IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/revinw/v66y2020i1p227-249.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Non‐Linearity and Cross‐Country Dependence of Income Inequality

Author

Listed:
  • Leena Kalliovirta
  • Tuomas Malinen

Abstract

We use top income data and the newly developed regime‐switching Gaussian mixture vector autoregressive model to explain the dynamics of income inequality in developed economies within the past 100 years. Our results indicate that the process of income inequality consists of two equilibria identifiable by high inequality and high income fluctuations, and low inequality and low income fluctuations. Our results also imply that income inequality in the United States is the driver of income inequality in other developed economies. High wages and capital gains are found to be the likely channels for the U.S. influence.

Suggested Citation

  • Leena Kalliovirta & Tuomas Malinen, 2020. "Non‐Linearity and Cross‐Country Dependence of Income Inequality," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 66(1), pages 227-249, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:revinw:v:66:y:2020:i:1:p:227-249
    DOI: 10.1111/roiw.12377
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/roiw.12377
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/roiw.12377?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Andrew G. Berg & Jonathan D. Ostry, 2017. "Inequality and Unsustainable Growth: Two Sides of the Same Coin?," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 65(4), pages 792-815, November.
    2. Markus Jäntti & Stephen Jenkins, 2010. "The impact of macroeconomic conditions on income inequality," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 8(2), pages 221-240, June.
    3. Herzer, Dierk & Vollmer, Sebastian, 2013. "Rising top incomes do not raise the tide," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 504-519.
    4. Anthony B. Atkinson & Thomas Piketty & Emmanuel Saez, 2011. "Top Incomes in the Long Run of History," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 49(1), pages 3-71, March.
    5. Andrew G. Berg & Jonathan D. Ostry, 2017. "Inequality and Unsustainable Growth: Two Sides of the Same Coin?," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 65(4), pages 792-815, November.
    6. Thomas Piketty & Emmanuel Saez, 2003. "Income Inequality in the United States, 1913–1998," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(1), pages 1-41.
    7. Andrew Leigh, 2007. "How Closely Do Top Income Shares Track Other Measures of Inequality?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 117(524), pages 619-633, November.
    8. Maurice Obstfeld & Alan M. Taylor, 1998. "The Great Depression as a Watershed: International Capital Mobility over the Long Run," NBER Chapters, in: The Defining Moment: The Great Depression and the American Economy in the Twentieth Century, pages 353-402, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Thomas Piketty & Emmanuel Saez, 2006. "The Evolution of Top Incomes: A Historical and International Perspective," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(2), pages 200-205, May.
    10. Tuomas Malinen, 2012. "Estimating the long-run relationship between income inequality and economic development," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 42(1), pages 209-233, February.
    11. Pascal Petit, 2010. "The systemic nature of the rise in inequality in developed economies," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(3), pages 251-267.
    12. Hamilton, James D, 1989. "A New Approach to the Economic Analysis of Nonstationary Time Series and the Business Cycle," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 57(2), pages 357-384, March.
    13. Branko Milanovic, 2015. "Global Inequality of Opportunity: How Much of Our Income Is Determined by Where We Live?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 97(2), pages 452-460, May.
    14. Anthony Atkinson & Thomas Piketty, 2007. "Top incomes over the twentieth century: A contrast between continental european and english-speaking countries," Post-Print halshs-00754859, HAL.
    15. H. Naci Mocan, 1999. "Structural Unemployment, Cyclical Unemployment, and Income Inequality," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 81(1), pages 122-134, February.
    16. Fadi Fawaz & Masha Rahnamamoghadam & Victor Valcarcel, 2012. "Fluctuations, Uncertainty and Income Inequality in Developing Countries," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 38(4), pages 495-511.
    17. Jesper Roine & Daniel Waldenström, 2011. "Common Trends and Shocks to Top Incomes: A Structural Breaks Approach," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 93(3), pages 832-846, August.
    18. Joseph E. Stiglitz, 2004. "Capital-market Liberalization, Globalization, and the IMF," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 20(1), pages 57-71, Spring.
    19. Leena Kalliovirta & Mika Meitz & Pentti Saikkonen, 2015. "A Gaussian Mixture Autoregressive Model for Univariate Time Series," Journal of Time Series Analysis, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(2), pages 247-266, March.
    20. Charles M. Beach & Ross Finnie & David Gray, 2010. "Long‐Run Inequality And Short‐Run Instability Of Men'S And Women'S Earnings In Canada," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 56(3), pages 572-596, September.
    21. Thompson Jeffrey P. & Leight Elias, 2012. "Do Rising Top Income Shares Affect the Incomes or Earnings of Low and Middle-Income Families?," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 12(1), pages 1-38, November.
    22. Xavier Sala-i-Martin, 2001. "The disturbing 'rise' of global income inequality," Economics Working Papers 616, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, revised Apr 2002.
    23. Daly, Mary C. & Valletta, Robert G., 2008. "Cross-national trends in earnings inequality and instability," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 99(2), pages 215-219, May.
    24. Leena Kalliovirta, 2012. "Misspecification tests based on quantile residuals," Econometrics Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 15(2), pages 358-393, June.
    25. Sudhir Anand & Paul Segal, 2008. "What Do We Know about Global Income Inequality?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 46(1), pages 57-94, March.
    26. Kalliovirta, Leena & Meitz, Mika & Saikkonen, Pentti, 2016. "Gaussian mixture vector autoregression," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 192(2), pages 485-498.
    27. Ashley, Richard, 2008. "Growth may be good for the poor, but decline is disastrous: On the non-robustness of the Dollar-Kraay result," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 333-338.
    28. Atkinson, A. B. & Piketty, Thomas (ed.), 2007. "Top Incomes Over the Twentieth Century: A Contrast Between Continental European and English-Speaking Countries," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199286881.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Tuomas Malinen, 2016. "Does income inequality contribute to credit cycles?," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 14(3), pages 309-325, September.
    2. Kirschenmann, Karolin & Malinen, Tuomas & Nyberg, Henri, 2016. "The risk of financial crises: Is there a role for income inequality?," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 161-180.

