IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/deg/conpap/c011_055.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Financial Development and Inequality: Brazil 1985-99

Author

Listed:
  • Manoel F. Meyer Bittencourt

Abstract

We examine the impact that financial development had on earnings inequality in Brazil in the 1980’s and 90’s. The empirical evidence, based on panel time series and time series data, shows that more broad access to financial and credit markets had a significant and robust effect in reducing inequality during the period investigated. We suggest that this is not only because the poor can invest the acquired credit in all sorts of productive activities, but also because those with access to financial markets can insulate themselves against recurrent poor macroeconomic performance, which is exemplified by extreme inflation rates. The main implication of the results is that a seemingly non-distortionary policy, such as more credit aimed at the poor, alleviates the high inequality present in Brazil and consequently improves welfare without distorting economic efficiency.

Suggested Citation

  • Manoel F. Meyer Bittencourt, 2006. "Financial Development and Inequality: Brazil 1985-99," DEGIT Conference Papers c011_055, DEGIT, Dynamics, Economic Growth, and International Trade.
  • Handle: RePEc:deg:conpap:c011_055
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://degit.sam.sdu.dk/papers/degit_11/C011_055.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dollar, David & Kraay, Aart, 2002. "Growth Is Good for the Poor," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 7(3), pages 195-225, September.
    2. Greenwood, Jeremy & Jovanovic, Boyan, 1990. "Financial Development, Growth, and the Distribution of Income," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(5), pages 1076-1107, October.
    3. Eliana Cardoso & Andre Urani & Andre Urani, 1995. "Inflation and Unemployment as Determinants of Inequality in Brazil: The 1980s," NBER Chapters, in: Reform, Recovery, and Growth: Latin America and the Middle East, pages 151-176, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Coakley, Jerry & Fuertes, Ana-Maria & Smith, Ron, 2006. "Unobserved heterogeneity in panel time series models," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 50(9), pages 2361-2380, May.
    5. Cooley, Thomas F & Hansen, Gary D, 1989. "The Inflation Tax in a Real Business Cycle Model," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(4), pages 733-748, September.
    6. Loury, Glenn C, 1981. "Intergenerational Transfers and the Distribution of Earnings," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 49(4), pages 843-867, June.
    7. Manoel BITTENCOURT, 2009. "Macroeconomic Performance And Inequality: Brazil, 1983–94," The Developing Economies, Institute of Developing Economies, vol. 47(1), pages 30-52, March.
    8. 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.
    9. By Ales BulÌr, 2001. "Income Inequality: Does Inflation Matter?," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 48(1), pages 1-5.
    10. Clarke, George & Xu, Lixin Colin & Zou, Heng-fu, 2003. "Finance and income inequality : test of alternative theories," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2984, The World Bank.
    11. Philippe Aghion & Patrick Bolton, 1997. "A Theory of Trickle-Down Growth and Development," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 64(2), pages 151-172.
    12. Cecilia Garcia-Penalosa & Eve Caroli & Philippe Aghion, 1999. "Inequality and Economic Growth: The Perspective of the New Growth Theories," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 37(4), pages 1615-1660, December.
    13. Oded Galor & Joseph Zeira, 1993. "Income Distribution and Macroeconomics," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 60(1), pages 35-52.
    14. Thomas Piketty, 1997. "The Dynamics of the Wealth Distribution and the Interest Rate with Credit Rationing," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 64(2), pages 173-189.
    15. Sen, Amartya, 1997. "On Economic Inequality," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198292975.
    16. Aghion, Philippe & Bolton, Patrick, 1992. "Distribution and growth in models of imperfect capital markets," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 36(2-3), pages 603-611, April.
    17. Robin Burgess & Rohini Pande, 2005. "Do Rural Banks Matter? Evidence from the Indian Social Banking Experiment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(3), pages 780-795, June.
    18. Shahidur R. Khandker, 2005. "Microfinance and Poverty: Evidence Using Panel Data from Bangladesh," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank Group, vol. 19(2), pages 263-286.
