IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/jeicoo/v16y2021i3d10.1007_s11403-021-00321-w.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Financial development, income and income inequality

Author

Listed:
  • George Vachadze

    (City University of New York)

Abstract

The aim of this paper is twofold. Firstly, we present a model in which both income and income inequality are jointly determined in a counter-cyclical manner via self-fulfilling expectation. We argue that multiple equilibria can arise in the presence of inelastic labor demand, a minimum investment requirement, and imperfections in the credit market. In one equilibrium, the market wage and labor income are both low. Young agents who become entrepreneurs work harder and save more than young agents who become depositors. As a result, the equilibrium is characterized by low-income and high-income inequality. In another equilibrium, the market wage and labor income are both high. Young agents supply the same amount of labor and save the same. As a result, the equilibrium is characterized by high-income and low-income inequality. Secondly, we present different dynamic scenarios predicted by the model and analyze the role of self-fulfilling expectations. The paper ends by providing some policy recommendations on how the coordination of agents’ expectations about labor market conditions and how improvements in financial development may affect the long-run income and income inequality.

Suggested Citation

  • George Vachadze, 2021. "Financial development, income and income inequality," Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination, Springer;Society for Economic Science with Heterogeneous Interacting Agents, vol. 16(3), pages 589-628, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jeicoo:v:16:y:2021:i:3:d:10.1007_s11403-021-00321-w
    DOI: 10.1007/s11403-021-00321-w
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11403-021-00321-w
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11403-021-00321-w?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Maliar Lilia & Maliar Serguei & Mora Juan, 2005. "Income and Wealth Distributions Along the Business Cycle: Implications from the Neoclassical Growth Model," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 5(1), pages 1-28, June.
    2. Albanesi, Stefania, 2007. "Inflation and inequality," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(4), pages 1088-1114, May.
    3. Carroll, Christopher D & Fuhrer, Jeffrey C & Wilcox, David W, 1994. "Does Consumer Sentiment Forecast Household Spending? If So, Why?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(5), pages 1397-1408, December.
    4. Bengt Holmstrom & Jean Tirole, 1997. "Financial Intermediation, Loanable Funds, and The Real Sector," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(3), pages 663-691.
    5. Kiminori Matsuyama, 2000. "Endogenous Inequality," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 67(4), pages 743-759.
    6. Botta, Alberto & Caverzasi, Eugenio & Russo, Alberto & Gallegati, Mauro & Stiglitz, Joseph E., 2021. "Inequality and finance in a rent economy," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 998-1029.
    7. Dilip Mookherjee & Debraj Ray, 2002. "Contractual Structure and Wealth Accumulation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(4), pages 818-849, September.
    8. Barry T. Hirsch & Bruce E. Kaufman & Tetyana Zelenska, 2015. "Minimum Wage Channels of Adjustment," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(2), pages 199-239, April.
    9. Dilip Mookherjee & Debraj Ray, 2003. "Persistent Inequality," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 70(2), pages 369-393.
    10. Banerjee, Abhijit V & Newman, Andrew F, 1993. "Occupational Choice and the Process of Development," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 101(2), pages 274-298, April.
    11. Alan B. Krueger & David Card, 2000. "Minimum Wages and Employment: A Case Study of the Fast-Food Industry in New Jersey and Pennsylvania: Reply," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(5), pages 1397-1420, December.
    12. Kar, Muhsin & NazlIoglu, Saban & AgIr, Hüseyin, 2011. "Financial development and economic growth nexus in the MENA countries: Bootstrap panel granger causality analysis," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 28(1-2), pages 685-693, January.
    13. Jim Dolmas & Gregory W. Huffman & Mark A. Wynne, 2000. "Inequality, inflation, and central bank independence," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 33(1), pages 271-287, February.
    14. Philippe Aghion & Patrick Bolton, 1997. "A Theory of Trickle-Down Growth and Development," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 64(2), pages 151-172.
    15. Kiminori Matsuyama, 2007. "Credit Traps and Credit Cycles," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(1), pages 503-516, March.
    16. 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.
    17. Nabi, Mahmoud Sami, 2015. "Equity-financing, income inequality and capital accumulation," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 322-333.
    18. Bernanke, Ben & Gertler, Mark, 1989. "Agency Costs, Net Worth, and Business Fluctuations," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(1), pages 14-31, March.
    19. Chirinko, Robert S., 2008. "[sigma]: The long and short of it," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 671-686, June.
