IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/tcu/wpaper/201202.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

A Modern Theory of Kuznets’ Hypothesis

Author

Listed:
  • Maria Sarigiannidou

    (Department of Economics, Texas Christian University)

  • Theodore Palivos

    (Department of Economics, University of Macedonia)

Abstract

The Kuznets hypothesis The character of evolution of the distribution of income along an economy’s development process has been a theme with a long history in economic enquiry. The literature starts with the classic contribution of Simon Kuznets (1955), who was the first to identify economic growth as a determinant cause of long term changes in the distribution of income. Establishing his proposition on data from the time of industrialization of currently advanced nations, Kuznets (1955) initiated the idea that the inequality characterizing income distribution exhibits a non-monotonic trend along the process of economic development: it appears to widen during a society’s transition from a pre-industrial to an industrial system, it remains stable for a while and narrows as more mature stages of growth are reached.1This systematic evolution of income distribution along a country’s development path became known as the Kuznets Curve –an inverted U-shape relationship between income per capita and personal income inequality.

Suggested Citation

  • Maria Sarigiannidou & Theodore Palivos, 2012. "A Modern Theory of Kuznets’ Hypothesis," Working Papers 201202, Texas Christian University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:tcu:wpaper:201202
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.econ.tcu.edu/RePEc/tcu/wpaper/wp12-02.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2012
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pagano, Marco & Jappelli, Tullio, 1993. "Information Sharing in Credit Markets," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 48(5), pages 1693-1718, December.
    2. De Gregorio, Jose & Kim, Se-Jik, 2000. "Credit Markets with Differences in Abilities: Education, Distribution, and Growth," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 41(3), pages 579-607, August.
    3. Ljungqvist, Lars, 1993. "Economic underdevelopment : The case of a missing market for human capital," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 219-239, April.
    4. Ahluwalia, Montek S. & Carter, Nicholas G. & Chenery, Hollis B., 1979. "Growth and poverty in developing countries," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 6(3), pages 299-341, August.
    5. Hendricks, Lutz, "undated". "Taxation and Long-Run Growth," Working Papers 96/2, Arizona State University, Department of Economics.
    6. Benabou, R., 1992. "Heterogeneity, Stratification, and Growth," Working papers 93-4, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Department of Economics.
    7. Chamley, Christophe, 1993. "Externalities and Dynamics in Models of "Learning or Doing."," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 34(3), pages 583-609, August.
    8. David Andolfatto & Martin Gervais, 2006. "Human Capital Investment and Debt Constraints," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 9(1), pages 52-67, January.
    9. Benhabib Jess & Perli Roberto, 1994. "Uniqueness and Indeterminacy: On the Dynamics of Endogenous Growth," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 63(1), pages 113-142, June.
    10. Hendricks, Lutz, 1999. "Taxation and long-run growth1," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 411-434, April.
    11. 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.
    12. Djankov, Simeon & McLiesh, Caralee & Shleifer, Andrei, 2007. "Private credit in 129 countries," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(2), pages 299-329, May.
    13. De Gregorio, Jose, 1996. "Borrowing constraints, human capital accumulation, and growth," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 49-71, February.
    14. Benabou, Roland, 1996. "Heterogeneity, Stratification, and Growth: Macroeconomic Implications of Community Structure and School Finance," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(3), pages 584-609, June.
    15. Gary S. Becker & Nigel Tomes, 1994. "Human Capital and the Rise and Fall of Families," NBER Chapters, in: Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis with Special Reference to Education, Third Edition, pages 257-298, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Behrman, Jere R & Pollak, Robert A & Taubman, Paul, 1989. "Family Resources, Family Size, and Access to Financing for College Education," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 97(2), pages 398-419, April.
    17. 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.
    18. Roland Benabou, 2002. "Tax and Education Policy in a Heterogeneous-Agent Economy: What Levels of Redistribution Maximize Growth and Efficiency?," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 70(2), pages 481-517, March.
    19. Jappelli, Tullio & Pagano, Marco, 2002. "Information sharing, lending and defaults: Cross-country evidence," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 26(10), pages 2017-2045, October.
    20. Tamura, Robert, 1991. "Income Convergence in an Endogenous Growth Model," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(3), pages 522-540, June.
    21. David Croix & Philippe Michel, 2007. "Education and growth with endogenous debt constraints," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 33(3), pages 509-530, December.
    22. Eaton, Jonathan & Rosen, Harvey S, 1980. "Taxation, Human Capital, and Uncertainty," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 70(4), pages 705-715, September.
    23. Ahluwalia, Montek S, 1976. "Income Distribution and Development: Some Stylized Facts," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 66(2), pages 128-135, May.
    24. Rebelo, Sergio, 1991. "Long-Run Policy Analysis and Long-Run Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(3), pages 500-521, June.
    25. Adelman, Irma & Robinson, Sherman, 1989. "Income distribution and development," Handbook of Development Economics, in: Hollis Chenery & T.N. Srinivasan (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 19, pages 949-1003, Elsevier.
    26. Bacha, Edmar L., 1979. "Notes on the Brazilian experience with minidevaluations, 1968-1976," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 6(4), pages 463-481, November.
    27. Bovenberg, A. Lans & van Ewijk, Casper, 1997. "Progressive taxes, equity, and human capital accumulation in an endogenous growth model with overlapping generations," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(2), pages 153-179, May.
    28. Schechtman, Jack & Escudero, Vera L. S., 1977. "Some results on "an income fluctuation problem"," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 151-166, December.
    29. Levine, Ross, 1992. "Financial intermediary services and growth," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 6(4), pages 383-405, December.
    30. Barro, Robert J, 2000. "Inequality and Growth in a Panel of Countries," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 5(1), pages 5-32, March.
    31. Mino, Kazuo, 1996. "Analysis of a Two-Sector Model of Endogenous Growth with Capital Income Taxation," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 37(1), pages 227-251, February.
    32. Bourguignon, F. & Morrisson, C., 1990. "Income distribution, development and foreign trade : A cross-sectional analysis," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(6), pages 1113-1132, September.
    33. John Fender & Ping Wang, 2003. "Educational Policy in a Credit Constrained Economy with Skill Heterogeneity," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 44(3), pages 939-964, August.
    34. Chatterjee, Satyajit & Ravikumar, B., 1999. "Minimum Consumption Requirements: Theoretical And Quantitative Implications For Growth And Distribution," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 3(4), pages 482-505, December.
    35. Anand, Sudhir & Kanbur, S. M. R., 1993. "The Kuznets process and the inequality--development relationship," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 25-52, February.
    36. Theodore Palivos & Chong K. Yip, 2007. "Illegal Immigration in a Heterogeneous Society," Discussion Paper Series 2007_02, Department of Economics, University of Macedonia, revised Dec 2007.
    37. Nancy L. Stokey, 1991. "Human Capital, Product Quality, and Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(2), pages 587-616.
    38. Costas Azariadis & Luisa Lambertini, 2003. "Endogenous Debt Constraints in Lifecycle Economies," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 70(3), pages 461-487.
    39. Levhari, David & Weiss, Yoram, 1974. "The Effect of Risk on the Investment in Human Capital," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 64(6), pages 950-963, December.
    40. Philip Bond & Arvind Krishnamurthy, 2004. "Regulating Exclusion from Financial Markets," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 71(3), pages 681-707.
    41. Jonathan Eaton & Mark Gersovitz, 1981. "Debt with Potential Repudiation: Theoretical and Empirical Analysis," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 48(2), pages 289-309.
    42. Papanek, Gustav F. & Kyn, Oldrich, 1986. "The effect on income distribution of development, the growth rate and economic strategy," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 55-65, September.
    43. Snow, Arthur & Warren, Ronald S, Jr, 1990. "Human Capital Investment and Labor Supply under Uncertainty," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 31(1), pages 195-206, February.
    44. Paola Sapienza, 2002. "The Effects of Banking Mergers on Loan Contracts," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(1), pages 329-367, February.
    45. Ahluwalia, Montek S., 1976. "Inequality, poverty and development," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 307-342, December.
    46. Zeira, Joseph, 1991. "Credit Rationing in an Open Economy," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 32(4), pages 959-972, November.
    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. Bhattacharya, Joydeep & Qiao, Xue & Wang, Min, 2016. "Endogenous Borrowing Constraints And Wealth Inequality," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(6), pages 1413-1431, September.