    19. Timothy Besley & Robin Burgess, 2003. "Halving Global Poverty," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 17(3), pages 3-22, Summer.
    20. 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.
    21. William Easterly, 2002. "The Elusive Quest for Growth: Economists' Adventures and Misadventures in the Tropics," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262550423, December.
    22. Patrick Honohan, 2004. "Financial development, growth, and poverty: how close are the links?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3203, The World Bank.
    23. Peter C. B. Phillips & Hyungsik R. Moon, 1999. "Linear Regression Limit Theory for Nonstationary Panel Data," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 67(5), pages 1057-1112, September.
    24. Lucas, Robert E, Jr & Stokey, Nancy L, 1987. "Money and Interest in a Cash-in-Advance Economy," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 55(3), pages 491-513, May.
    25. repec:dau:papers:123456789/10091 is not listed on IDEAS
    26. Beck, Thorsten & Demirguc-Kunt, Asli & Levine, Ross, 2004. "Finance, inequality, and poverty: cross-country evidence," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3338, The World Bank.
    27. Ricardo Paes de Barros & Carlos Corseuil & Rosane Mendonça & Maurício Cortez Reis, 2015. "Poverty, Inequality and Macroeconomic Instability," Discussion Papers 0093, Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada - IPEA.
    28. Olivier Jean Blanchard & Stanley Fischer, 1989. "Lectures on Macroeconomics," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262022834, December.
    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. Ngwen Ngangu¨¦, 2020. "Financial Sector Development and Open Economy for Income Inequality Reduction: A Panel Fixed Model Analysis," International Journal of Economics and Finance, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 12(4), pages 1-33, April.
    2. Kumar Debasis Dutta & Mallika Saha, 2023. "Role of governance in the nexus between financial development and sustainable development," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 35(6), pages 1181-1215, August.
    3. Santos ALIMI, 2014. "Inflation and Financial Sector Performance: the Case of Nigeria," Timisoara Journal of Economics and Business, West University of Timisoara, Romania, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, vol. 7(1), pages 55-69.
    4. Bittencourt, Manoel, 2011. "Inflation and financial development: Evidence from Brazil," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 91-99.
    5. Siong Hook Law & Hui Boon Tan, 2009. "The Role Of Financial Development On Income Inequality In Malaysia," Journal of Economic Development, Chung-Ang Unviersity, Department of Economics, vol. 34(2), pages 153-168, December.
    6. Ziv Chinzara & Radhika Lahiri, 2012. "Economic growth and inequality patterns in the presence of costly technology adoption and uncertainty," School of Economics and Finance Discussion Papers and Working Papers Series 280, School of Economics and Finance, Queensland University of Technology.
    7. Kumar Debasis Dutta & Mallika Saha, 2023. "Does financial development cause sustainable development? A PVAR approach," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 56(2), pages 879-917, April.
    8. 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.
    9. Monal Abdel-Baki, 2011. "The efficacy of the Egyptian bank reform plan in mitigating the impact of the global financial crisis," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 44(3), pages 221-241, August.
    10. Zhuang, Juzhong & Gunatilake, Herath & Niimi, Yoko & Ehsan Khan, Muhammad & Jiang, Yi & Hasan, Rana & Khor, Niny & S. Lagman-Martin, Anneli & Bracey, Pamela & Huang, Biao, 2009. "Financial Sector Development, Economic Growth, and Poverty Reduction: A Literature Review," ADB Economics Working Paper Series 173, Asian Development Bank.
    11. Muhammad Shahbaz & Faridul Islam, 2011. "Financial Development And Income Inequality In Pakistan: An Application Of Ardl Approach," Journal of Economic Development, Chung-Ang Unviersity, Department of Economics, vol. 36(1), pages 35-58, March.
    12. 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.
    13. Gervasio SEMEDO & Bertrand LAPORTE & Asbath ALASSANI, 2022. "How does tax structure affect income inequality? Empirical evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa," LEO Working Papers / DR LEO 2960, Orleans Economics Laboratory / Laboratoire d'Economie d'Orleans (LEO), University of Orleans.

