IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/jinter/v36y2024i2p246-261.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

COVID-19 Crisis and the Association Between Inequality and Economic Growth

Author

Listed:
  • Salim Chahine
  • Adam Chahine

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the macroeconomic response to exogenous shocks, namely the COVID-19. We conjecture that the sensitivity of an economic system to an exogenous shock is endogenous on its characteristics and ability to counter a shock. We use the COVID-19 crisis as an exogenous shock, and we argue that a higher income inequality is likely to lead to a greater negative impact of an exogenous shock on economic growth. We validate our expectations using different inequality indexes. In further robustness tests, we confirm our conclusions using different proxies for economic conditions. JEL Codes: A10, I14, I15

Suggested Citation

  • Salim Chahine & Adam Chahine, 2024. "COVID-19 Crisis and the Association Between Inequality and Economic Growth," Journal of Interdisciplinary Economics, , vol. 36(2), pages 246-261, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:jinter:v:36:y:2024:i:2:p:246-261
    DOI: 10.1177/02601079221142703
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/02601079221142703
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/02601079221142703?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bruno, Michael, 1993. "Crisis, Stabilization, and Economic Reform: Therapy by Consensus," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198286639.
    2. Alesina, Alberto & Perotti, Roberto, 1996. "Income distribution, political instability, and investment," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(6), pages 1203-1228, June.
    3. Rodrik, Dani, 1999. "Where Did All the Growth Go? External Shocks, Social Conflict, and Growth Collapses," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 4(4), pages 385-412, December.
    4. Alberto Alesina & Dani Rodrik, 1994. "Distributive Politics and Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 109(2), pages 465-490.
    5. Cecilia Garcia-Penalosa & Eve Caroli & Philippe Aghion, 1999. "Inequality and Economic Growth: The Perspective of the New Growth Theories," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 37(4), pages 1615-1660, December.
    6. Oded Galor & Joseph Zeira, 1993. "Income Distribution and Macroeconomics," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 60(1), pages 35-52.
    7. Furceri, Davide & Loungani, Prakash, 2018. "The distributional effects of capital account liberalization," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 127-144.
    8. Ranis, Gustav, 2004. "Human Development and Economic Growth," Center Discussion Papers 28375, Yale University, Economic Growth Center.
    9. Hongyi Li & Heng‐fu Zou, 1998. "Income Inequality is not Harmful for Growth: Theory and Evidence," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 2(3), pages 318-334, October.
    10. S. Streeten, Paul, 1979. "Basics needs: Premises and promises," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 136-146, January.
    11. Roland Bénabou, 1996. "Inequality and Growth," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 1996, Volume 11, pages 11-92, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. repec:dau:papers:123456789/10091 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Guner, Nezih & Lopez-Daneri, Martin & Ventura, Gustavo, 2016. "Heterogeneity and Government revenues: Higher taxes at the top?," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 69-85.
    14. Kristin J. Forbes, 2000. "A Reassessment of the Relationship between Inequality and Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(4), pages 869-887, September.
    15. Amina Tabassum & M. Tariq Majeed, 2008. "Economic Growth and Income Inequality Relationship: Role of Credit Market Imperfection," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 47(4), pages 727-743.
    16. Bound, John & Johnson, George, 1992. "Changes in the Structure of Wages in the 1980's: An Evaluation of Alternative Explanations," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 82(3), pages 371-392, June.
    17. Luigi L. Pasinetti, 1962. "Rate of Profit and Income Distribution in Relation to the Rate of Economic Growth," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 29(4), pages 267-279.
    18. Daron Acemoglu, 2002. "Technical Change, Inequality, and the Labor Market," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 40(1), pages 7-72, March.
    19. Chiarella,Carl & Flaschel,Peter & Franke,Reiner, 2011. "Foundations for a Disequilibrium Theory of the Business Cycle," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521369923, October.
    20. Banerjee, Abhijit V & Duflo, Esther, 2003. "Inequality and Growth: What Can the Data Say?," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 8(3), pages 267-299, September.
    21. Daniel L. Bennett & Boris Nikolaev, 2017. "On the ambiguous economic freedom–inequality relationship," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 53(2), pages 717-754, September.
    22. Joseph E. Stiglitz, 2015. "The Origins of Inequality, and Policies to Contain It," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 68(2), pages 425-448, June.
