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All Types of Inequality are Not Created Equal: Divergent Impacts of Inequality on Economic Growth

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  • Stephanie Seguino

Abstract

Evidence of an increase in various forms of inequality since the 1970s has motivated research on its relationship to growth and development. The findings of that research are contradictory and inconclusive. One source of these divergent results is that researchers rely on different group measures of inequality. Inequality by gender, household, class, and ethnicity may produce divergent effects on growth since they operate on macroeconomic outcomes via alternative pathways. Further, even within groups, the effect of inequality on growth depends on the measure used. For example, inequalities in capabilities (such as education and health status) may operate differently on growth than inequality in wages and income. This paper explores the different conceptual approaches to measuring between-group and within-group inequality and delineates the sometimes contradictory pathways by which these measures affect economic growth and development. The typology is applied to the cases of East Asia and Latin America.

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  • Stephanie Seguino, 2005. "All Types of Inequality are Not Created Equal: Divergent Impacts of Inequality on Economic Growth," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_433, Levy Economics Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:lev:wrkpap:wp_433
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    2. Edward Nissan & George Carter, 2012. "Social identity and schooling inequality," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 36(1), pages 190-200, January.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • O4 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity
    • E12 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General Aggregative Models - - - Keynes; Keynesian; Post-Keynesian; Modern Monetary Theory
    • F16 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade and Labor Market Interactions
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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