IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/mse/wpsorb/bla04094.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

On the role of inequalities and public education expenditures in human capital investment: a theoretical approach

Author

Listed:
  • Mohamed Ben Mimoun

    (TEAM)

Abstract

We show in this paper that greater inequality in the distribution of wealth implies lower investment in higher education levels and lower aggregate income. Liquidity constraints and indivisibility in human capital investment result in the long-run in multiple equilibria with poverty traps. Although the heterogeneity in individual abilities allows economic mobility is not full: poor individuals with low abilities remain poor forever. The effect of the fiscal redistribution on the level of human capital investment is ambiguous unless for higher levels of income inequality where this effect is positive. Education funding policies however, are shown to be more efficient in enhancing human capital investment and rising interclass and intergenerational economic mobility

Suggested Citation

  • Mohamed Ben Mimoun, 2004. "On the role of inequalities and public education expenditures in human capital investment: a theoretical approach," Cahiers de la Maison des Sciences Economiques bla04094, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1).
    • Handle: RePEc:mse:wpsorb:bla04094
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: ftp://mse.univ-paris1.fr/pub/mse/cahiers2004/Bla04094.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:fth:prinin:366 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Robert A. Driskill & Andrew W. Horowitz, 2002. "Investment in Hierarchical Human Capital," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 6(1), pages 48-58, February.
    3. 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.
    4. Raquel Fernandez & Richard Rogerson, 2003. "Equity and Resources: An Analysis of Education Finance Systems," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 111(4), pages 858-897, August.
    5. David Card & Alan B. Krueger, 1996. "School Resources and Student Outcomes: An Overview of the Literature and New Evidence from North and South Carolina," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 10(4), pages 31-50, Fall.
    6. Clarke, George & Xu, Lixin Colin & Zou, Heng-fu, 2003. "Finance and income inequality : test of alternative theories," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2984, The World Bank.
    7. 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.
    8. Eric A. Hanushek, 1998. "Conclusions and controversies about the effectiveness of school resources," Economic Policy Review, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, vol. 4(Mar), pages 11-27.
    9. Glomm, Gerhard, 1997. "Parental choice of human capital investment," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 99-114, June.
    10. Li, Hongyi & Squire, Lyn & Zou, Heng-fu, 1998. "Explaining International and Intertemporal Variations in Income Inequality," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 108(446), pages 26-43, January.
    11. Roland Bénabou, 1996. "Equity and Efficiency in Human Capital Investment: The Local Connection," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 63(2), pages 237-264.
    12. Gerhard Glomm & Michael Kaganovich, 2003. "Distributional Effects of Public Education in an Economy with Public Pensions," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 44(3), pages 917-937, August.
    13. Chiu, W Henry, 1998. "Income Inequality, Human Capital Accumulation and Economic Performance," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 108(446), pages 44-59, January.
    14. Birdsall, N., 1999. "Education: The People's Asset," Papers 5, Brookings Institution - Working Papers.
    15. Glomm, Gerhard & Ravikumar, B, 1992. "Public versus Private Investment in Human Capital Endogenous Growth and Income Inequality," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 100(4), pages 818-834, August.
    16. Lucas, Robert Jr., 1988. "On the mechanics of economic development," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 3-42, 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. Rehme, Günther, 2002. "Education, Economic Growth and Personal Income Inequality Across (Rich) Countries," Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) 43476, Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL).
    2. Mohamed Ben Mimoun & Asma Raies, 2010. "Public Education Expenditures, Human Capital Investment And Intergenerational Mobility: A Two‐Stage Education Model," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(1), pages 31-57, January.
    3. 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.
    4. Mejia, Daniel & St-Pierre, Marc, 2008. "Unequal opportunities and human capital formation," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(2), pages 395-413, June.
    5. Catalina Gutiérrez & Ryuichi Tanaka, 2009. "Inequality and education decisions in developing countries," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 7(1), pages 55-81, March.
    6. Stephen J. Turnovsky, 2013. "The relationship between economic growth and inequality," New Zealand Economic Papers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(2), pages 113-139, August.
    7. Huw Lloyd-Ellis, 2003. "On the Impact of Inequality on Productivity Growth in the Short and Long Term: A Synthesis," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 29(s1), pages 65-86, January.
    8. Barthelemy, V. & Michel, P., 1999. "The Role of Education Supply in Economic Growth and the Dynamics of Skills," G.R.E.Q.A.M. 99a15, Universite Aix-Marseille III.
    9. Grossmann, Volker, 2008. "Risky human capital investment, income distribution, and macroeconomic dynamics," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 19-42, March.
    10. Jung, Samuel Moon & Vijverberg, Chu-Ping C., 2019. "Financial development and income inequality in China – A spatial data analysis," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 295-320.
    11. Koichi Futagami & Mitsuyoshi Yanagihara, 2008. "Private And Public Education: Human Capital Accumulation Under Parental Teaching," The Japanese Economic Review, Japanese Economic Association, vol. 59(3), pages 275-291, September.
    12. 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.
    13. 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.
    14. Kirill Borissov & Stefano Bosi & Thai Ha-Huy & Leonor Modesto, 2017. "Heterogeneous Human Capital, Inequality and Growth: The Role of Patience and Skills," EUSP Department of Economics Working Paper Series 2017/03, European University at St. Petersburg, Department of Economics.
    15. Zhicheng Liang, 2006. "Financial Development And Income Distribution: A System Gmm Panel Analysis With Application To Urban China," Journal of Economic Development, Chung-Ang Unviersity, Department of Economics, vol. 31(2), pages 1-21, December.
    16. Amparo Castelló-Climent, 2004. "A Reassessment Of The Relationship Between Inequality And Growth: What Human Capital Inequality Data Say?," Working Papers. Serie EC 2004-15, Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Económicas, S.A. (Ivie).
    17. Zhicheng Liang, 2006. "Financial Development and Income Inequality in Rural China 1991-2000," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2006-96, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    18. Acemoglu, Daron & Johnson, Simon & Robinson, James A., 2005. "Institutions as a Fundamental Cause of Long-Run Growth," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 6, pages 385-472, Elsevier.
    19. Falilou Fall, 2005. "Endogenous persistent inequality," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-00196084, HAL.
    20. Seven, Unal & Kilinc, Dilara & Coskun, Yener, 2017. "Does Credit Composition Have Asymmetric Effects on Income Inequality?," MPRA Paper 82104, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Wealth inequality; human capital; economic mobility; fiscal redistribution; public education expenditures;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H52 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Education
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I22 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Educational Finance; Financial Aid
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:mse:wpsorb:bla04094. 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: Lucie Label (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/msep1fr.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.