IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ube/dpvwib/dp1005.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Mass versus Exclusive Goods, and Formal-Sector Employment

Author

Listed:
  • Reto Foellmi
  • Josef Zweim ller

Abstract

We explore how the underemployment problem of less-developed economies is related to income inequality. Our crucial assumption is that consumers have non-homothetic preferences over differentiated products of formal-sector goods and thus that inequality affects the composition of aggregate demand via the price-setting behavior of formal-sector firms. We find that (i) high inequality divides the formal sector into mass producers (which charge low prices that are within the reach of the poor) and exclusive producers (which charge high prices and sell only to the rich); (ii) high inequality generates an equilibrium where many workers are crowded into the informal economy; and (iii) an increase in subsistence productivity raises the wages of unskilled workers and boosts employment due to the higher purchasing power of poorer households.

Suggested Citation

  • Reto Foellmi & Josef Zweim ller, 2010. "Mass versus Exclusive Goods, and Formal-Sector Employment," Diskussionsschriften dp1005, Universitaet Bern, Departement Volkswirtschaft.
    • Handle: RePEc:ube:dpvwib:dp1005
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://repec.vwiit.ch/dp/dp1005.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Devashish Mitra & Vitor Trindade, 2005. "Inequality and trade," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 38(4), pages 1253-1271, November.
    2. Kiminori Matsuyama, 2002. "The Rise of Mass Consumption Societies," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 110(5), pages 1035-1070, October.
    3. Claude d'Aspremont & Rodolphe Dos Santos Ferreira & Louis-André Gérard-Varet, 1990. "On Monopolistic Competition and Involuntary Unemployment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 105(4), pages 895-919.
    4. Reto Foellmi & Josef Zweimuller, 2006. "Income Distribution and Demand-Induced Innovations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 73(4), pages 941-960.
    5. Djankov, Simeon & McLiesh, Caralee & Shleifer, Andrei, 2007. "Private credit in 129 countries," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(2), pages 299-329, May.
    6. Foellmi, Reto & Oechslin, Manuel, 2007. "Who gains from non-collusive corruption?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(1), pages 95-119, January.
    7. Dasgupta, Partha & Ray, Debraj, 1987. "Inequality as a Determinant of Malnutrition and Unemployment: Policy," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 97(385), pages 177-188, March.
    8. Diego Winkelried, 2005. "Income Distribution and the Size of the Informal Sector," Development and Comp Systems 0512005, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Simeon Djankov & Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer, 2002. "The Regulation of Entry," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 117(1), pages 1-37.
    10. Dixit, Avinash K & Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1977. "Monopolistic Competition and Optimum Product Diversity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 67(3), pages 297-308, June.
    11. Bulow, Jeremy I & Summers, Lawrence H, 1986. "A Theory of Dual Labor Markets with Application to Industrial Policy,Discrimination, and Keynesian Unemployment," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 4(3), pages 376-414, July.
    12. Chong, Alberto & Gradstein, Mark, 2007. "Inequality and informality," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(1-2), pages 159-179, February.
    13. James R. Tybout, 2000. "Manufacturing Firms in Developing Countries: How Well Do They Do, and Why?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 38(1), pages 11-44, March.
    14. Kiminori Matsuyama, 2000. "A Ricardian Model with a Continuum of Goods under Nonhomothetic Preferences: Demand Complementarities, Income Distribution, and North-South Trade," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 108(6), pages 1093-1120, December.
    15. Dehez, Pierre, 1985. "Monopolistic equilibrium and involuntary unemployment," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 160-165, June.
    16. Silvestre, Joaquim, 1993. "The Market-Power Foundations of Macroeconomic Policy," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 31(1), pages 105-141, March.
    17. Kevin M. Murphy & Andrei Shleifer & Robert Vishny, 1989. "Income Distribution, Market Size, and Industrialization," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 104(3), pages 537-564.
    18. Gilles Saint-Paul, 2006. "Distribution and Growth in an Economy with Limited Needs: Variable Markups and 'the End of Work'," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 116(511), pages 382-407, April.
    19. Oded Galor & Omer Moav, 2004. "From Physical to Human Capital Accumulation: Inequality and the Process of Development," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 71(4), pages 1001-1026.
    20. Chou, Chien-Fu & Talmain, Gabriel, 1996. "Redistribution and Growth: Pareto Improvements," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 1(4), pages 505-523, December.
    21. Silvestre, Joaquim, 1990. "There May Be Unemployment When the Labour Market Is Competitive and the Output Market Is Not," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 100(402), pages 899-913, September.
    22. Robert M. Solow, 2000. "Toward a Macroeconomics of the Medium Run," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 14(1), pages 151-158, Winter.
    23. Falkinger, Josef, 1994. "An Engelian model of growth and innovation with hierarchic consumer demand and unequal incomes," Ricerche Economiche, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 123-139, June.
