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Inequality and savings: a reassesment of the relationship in cointegrated panels

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  • Tuomas, Malinen

Abstract

The effect of income inequality on savings and consumption has remained an open empirical issue despite several decades of research. Results obtained in this study indicate that income inequality and private consumption are both I(1) nonstationary variables that are cointegrated, and inequality has had a negative effect on private consumption in Central-European and Nordic countries. Results for Anglo-Saxon countries are inconclusive. These findings suggest that previous empirical research may have produced biased results on the effect of inequality on savings by assuming that inequality would be a stationary variable.

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  • Tuomas, Malinen, 2011. "Inequality and savings: a reassesment of the relationship in cointegrated panels," MPRA Paper 33350, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:33350
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Panel cointegration; top 1% income share; private consumption; gross savings;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • C22 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Time-Series Models; Dynamic Quantile Regressions; Dynamic Treatment Effect Models; Diffusion Processes
    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth

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