    20. Ho‐Chuan Huang & Shu‐Chin Lin, 2009. "Non‐linear finance–growth nexus," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 17(3), pages 439-466, July.
    21. Lommerud, Kjell Erik & Straume, Odd Rune & Vagstad, Steinar, 2015. "Mommy tracks and public policy: On self-fulfilling prophecies and gender gaps in hiring and promotion," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 540-554.
    22. Jerold Waltman & Allan McBride & Nicole Camhout, 1998. "Minimum Wage Increases and the Business Failure Rate," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(1), pages 219-223, March.
    23. Mirko Draca & Stephen Machin & John Van Reenen, 2011. "Minimum Wages and Firm Profitability," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 3(1), pages 129-151, January.
    24. Heer, Burkhard & Sussmuth, Bernd, 2007. "Effects of inflation on wealth distribution: Do stock market participation fees and capital income taxation matter?," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 277-303, January.
    25. Berndt, Ernst R, 1976. "Reconciling Alternative Estimates of the Elasticity of Substitution," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 58(1), pages 59-68, February.
    26. Markus Brueckner & Tomoo Kikuchi & George Vachadze, 2016. "Effects of Income Growth on Domestic Saving Rates: The Role of Poverty and Borrowing Constraints," ANU Working Papers in Economics and Econometrics 2016-636, Australian National University, College of Business and Economics, School of Economics.
    27. C. Alan Garner, 1991. "Forecasting consumer spending: should economists pay attention to consumer confidence surveys?," Economic Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, vol. 76(May), pages 57-71.
    28. Vachadze, George, 2018. "Credit market imperfection, minimum investment requirement, and endogenous income inequality," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 62-79.
    29. Reichlin, Pietro, 1986. "Equilibrium cycles in an overlapping generations economy with production," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 89-102, October.
    30. Thomas Piketty, 1995. "Social Mobility and Redistributive Politics," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 110(3), pages 551-584.
    31. Woodford, Michael, 1986. "Stationary sunspot equilibria in a finance constrained economy," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 128-137, October.
    32. Piketty, Thomas, 1998. "Self-fulfilling beliefs about social status," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(1), pages 115-132, October.
    33. Jonathan A. Parker, 2000. "Spendthrift in America? On Two Decades of Decline in the US Saving Rate," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 1999, Volume 14, pages 317-387, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    34. Oliver Hart & John Moore, 1994. "A Theory of Debt Based on the Inalienability of Human Capital," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 109(4), pages 841-879.
    35. Coate, Stephen & Loury, Glenn C, 1993. "Will Affirmative-Action Policies Eliminate Negative Stereotypes?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(5), pages 1220-1240, December.
    36. Townsend, Robert M., 1979. "Optimal contracts and competitive markets with costly state verification," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 265-293, October.
    37. Piketty, Thomas, 2000. "Theories of persistent inequality and intergenerational mobility," Handbook of Income Distribution, in: A.B. Atkinson & F. Bourguignon (ed.), Handbook of Income Distribution, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 8, pages 429-476, Elsevier.
    38. Agliari, Anna & Rillosi, Francesco & Vachadze, George, 2015. "Credit market imperfection, financial market globalization, and catastrophic transition," Mathematics and Computers in Simulation (MATCOM), Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 41-62.
    39. Law, Siong Hook & Singh, Nirvikar, 2014. "Does too much finance harm economic growth?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 36-44.
    40. Anna Agliari & George Vachadze, 2011. "Homoclinic and Heteroclinic Bifurcations in an Overlapping Generations Model with Credit Market Imperfection," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 38(3), pages 241-260, October.
    41. Holmström, Bengt, 2013. "Inside and Outside Liquidity," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262518536, April.
    42. Thomas Piketty, 1997. "The Dynamics of the Wealth Distribution and the Interest Rate with Credit Rationing," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 64(2), pages 173-189.
    43. Alberto Cardaci & Francesco Saraceno, 2019. "Between Scylla And Charybdis: Income Distribution, Consumer Credit, And Business Cycles," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 57(2), pages 953-971, April.
    44. E. Philip Howrey, 2001. "The Predictive Power of the Index of Consumer Sentiment," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 32(1), pages 175-216.
    45. Robert B. Barsky & Eric R. Sims, 2012. "Information, Animal Spirits, and the Meaning of Innovations in Consumer Confidence," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(4), pages 1343-1377, June.
    46. Hassler, John & Storesletten, Kjetil & Zilibotti, Fabrizio, 2007. "Democratic public good provision," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 133(1), pages 127-151, March.
