Asset Distribution, Inequality, and Growth

Deininger, Klaus ; Olinto, Pedro

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: AGGREGATE GROWTH;    AGRICULTURE;    ANNUAL GROWTH;    ANNUAL GROWTH RATE;    ANTI-EXPORT BIAS;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-2375
RP-ID  :  WPS2375

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

With the recent resurgence of interestin equity, inequality, and growth, the possibility of anegative relationship between inequality and economicgrowth, has received renewed interest in the literature.Faced with the prospect that high levels of inequality maypersist, and give rise to poverty traps, policymakers arepaying more attention to the distributional implications ofmacroeconomic policies. Because high levels of inequalitymay hurt overall growth, policymakers are exploring measuresto promote growth and equity at the same time. How theconsequences of inequality are analyzed, along with thepossible cures, depends partly on how inequality ismeasured. The authors use assets (land) rather than income -and a GMM estimator - to examine the robustness of therelationship between inequality and growth that has beenobserved in the cross-sectional literature, but has beendrawn into question by recent studies using paneltechniques. They find evidence that asset inequality - butnot income inequality - has a relatively large negativeimpact on growth. They also find that a highly unequaldistribution of assets reduces the effectiveness ofeducational interventions. This means that policymakersshould be more concerned about households' access toassets, and to the opportunities associated with them, thanabout the distribution of income. Long-term growth might beimproved by measures to prevent large jumps in assetinequality - possibly irreversible asset loss because ofexogenous shocks - and by policies to facilitate assetaccumulation by the poor.