    23. Fatih Karahan & Serdar Ozkan, 2013. "On the Persistence of Income Shocks over the Life Cycle: Evidence, Theory, and Implications," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 16(3), pages 452-476, July.
    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. Shinhye Chang & Rangan Gupta & Stephen M. Miller, 2018. "Causality Between Per Capita Real GDP and Income Inequality in the U.S.: Evidence from a Wavelet Analysis," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 135(1), pages 269-289, January.
    2. Köppl-Turyna, Monika & Christl, Michael & De Poli, Silvia, 2024. "Does redistribution hurt growth? An empirical assessment of the redistribution-growth relationship in the European Union," Research Papers 27, EcoAustria – Institute for Economic Research.
    3. Gravier-Rymaszewska, Joanna & Tyrowicz, Joanna & Kochanowicz, Jacek, 2010. "Intra-provincial inequalities and economic growth in China," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 237-258, September.
    4. Mikulas Luptacik & Bernhard Mahlberg, 2018. "Revisiting the Efficiency-Equity Trade-off: A Muli-objective Linear Problem combined with an extended Leontief Input Output Model," Department of Economic Policy Working Paper Series 016, Department of Economic Policy, Faculty of National Economy, University of Economics in Bratislava.
    5. Andrew Berg & Jonathan D. Ostry & Charalambos G. Tsangarides & Yorbol Yakhshilikov, 2018. "Redistribution, inequality, and growth: new evidence," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 259-305, September.
    6. Grossmann, Volker, 2008. "Risky human capital investment, income distribution, and macroeconomic dynamics," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 19-42, March.
    7. Isaac Ehrlich & Jinyoung Kim, 2007. "The Evolution of Income and Fertility Inequalities over the Course of Economic Development: A Human Capital Perspective," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 1(1), pages 137-174.
    8. Adnen Ben Nasr & Mehmet Balcilar & Rangan Gupta & Seyi Saint Akadiri, 2020. "Asymmetric effects of inequality on real output levels of the United States," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 10(1), pages 47-69, March.
    9. Adelaide Duarte & Marta Simões, 2009. "Channels of transmission of inequality to growth: A survey of the theory and evidence from a Portuguese perspective," GEMF Working Papers 2009-07, GEMF, Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra.
    10. Amparo Castelló-Climent, 2010. "Inequality and growth in advanced economies: an empirical investigation," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 8(3), pages 293-321, September.
    11. Blanco, Luisa, 2010. "Life is Unfair in Latin America, But Does it Matter for Growth?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 393-404, March.
    12. Grabiella Berloffa & Maria Luigia Segnana, 2004. "Trade, inequality and pro-poor growth: Two perspectives, one message?," Department of Economics Working Papers 0408, Department of Economics, University of Trento, Italia.
    13. Adnen Ben Nasr & Mehmet Balcilar & Rangan Gupta & Seyi Saint Akadiri, 2018. "Asymmetric Effects of Inequality on Per Capita Real GDP of the United States," Working Papers 201820, University of Pretoria, Department of Economics.
    14. Bozhechkova, Aleksandra & Vashchelyuk, Natalia & Nazarov, Pavel & Perevyshin, Yuri & Tumanova, Elena & Shagas, Natalia, "undated". "Modeling the Dynamic of Economic Potential," Published Papers nvg143, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration.
    15. Thomas Leoni & Wolfgang Pollan, 2003. "The Impact of Inequality on Economic Growth," WIFO Working Papers 211, WIFO.
    16. Günther Rehme, 2007. "Education, Economic Growth and Measured Income Inequality," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 74(295), pages 493-514, August.
    17. Adalgiso Amendola & Roberto Dell�Anno, 2014. "Income inequality and economic growth: an empirical investigation in Mediterranean countries," RIEDS - Rivista Italiana di Economia, Demografia e Statistica - The Italian Journal of Economic, Demographic and Statistical Studies, SIEDS Societa' Italiana di Economia Demografia e Statistica, vol. 68(2), pages 35-58, April-Jun.
    18. Marta Simões & João Andrade & Adelaide Duarte, 2013. "A regional perspective on inequality and growth in Portugal using panel cointegration analysis," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 10(3), pages 427-451, September.
    19. Delphin Kamanda Espoir & Nicholas Ngepah, 2021. "Income distribution and total factor productivity: a cross-country panel cointegration analysis," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 18(4), pages 661-698, October.
    20. Ferreira, Francisco H. G. & Lakner, Christoph & Lugo, Maria Ana & Ozler, Berk, 2014. "Inequality of opportunity and economic growth : a cross-country analysis," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6915, The World Bank.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Inequality; economic growth; exogenous shock;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • A10 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - General
    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality
    • I15 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Economic Development

    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:sae:jinter:v:36:y:2024:i:2:p:246-261. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.