    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. Salvatore Morelli, 2018. "Banking crises in the US: the response of top income shares in a historical perspective," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 16(2), pages 257-294, June.
    2. Elina Tuominen, 2015. "Reversal of the Kuznets Curve: Study on the Inequality-Development Relation Using Top Income Shares Data," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2015-036, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    3. Tuominen Elina, 2016. "Changes or levels? Reassessment of the relationship between top-end inequality and growth," Working Papers 1609, Tampere University, Faculty of Management and Business, Economics.
    4. Kirschenmann, Karolin & Malinen, Tuomas & Nyberg, Henri, 2016. "The risk of financial crises: Is there a role for income inequality?," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 161-180.
    5. Tuomas Malinen, 2011. "Income Inequality and Savings: A Reassessment of the Relationship in Cointegrated Panels," DEGIT Conference Papers c016_076, DEGIT, Dynamics, Economic Growth, and International Trade.
    6. Tuominen Elina, 2016. "Top-end inequality and growth: Empirical evidence," Working Papers 1608, Tampere University, Faculty of Management and Business, Economics.
    7. Tuomas, Malinen, 2011. "Inequality and savings: a reassesment of the relationship in cointegrated panels," MPRA Paper 33350, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Anthony B. Atkinson & Thomas Piketty & Emmanuel Saez, 2011. "Top Incomes in the Long Run of History," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 49(1), pages 3-71, March.
    9. Raymundo M. Campos-Vazquez & Emmanuel Chavez & Gerardo Esquivel, 2017. "Growth is (really) good for the (really) rich," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(12), pages 2639-2675, December.
    10. Cabral, René & García-Díaz, Rocío & Mollick, André Varella, 2016. "Does globalization affect top income inequality?," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 38(5), pages 916-940.
    11. Atanu Ghoshray & Issam Malki & Javier Ordóñez, 2022. "On the long-run dynamics of income and wealth inequality," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 62(2), pages 375-408, February.
    12. Burkhauser, Richard V. & Herault, Nicolas & Jenkins, Stephen P. & Wilkins, Roger, 2016. "What Has Been Happening to UK Income Inequality since the Mid-1990s? Answers from Reconciled and Combined Household Survey and Tax Return Data," IZA Discussion Papers 9718, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Caparoz, Marcel & Marçal, Emerson Fernandes & Mattos, Enlinson, 2019. "A time series analysis of household income inequality in Brazil 1977 to 2013," Revista Brasileira de Economia - RBE, EPGE Brazilian School of Economics and Finance - FGV EPGE (Brazil), vol. 73(4), December.
    14. Liliana Cano, 2015. "Income Mobility in Ecuador: New Evidence from Individual Income Tax Returns," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2015-040, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    15. Liliana Cano, 2015. "Income mobility in Ecuador: New evidence from individual income tax returns," WIDER Working Paper Series 040, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    16. Jordá, Vanesa & Niño-Zarazúa, Miguel, 2019. "Global inequality: How large is the effect of top incomes?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 1-1.
    17. Salvatore Morelli & Timothy Smeeding & Jeffrey Thompson, 2014. "Post-1970 Trends in Within-Country Inequality and Poverty: Rich and Middle Income Countries," CSEF Working Papers 356, Centre for Studies in Economics and Finance (CSEF), University of Naples, Italy.
    18. Elina Tuominen, 2015. "Reversal of the Kuznets curve: Study on the inequalitys development relation using top income shares sata," WIDER Working Paper Series 036, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    19. Alvaredo, Facundo, 2011. "A note on the relationship between top income shares and the Gini coefficient," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 110(3), pages 274-277, March.
    20. Aart Kraay & Roy Weide, 2022. "Measuring intragenerational mobility using aggregate data," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 27(2), pages 273-314, June.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C32 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Time-Series Models; Dynamic Quantile Regressions; Dynamic Treatment Effect Models; Diffusion Processes; State Space Models
    • C33 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • D30 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - General

    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:bla:revinw:v:66:y:2020:i:1:p:227-249. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iariwea.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.