.
    18. Nguyen, Canh Phuc & Nasir, Muhammad Ali, 2021. "An inquiry into the nexus between energy poverty and income inequality in the light of global evidence," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    19. Manoel Bittencourt & Shinhye Chang & Rangan Gupta & Stephen M. Miller, 2018. "Does Financial Development Affect Income Inequality in the U.S. States? A Panel Data Analysis," Working Papers 201803, University of Pretoria, Department of Economics.
    20. Aysan, Ahmet Faruk, 2005. "The Role of Efficiency of Redistributive Institutions on Redistribution: An Empirical Assessment," MPRA Paper 17773, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Financial development; income inequality; institutional quality; Sub-Saharan Africa.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D3 - Microeconomics - - Distribution
    • G2 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services

    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-22-00717. 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.