    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. Manoel Bittencourt, 2010. "Financial development and inequality: Brazil 1985–1994," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 43(2), pages 113-130, May.
    2. Manoel BITTENCOURT, 2009. "Macroeconomic Performance And Inequality: Brazil, 1983–94," The Developing Economies, Institute of Developing Economies, vol. 47(1), pages 30-52, March.
    3. Bittencourt, Manoel, 2011. "Inflation and financial development: Evidence from Brazil," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 91-99.
    4. Asli Demirgüç-Kunt & Ross Levine, 2009. "Finance and Inequality: Theory and Evidence," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 1(1), pages 287-318, November.
    5. 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.
    6. Alessandra Bonfiglioli, 2004. "Equities and Inequality," 2004 Meeting Papers 256, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    7. Beck, Thorsten & Demirguc-Kunt, Asli & Levine, Ross, 2004. "Finance, inequality, and poverty: cross-country evidence," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3338, The World Bank.
    8. Zhuang, Juzhong & Gunatilake, Herath & Niimi, Yoko & Ehsan Khan, Muhammad & Jiang, Yi & Hasan, Rana & Khor, Niny & S. Lagman-Martin, Anneli & Bracey, Pamela & Huang, Biao, 2009. "Financial Sector Development, Economic Growth, and Poverty Reduction: A Literature Review," ADB Economics Working Paper Series 173, Asian Development Bank.
    9. Claessens, Stijn & Feijen, Erik, 2006. "Finance and hunger : empirical evidence of the agricultural productivity channel," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4080, The World Bank.
    10. Esteban, Joan & Ray, Debraj, 2000. "Wealth constraints, lobbying and the efficiency of public allocation," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(4-6), pages 694-705, May.
    11. Kim, Dong-Hyeon & Lin, Shu-Chin, 2023. "Income inequality, inflation and financial development," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 468-487.
    12. Muhammad Shahbaz, 2013. "Financial Development, Economics Growth, Income Inequality Nexus: A Case Study of Pakistan," International Journal of Economics and Empirical Research (IJEER), The Economics and Social Development Organization (TESDO), vol. 1(3), pages 24-47, March.
    13. Pierluigi Murro & Valentina Peruzzi, 2018. "Cooperative banks and income inequality: Evidence from Italian provinces," Working Papers CASMEF 1804, Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza, LUISS Guido Carli.
    14. Alexandra D'Onofrio & Pierluigi Murro, 2013. "Local banking development and income distribution across Italian provinces," Working Papers CASMEF 1307, Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza, LUISS Guido Carli.
    15. James B. Ang, 2010. "Finance and Inequality: The Case of India," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 76(3), pages 738-761, January.
    16. Raoul Minetti & Pierluigi Murro & Valentina Peruzzi, 2021. "Not All Banks Are Equal: Cooperative Banking And Income Inequality," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 59(1), pages 420-440, January.
    17. Minetti, Raoul & Murro, Pierluigi & Peruzzi, Valentina, 2019. "One size does not fit all. Cooperative banking and income inequality," Working Papers 2019-10, Michigan State University, Department of Economics.
    18. Kim, Dong-Hyeon & Lin, Shu-Chin, 2011. "Nonlinearity in the financial developmentâincome inequality nexus," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 310-325, September.
    19. Karlan, Dean & Morduch, Jonathan, 2010. "Access to Finance," Handbook of Development Economics, in: Dani Rodrik & Mark Rosenzweig (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 4703-4784, Elsevier.
    20. Peter Quartey, 2005. "Financial Sector Development, Savings Mobilization and Poverty Reduction in Ghana," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2005-71, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Financial development and markets; credit; inequality and welfare; inflation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • E44 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Financial Markets and the Macroeconomy
    • O11 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O54 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Latin America; Caribbean

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:deg:conpap:c011_055. 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: Jan Pedersen (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iehhsdk.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.