    47. Slottje, D J, 1987. "Relative Price Changes and Inequality in the Size Distribution of Various Components of Income: A Multidemensional Approach," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 5(1), pages 19-26, January.
    48. Tomoo Kikuchi & George Vachadze, 2018. "Minimum investment requirement, financial market imperfection and self-fulfilling belief," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 28(2), pages 305-332, April.
    49. Castaneda, Ana & Diaz-Gimenez, Javier & Rios-Rull, Jose-Victor, 1998. "Exploring the income distribution business cycle dynamics," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 93-130, June.
    50. Phelps, Edmund S, 1972. "The Statistical Theory of Racism and Sexism," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 62(4), pages 659-661, September.
    51. Agliari, Anna & Vachadze, George, 2014. "Credit market imperfection, labor supply complementarity, and output volatility," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 45-56.
    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. Vachadze, George, 2018. "Credit market imperfection, minimum investment requirement, and endogenous income inequality," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 62-79.
    2. Kiminori Matsuyama, 2008. "Aggregate Implications of Credit Market Imperfections," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 2007, Volume 22, pages 1-60, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Agliari, Anna & Vachadze, George, 2014. "Credit market imperfection, labor supply complementarity, and output volatility," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 45-56.
    4. Falilou Fall, 2005. "Endogenous persistent inequality," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-00196084, HAL.
    5. Dilip Mookherjee & Debraj Ray, 2003. "Persistent Inequality," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 70(2), pages 369-393.
    6. Piketty, Thomas, 2000. "Theories of persistent inequality and intergenerational mobility," Handbook of Income Distribution, in: A.B. Atkinson & F. Bourguignon (ed.), Handbook of Income Distribution, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 8, pages 429-476, Elsevier.
    7. Kim, Dong-Hyeon & Lin, Shu-Chin, 2023. "Income inequality, inflation and financial development," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 468-487.
    8. Andergassen, Rainer & Nardini, Franco, 2007. "Educational choice, endogenous inequality and economic development," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 940-958, December.
    9. Dilip Mookherjee & Debraj Ray, 2002. "Contractual Structure and Wealth Accumulation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(4), pages 818-849, September.
    10. Dilip Mookherjee & debraj Ray, 2005. "Occupational Diversity and Endogenous Inequality," Boston University - Department of Economics - The Institute for Economic Development Working Papers Series dp-142, Boston University - Department of Economics.
    11. Chakraborty, Shankha & Ray, Tridip, 2007. "The development and structure of financial systems," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 31(9), pages 2920-2956, September.
    12. Kim, Dong-Hyeon & Lin, Shu-Chin, 2011. "Nonlinearity in the financial developmentâincome inequality nexus," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 310-325, September.
    13. Tressel, Thierry, 2003. "Dual Financial Systems and Inequalities in Economic Development," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 8(2), pages 223-257, June.
    14. Das, Mausumi, 2007. "Persistent inequality: An explanation based on limited parental altruism," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(1), pages 251-270, September.
    15. Palagi, Elisa & Napoletano, Mauro & Roventini, Andrea & Gaffard, Jean-Luc, 2023. "An agent-based model of trickle-up growth and income inequality," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    16. Manuel Oechslin, 2009. "Creditor protection and the dynamics of the distribution in oligarchic societies," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 14(4), pages 313-344, December.
    17. Asli Demirgüç-Kunt & Ross Levine, 2009. "Finance and Inequality: Theory and Evidence," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 1(1), pages 287-318, November.
    18. Miguel Casares & Luca G. Deidda & Jose E. Galdon‐Sanchez, 2023. "On financial frictions and firm's market power," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 61(4), pages 982-1005, October.
    19. Azariadis, Costas & Stachurski, John, 2005. "Poverty Traps," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 5, Elsevier.
    20. Henry Ohlsson & Jesper Roine & Daniel Waldenstrom, 2006. "Long-Run Changes in the Concentration of Wealth: An Overview of Recent Findings," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2006-103, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Backward-bending labor supply curve; Counter-cyclical income inequality; Endogenous fluctuation; Financial development; Multiple equilibria; Self-fulfilling expectations;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • E44 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Financial Markets and the Macroeconomy
    • O11 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O16 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Financial Markets; Saving and Capital Investment; Corporate Finance and Governance

    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:spr:jeicoo:v:16:y:2021:i:3:d:10.1007_s11403-021-00321-w. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.