IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/81127.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Inequality and Growth in Tunisia: Empirical evidence on the role of macroeconomic factors

Author

Listed:
  • Mbazia, Nadia

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationships between income inequality, economic growth and the main macroeconomic factors in Tunisia. We investigate two effects: the effect of inequality on growth, and particularly, the effect of growth on inequality. Also, attention has been focused on the role of the monetary policy, via introducing money supply as an independent variable, in affecting inequality and growth. Our empirical study is based on a series of annual data from 1975 to 2015 using the Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares (DOLS) method in order to estimate the cointegrating equations. The findings of the paper show that income inequality increase economic growth in Tunisia. Other factors having significant positive effect on economic growth include money supply and life expectancy at birth. However, inflation rate, primary education and unemployment have statistically significant and negative effect on economic growth. On the other hand, the results indicate that money supply, inflation rate, unemployment and savings are positively and significantly related to income inequality, whereas, life expectancy at birth and gross fixed capital formation decrease inequality in Tunisia. The policy implications of these results are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Mbazia, Nadia, 2017. "Inequality and Growth in Tunisia: Empirical evidence on the role of macroeconomic factors," MPRA Paper 81127, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:81127
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/81127/1/MPRA_paper_81127.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Faouzi SBOUI, 2012. "Effects Of Growth And Inequality," Region et Developpement, Region et Developpement, LEAD, Universite du Sud - Toulon Var, vol. 35, pages 57-80.
    2. Ravallion, Martin, 1997. "Can high-inequality developing countries escape absolute poverty?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 56(1), pages 51-57, September.
    3. Evelyn Nwamaka Osaretin Ogbeide & David Onyinyechi Agu, 2015. "Poverty and Income Inequality in Nigeria: Any Causality?," Asian Economic and Financial Review, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 5(3), pages 439-452, March.
    4. Virginia Maestri & Andrea Roventini, 2012. "Inequality and Macroeconomic Factors: A Time-Series Analysis for a Set of OECD Countries," Working Papers 34/2012, University of Verona, Department of Economics.
    5. Granger, C. W. J., 1988. "Some recent development in a concept of causality," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 39(1-2), pages 199-211.
    6. Simon C. Parker, 1999. "Income Inequality and the Business Cycle: A Survey of the Evidence and Some New Results," Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, M.E. Sharpe, Inc., vol. 21(2), pages 201-225, January.
    7. Barro, Robert J, 2000. "Inequality and Growth in a Panel of Countries," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 5(1), pages 5-32, March.
    8. Francois Bourguignon, 2004. "The Poverty-growth-inequality triangle," Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, New Delhi Working Papers 125, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, New Delhi, India.
    9. Evelyn Nwamaka Osaretin Ogbeide & David Onyinyechi Agu, 2015. "Poverty and Income Inequality in Nigeria: Any Causality?," Asian Economic and Financial Review, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 5(3), pages 439-452.
    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. Ademola Obafemi Young, 2019. "Growth Impacts of Income Inequality: Empirical Evidence From Nigeria," Research in World Economy, Research in World Economy, Sciedu Press, vol. 10(3), pages 226-262, December.
    2. Hasna Khemili & Mounir Belloumi, 2018. "Cointegration Relationship between Growth, Inequality and Poverty In Tunisia," International Journal of Applied Economics, Finance and Accounting, Online Academic Press, vol. 2(1), pages 8-18.
    3. Francisco J. Beltran Tapia & Julio Martinez-Galarrage, 2015. "Inequality and poverty in a developing economy: Evidence from regional data (Spain, 1860-1930)," Working Papers 0078, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    4. Batuo E. Michael & George Kararach & Issam Malki, 2021. "Working Paper 353 - Inequality and the role of macroeconomic and institutional forces in Africa," Working Paper Series 2479, African Development Bank.
    5. Batuo, Michael E. & Kararach, George & Malki, Issam, 2022. "The dynamics of income inequality in Africa: An empirical investigation on the role of macroeconomic and institutional forces," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    6. Kashif Islam & Ahmad Raza Bilal & Syed Anees Haider Zaidi, 2022. "Symmetric and asymmetric nexus between economic freedom and stock market development in Pakistan," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 55(4), pages 2391-2421, November.
    7. Marinela ISTRATE & Raluca Ioana HOREA-ȘERBAN, 2018. "The dynamics of poverty and its consequences on regional inequalities in Romania," Eastern Journal of European Studies, Centre for European Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, vol. 9, pages 63-86, June.
    8. MacDonald, Ronald & Majeed, Muhammad Tariq, 2010. "Distributional and Poverty Consequences of Globalization: A Dynamic Comparative Analysis for Developing Countries," SIRE Discussion Papers 2010-62, Scottish Institute for Research in Economics (SIRE).
    9. Aart Kraay, 2004. "When is Growth Pro-Poor? Cross-Country Evidence," IMF Working Papers 2004/047, International Monetary Fund.
    10. Piotr Paradowski & Joanna Wolszczak-Derlacz & Eva Sierminska, 2020. "Inequality, Poverty and Child Benefits: Evidence from a Natural Experiment," LIS Working papers 799, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    11. Humberto López & Luis Servén, 2015. "Too Poor to Grow," Central Banking, Analysis, and Economic Policies Book Series, in: Ricardo J. Caballero & Klaus Schmidt-Hebbel (ed.),Economic Policies in Emerging-Market Economies Festschrift in Honor of Vittorio Corbo, edition 1, volume 21, chapter 13, pages 309-350, Central Bank of Chile.
    12. Mager, Gregor & Faße, Anja, 2021. "The Contribution of Smallholders´ Livelihood Activities on Income Inequality and Poverty: Case Study from Rural Tanzania," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315405, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    13. 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.
    14. Bucevska Vesna, 2019. "Determinants of Income Inequality in EU Candidate Countries: A Panel Analysis," Economic Themes, Sciendo, vol. 57(4), pages 397-413, December.
    15. N'Yilimon Nantob, 2015. "Income Inequality and Inflation in Developing Countries: An Empirical Investigation," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 35(4), pages 2888-2902.
    16. Iniguez-Montiel, Alberto Javier, 2014. "Growth with Equity for the Development of Mexico: Poverty, Inequality, and Economic Growth (1992–2008)," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 313-326.
    17. Dierk Herzer, 2017. "The Long-run Relationship Between Trade and Population Health: Evidence from Five Decades," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(2), pages 462-487, February.
    18. Sabyasachi Tripathi, 2013. "Is Urban Economic Growth Inclusive in India?," Margin: The Journal of Applied Economic Research, National Council of Applied Economic Research, vol. 7(4), pages 507-539, November.
    19. Dian Wahyuningsih & Ani Yunaningsih & Muhammad Sidik Priadana & Dio Caisar Darma & Purwadi Purwadi, 2020. "Why are Unemployment and Poverty Still Happening in Borneo Island, Indonesia?," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 10(2), pages 235-241.
    20. Ravallion, Martin, 2003. "Targeted transfers in poor countries : revisiting the tradeoffs and policy options," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3048, The World Bank.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Income Inequality; Economic Growth; Tunisia; Money Supply; Education; Unemployment; Health;
    All these keywords.

    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
    • E52 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Monetary Policy
    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • O2 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Development Planning and Policy

    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:pra:mprapa:81127. 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: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.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.