IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/rsocxx/v11y2016i2-3p270-281.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Trends in economic growth and levels of wealth inequality in G20 nations: 2001–2013

Author

Listed:
  • Jenny Chesters

Abstract

During the first 13 years of the twenty-first century, the world economy experienced a period of economic volatility with a rapid boom followed by a strong contraction and then a prolonged recession. This volatility provides a unique opportunity to examine the associations between economic growth and levels of wealth inequality. In this paper, I use data published by the World Bank to examine trends in economic growth; data published by Credit Suisse to examine trends in levels of wealth inequality; and data collated from the billionaires lists published by Forbes Magazine to examine the concentration of wealth at the very top of the distribution in the G20 nations. Overall, the results presented in this paper indicate that rapid economic growth was associated with increased wealth inequality and exceptionally large increases in the number of billionaires, whereas negative or low levels of economic growth were associated with declining or stable levels of wealth inequality and more moderate increases, or a decline, in the numbers of billionaires.

Suggested Citation

  • Jenny Chesters, 2016. "Trends in economic growth and levels of wealth inequality in G20 nations: 2001–2013," Contemporary Social Science, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(2-3), pages 270-281, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:rsocxx:v:11:y:2016:i:2-3:p:270-281
    DOI: 10.1080/21582041.2016.1199891
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/21582041.2016.1199891
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/21582041.2016.1199891?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bill Dunn, 2014. "Making sense of austerity: The rationality in an irrational system," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 25(3), pages 417-434, September.
    2. Anthony Barnes Atkinson, 2006. "Concentration among the Rich," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2006-151, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    3. Henry Ohlsson & Jesper Roine & Daniel Waldenstrom, 2006. "Long-Run Changes in the Concentration of Wealth: An Overview of Recent Findings," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2006-103, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    4. Skopek, Nora & Buchholz, Sandra & Blossfeld, Hans-Peter, 2011. "Wealth inequality in Europe and the delusive egalitarianism of Scandinavian countries," MPRA Paper 35307, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Sergei Guriev & Andrei Rachinsky, 2005. "The Role of Oligarchs in Russian Capitalism," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 19(1), pages 131-150, Winter.
    6. Berry, Mike, 2013. "The Affluent Society Revisited," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199686506.
    7. Keister,Lisa A., 2000. "Wealth in America," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521627511, September.
    8. Keister,Lisa A., 2000. "Wealth in America," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521621687, September.
    9. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/1cu21pio6c90g9i5oedr5hnaa3 is not listed on IDEAS
    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. Julie MacLeavy & David Manley, 2018. "(Re)discovering the lost middle: intergenerational inheritances and economic inequality in urban and regional research," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(10), pages 1435-1446, October.
    2. Islam, Md. Rabiul & McGillivray, Mark, 2020. "Wealth inequality, governance and economic growth," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 1-13.
    3. Bojaj, Martin M. & Djurovic, Gordana & Fabris, Nikola & Milovic, Nikola, 2023. "Top 1% and inequality connectedness in the EMU and WB," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 139-155.

    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. Julie MacLeavy & David Manley, 2018. "(Re)discovering the lost middle: intergenerational inheritances and economic inequality in urban and regional research," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(10), pages 1435-1446, October.
    2. Pedro R. D. Bom & Aitor Goti, 2018. "Public Capital and the Labor Income Share," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-17, October.
    3. Meta Brown & Andrew F. Haughwout & Donghoon Lee & Wilbert Van der Klaauw, 2011. "Do we know what we owe? A comparison of borrower- and lender-reported consumer debt," Staff Reports 523, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    4. Paula Almeida & Eunice Ramos Lopes & Celio Goncalo Marques & Jorge Simoes & Fatima Pedro, 2017. "The dynamization of Higher Education Institutions for the creation of Tourism Companies in Portugal," Tourism Research Institute, Journal of Tourism Research, vol. 17(1), pages 106-118, June.
    5. Michelle Maroto, 2018. "Saving, Sharing, or Spending? The Wealth Consequences of Raising Children," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(6), pages 2257-2282, December.
    6. Wim Naudé, 2007. "Peace, Prosperity, and Pro-Growth Entrepreneurship," WIDER Working Paper Series DP2007-02, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    7. Tackie, Nii O. & Aboagye, Judith N. & Johnson, Gwendolyn J. & Braxton, Millicent & Hunt-Haralson, LaTanya & Wall, Gertrude D., 2013. "The Impact Of Selected Socioeconomic Factors On Asset Building In Rural Communities," Professional Agricultural Workers Journal (PAWJ), Professional Agricultural Workers Conference, vol. 1(1), pages 1-15.
    8. Matthew Painter & Jonathan Vespa, 2012. "The Role of Cohabitation in Asset and Debt Accumulation During Marriage," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 33(4), pages 491-506, December.
    9. Sarah Kuypers & Ive Marx & Brian Nolan & Juan C. Palomino, 2022. "Lockdown, Earnings Losses and Household Asset Buffers in Europe," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 68(2), pages 428-470, June.
    10. Joydeep Bhattacharya & Helle Bunzel & Joseph Haslag, 2005. "The non‐monotonic relationship between seigniorage and inequality," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 38(2), pages 500-519, May.
    11. Aboohamidi, Abbas & Chidmi, Benaissa, 2015. "Changes in the Wealth of American Households during the 2007-2009 Financial Crisis in the U.S," 2015 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting, July 26-28, San Francisco, California 205451, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    12. Deborah Thorne, 2010. "Extreme Financial Strain: Emergent Chores, Gender Inequality and Emotional Distress," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 31(2), pages 185-197, June.
    13. Roxana Gutiérrez-Romero & Luciana Méndez-Errico, 2017. "Does Inequality Foster or Hinder the Growth of Entrepreneurship in the Long Run?," Research on Economic Inequality, in: Research on Economic Inequality, volume 25, pages 299-341, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    14. Carmen Diana Deere & Cheryl Doss, 2006. "The Gender Asset Gap: What Do We Know And Why Does It Matter?," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(1-2), pages 1-50.
    15. Michael S. Finke & Sandra J. Huston & Deanna L. Sharpe, 2006. "Balance sheets of early boomers: are they different from pre-boomers?," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 27(3), pages 542-561, September.
    16. Dalton Conley & Rebecca Glauber, 2005. "Sibling Similarity and Difference in Socioeconomic Status: Life Course and Family Resource Effects," NBER Working Papers 11320, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Michaelides, Marios & Benus, Jacob, 2012. "Are self-employment training programs effective? Evidence from Project GATE," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(5), pages 695-705.
    18. Megan Thiele & Amy Leisenring, 2022. "Class Incorporated: Stratified Patterns of Academic Engagement at a Highly Selective University," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 27(2), pages 415-433, June.
    19. Ashok Bardhan & Richard Walker, 2011. "California shrugged: fountainhead of the Great Recession," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 4(3), pages 303-322.
    20. Rauscher, Emily & Friedline, Terri & Banerjee, Mahasweta, 2017. "We're not rich, but we're definitely not poor: Young children's conceptions of social class," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 101-111.

    More about this item

    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:taf:rsocxx:v:11:y:2016:i:2-3:p:270-281. 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: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/rsoc21 .

    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.