    24. Foellmi, Reto & Zweimuller, Josef, 2004. "Inequality, market power, and product diversity," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 82(1), pages 139-145, January.
    25. Flam, Harry & Helpman, Elhanan, 1987. "Vertical Product Differentiation and North-South Trade," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(5), pages 810-822, December.
    26. Oliver Hart, 1982. "A Model of Imperfect Competition with Keynesian Features," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 97(1), pages 109-138.
    27. Sleuwaegen, Leo & Goedhuys, Micheline, 2002. "Growth of firms in developing countries, evidence from Cote d'Ivoire," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 117-135, June.
    28. Oliver J. Blanchard, 1997. "The Medium Run," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 28(2), pages 89-158.
    29. Chol-Won Li., "undated". "Inequality and Growth: A Schumpeterian Perspective," Working Papers 9609, Business School - Economics, University of Glasgow, revised Feb 1998.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Reto Foellmi & Joseph Zweim�ller, 2006. "Mass Consumption, Exclusion, and Unemployment," IEW - Working Papers 296, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - University of Zurich.
    2. Reto Foellmi & Josef Zweimüller, 2011. "Exclusive Goods and Formal-Sector Employment," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 3(1), pages 242-272, January.
    3. Foellmi, Reto & Wuergler, Tobias & Zweimüller, Josef, 2014. "The macroeconomics of Model T," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 617-647.
    4. Demmou, Lilas, 2012. "How product innovation in the North may immiserize the South," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(2), pages 293-304.
    5. Reto Foellmi & Josef Zweim�ller, "undated". "Structural Change and the Kaldor Facts of Economic Growth," IEW - Working Papers 111, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - University of Zurich.
    6. Kiminori Matsuyama, 2019. "Engel's Law in the Global Economy: Demand‐Induced Patterns of Structural Change, Innovation, and Trade," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 87(2), pages 497-528, March.
    7. Reto Foellmi & Josef Zweimuller, 2006. "Income Distribution and Demand-Induced Innovations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 73(4), pages 941-960.
    8. Tarasov Alexander, 2009. "Income Distribution, Market Structure, and Individual Welfare," The B.E. Journal of Theoretical Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 9(1), pages 1-39, December.
    9. Reto Foellmi & Josef Zweimüller, 2017. "Is inequality harmful for innovation and growth? Price versus market size effects," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 27(2), pages 359-378, April.
    10. Amedeo Panci, 1999. "Multiple equilibria: coordination failure and endogenous cycle," Working Papers in Public Economics 30, Department of Economics and Law, Sapienza University of Roma.
    11. Christian Kiedaisch, 2021. "Growth and welfare effects of intellectual property rights when consumers differ in income," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 72(4), pages 1121-1170, November.
    12. Yo Chul Choi & David Hummels & Chong Xiang, 2006. "Explaining Import Variety and Quality: The Role of the Income Distribution," NBER Working Papers 12531, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Reto Foellmi & Christian Hepenstrick & Josef Zweim�ller, 2010. "Non-homothetic preferences, parallel imports and the extensive margin of international trade," IEW - Working Papers 497, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - University of Zurich.
    14. Yasusada Murata, 2009. "On the Number and the Composition of Varieties," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 119(539), pages 1065-1087, July.
    15. Stefanadis, Christodoulos, 2023. "Oligarchy, underutilized capacity, and government policy," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    16. Ulrich Schetter & Adrian Jäggi & Maik T. Schneider, 2021. "Inequality, Openness, and Growth through Creative Destruction," Growth Lab Working Papers 171, Harvard's Growth Lab.
    17. Kichko, Sergei & Picard, Pierre M., 2023. "On the effects of income heterogeneity in monopolistically competitive markets," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    18. Foellmi, Reto & Zweimüller, Josef, 2008. "Structural change, Engel's consumption cycles and Kaldor's facts of economic growth," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(7), pages 1317-1328, October.
    19. Reto Foellmi und Josef Zweim�ller, "undated". "Inequality and Economic Growth - European Versus U.S. Experiences," IEW - Working Papers 158, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - University of Zurich.
    20. Schetter, Ulrich & Schneider, Maik T. & Jäggi, Adrian, 2024. "Inequality, openness, and growth through creative destruction," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 222(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Income distribution; monopolistic competition; mark-ups; exclusion;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E25 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Aggregate Factor Income Distribution
    • D30 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - General
    • D42 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Monopoly
    • L16 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Industrial Organization and Macroeconomics; Macroeconomic Industrial Structure
    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity

    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:ube:dpvwib:dp1005. 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: Franz Koelliker (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vwibech.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.