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Income inequality revisited 60 years later: Piketty vs Kuznets

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  • Lyubimov, Ivan

Abstract

This paper compares two popular views on the evolution of income inequality. The article by Simon Kuznets, which was published in American Economic Review in 1955, considers inequality as a byproduct of economic growth and suggests that a relatively rich economy should also be less unequal. In contrast, Thomas Piketty indicates that inequality is progressing, and an internationally coordinated policy is required to bring inequality under control. My paper applies the arguments of Kuznets and Piketty to the problem of income inequality in modern Russia.

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  • Lyubimov, Ivan, 2017. "Income inequality revisited 60 years later: Piketty vs Kuznets," Russian Journal of Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(1), pages 42-53.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:rujoec:v:3:y:2017:i:1:p:42-53
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ruje.2017.02.003
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    Cited by:

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    2. 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.
    3. Mara Madaleno & Victor Moutinho, 2021. "Analysis of the New Kuznets Relationship: Considering Emissions of Carbon, Methanol, and Nitrous Oxide Greenhouse Gases—Evidence from EU Countries," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(6), pages 1-23, March.
    4. Nguyen, Canh Phuc & Su, Thanh Dinh, 2022. "The influences of government spending on energy poverty: Evidence from developing countries," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 238(PA).
    5. Saeedeh Behnezhad & Seyed Mohammad Javad Razmi & Seyed Saeed Malek Sadati, 2021. "The Role Of Institutional Conditions In The Impact Of Economic Growth On Poverty," International Journal of Business and Economic Sciences Applied Research (IJBESAR), International Hellenic University (IHU), Kavala Campus, Greece (formerly Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Institute of Technology - EMaTTech), vol. 14(2), pages 78-85, September.
    6. Le, Thai-Ha & Nguyen, Canh Phuc & Su, Thanh Dinh & Tran-Nam, Binh, 2020. "The Kuznets curve for export diversification and income inequality: Evidence from a global sample," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 21-39.
    7. Mohamed Ali Chroufa & Nouri Chtourou, 2022. "Inequality and Growth in Tunisia: New Evidence from Threshold Regression," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 163(2), pages 901-924, September.
    8. Sayed Adham, 2020. "Is there a Kuznets Curve in the Arab Region? An Empirical Investigation," Review of Middle East Economics and Finance, De Gruyter, vol. 16(2), pages 1-17, August.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    income inequality; economic growth; labor income; economic rents; CEOs;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • O47 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Empirical Studies of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence

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