Inequality is Bad for Growth of the Poor (But Not for That of the Rich)
The paper assesses the impact of overall inequality, as well as inequality among the poor and among the rich, on the growth rates along various percentiles of the income distribution. The analysis uses micro-census data from U.S. states covering t...
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Language: | English en_US |
Published: |
World Bank Group, Washington, DC
2014
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2014/07/19756057/inequality-bad-growth-poor-not-rich http://hdl.handle.net/10986/19363 |
Summary: | The paper assesses the impact of overall
inequality, as well as inequality among the poor and among
the rich, on the growth rates along various percentiles of
the income distribution. The analysis uses micro-census
data from U.S. states covering the period from 1960 to 2010.
The paper finds evidence that high levels of inequality
reduce the income growth of the poor and, if anything, help
the growth of the rich. When inequality is deconstructed
into bottom and top inequality, the analysis finds that it
is mostly top inequality that is holding back growth at the bottom. |
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