The Effects of Wealth and Gender Inequality On Economic Growth: A Survey of Recent Empirical Studies (original) (raw)

Economic growth and equality of opportunity

2011

In this paper we argue that a better understanding of the relationship between inequality and growth can be obtained by shifting the analysis from the space of final achievements to the space of opportunities. To this end, we introduce the Opportunity Growth Incidence Curve (OGIC) that can be used to evaluate the income dynamics of specific groups of the population and to infer the role of growth in the evolution of inequality of opportunity over time. By employing a rank dependent social welfare function we provide a rigorous normative justification for the use of the OGIC: We obtain suitable dominance conditions and we show how they can be interpreted in terms of OGIC dominance. We also propose an index that can be used to measure the impact of growth in terms of opportunity redistribution. Finally, we provide two empirical illustrations, for Italy and for Brazil, which show the potentials of the tools we have introduced.

Economic Growth and Employment

The fact that an economy, even when it experiences a higher growth rate in the capitalist segment, is saddled with an increasing unemployment rate, goes against the grain of conventional growth theory as indeed of the basic presumption underlying policymaking. In India, for instance, faced with growing misery in the midst of accelerating growth, the standard response has been that such "exclusion" will disappear if the growth rate can be further accelerated. The proposition that an acceleration of the growth rate in the capitalist segment will be accompanied by an increase in unemployment in the economy as a whole, which is the basic element underlying poverty (as Marx had recognised), cuts at the foundation of all such claims. I n all strands of economic theory, the concept of economic growth is discussed almost exclusively within the context of a closed and isolated capitalist economy. The usual setting is as follows: the application of labour to a set of produced means of production generates products which are distributed between the providers of labour and the providers of the means of production; those to whom these products accrue consume a part of what comes to them and "save" the rest; if these savings equal what is invested, then there is no problem of aggregate demand and full employment/full capacity output is realised; investment, less what is scrapped, adds to the stock of equipment available in the next period, which together with the available labour force determines the full employment/full capacity output of the next period.

Inequality and Growth

2013

The paper study cross country analysis for 18 countries to see the effects of gender inequality in education (human capita proxy), Labor force participation (employment proxy) and its impacts on constant growth of Gdp. The regressions are run individual country at a time. The approach is necessary and sufficient conditions to identify the determinants of inequality of each country and the effects on country’s growth from 1980 to 2010.The results Shaw that in most countries if we control the direct impacts of gender inequality like openness, pop-growth, and investment, the labor force participation female-male ratios have highest impacts on growth than others employment variables. The results also found out that education with secondary female-male ratios have greater impacts on growth compared to education with tertiary female-male ratios. Another important point to note is that in most of these 18 countries of the world their appeared a problems of collinearity in employment data. ...

The normative stakes of economic growth

This article analyzes Adam Smith’s endorsement of economic growth and asks what it might mean for a scenario of q1 low or zero growth in the Western economies. It distinguishes two models of economic growth in Smith. The first, a “trickle down” scenario, plays a marginal role; Smith’s main focus is on a model in which the growth of productive capi- tal and of jobs reinforce one another. There are three desiderata that this second model of growth achieves: a distribution that benefits the worst-off and leads to more equality in the long run, the harmonization of individual interests and societal interests, and the strengthening of the independence of citizens from employers, and of the political sphere from economic influences. To achieve these desiderata in a low or zero growth scenario, institutional reforms are needed, but such a sce- nario need not be as bleak as Smith imagined, as arguments by John Stuart Mill show.

Inclusive Growth and Equality of Opportunity

2014

There is now a genuine and widespread recognition about the adverse social consequences of rising inequalities in the recent high growth phase, which do not seem to be mitigated through the so called ‘trickle-down’ mechanism. The government has concerned that high growth alone has not addressed the challenges of ‘growth with social justice’; realizing these facts whole sections in the XI th Plan document of Government of India has been attributed to “Towards Faster and More Inclusive Growth”. Inclusive growth is defined in the XI th Plan as ‘growth process which yields broad based benefits and ensures equality of opportunity for all’. To increase the bargaining power of rural and distressed people National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, recently named as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act was passed by parliament in September 2005 and came into force in February 2006. Recent experience shows that the implementation of Right to Information Act holds a great promi...

Economic growth: a matter of perspective?

Financial global crisis has left in evidence that to be a developed or developing country does not necessary represent a direct correlation with high levels of GDP growth. In fact the fastest-growing economies are not among developed countries. On the contrary, countries that qualified as developing are having the highest rates of economic growth. The qualification of developed-developing country according to their GDP growth needs to be revised. In the past, even if GDP growth were not enough satisfactory were definitely more consistent with the category of developed-developing. Paradoxically that an economy grow faster do not represent a direct relationship with the well-being of their citizens or that could overcome levels of poverty index.

Economic Growth and Equity

Development Strategies in East Asia and Latin America, 1998

Rapid and continuous economic growth does not guarantee a sustained rate of improvement in poverty and unemployment. The case of Argentina is used to illustrate the point. After three years of impressive economic growth the improvement in the levels of poverty and unemployment seem to be slowly reaching a plateau suggesting the limitations of the model. Essentially the government must learn to juggle risk and credibility while attempting to implement an eclectic approach to policy consistent with current views in the literature and equity priorities.

Growth, equality, and history

Explorations in Economic History, 1985

Complex policy issues deserve frequent reassessment, and the relationship between economic growth and equality is undeniably complex. Policymakers who care about trade-offs between the two goals continue to press the scientific limits of empirical economics. It takes an enormous sample of long-term national experiences to approximate the data base necessary to move debate from allegation to evidence. Fortunately, the sample continues to expand. Since the 1950s dozens of countries have produced evidence on income distribution and growth, and the records of some currently developed countries have been extended back into the 17th century. This article assesses the empirical harvest. Most of our inferences, however, are based on American and British history. o 198s Academic PWS, IX.