    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. Yakita, Akira, 2003. "Taxation and growth with overlapping generations," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(3-4), pages 467-487, March.
    2. Grossmann, Volker, 2008. "Risky human capital investment, income distribution, and macroeconomic dynamics," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 19-42, March.
    3. Bourguignon, Francois, 2005. "The Effect of Economic Growth on Social Structures," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 27, pages 1701-1747, Elsevier.
    4. Bertola, Giuseppe, 2000. "Macroeconomics of distribution and growth," Handbook of Income Distribution, in: A.B. Atkinson & F. Bourguignon (ed.), Handbook of Income Distribution, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 9, pages 477-540, Elsevier.
    5. Chaitali Sinha, 2014. "Human Capital and Public Policy," South Asian Journal of Macroeconomics and Public Finance, , vol. 3(1), pages 79-125, June.
    6. Andrés Rodríguez-Pose & Vassilis Tselios, 2010. "Inequalities in income and education and regional economic growth in western Europe," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 44(2), pages 349-375, April.
    7. Wei Zou & Yong Liu, 2010. "Skilled Labor, Economic Transition and Income Differences: A Dynamic Approach," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 11(2), pages 247-275, November.
    8. Joël Hellier & Stéphane Lambrecht, 2013. "Inequality, Growth and Welfare: The Main Links," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Joël Hellier & Nathalie Chusseau (ed.), Growing Income Inequalities, chapter 9, pages 274-311, Palgrave Macmillan.
    9. 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.
    10. Markus Brueckner & Era Dabla Norris & Mark Gradstein, 2015. "National income and its distribution," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 149-175, June.
    11. Getachew, Yoseph Yilma, 2016. "Credit constraints, growth and inequality dynamics," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 364-376.
    12. Martin Baur, 2010. "Politics and Income Distribution," Chapters, in: Neri Salvadori (ed.), Institutional and Social Dynamics of Growth and Distribution, chapter 3, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    13. Kanbur, Ravi, 2000. "Income distribution and development," Handbook of Income Distribution, in: A.B. Atkinson & F. Bourguignon (ed.), Handbook of Income Distribution, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 13, pages 791-841, Elsevier.
    14. Matsuoka, Tarishi & Naito, Katsuyuki & Nishida, Keigo, 2019. "The Politics Of Financial Development And Capital Accumulation," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 23(1), pages 358-383, January.
    15. Ayal Kimhi, 2004. "Growth, Inequality and Labor Markets in LDCs: A Survey," CESifo Working Paper Series 1281, CESifo.
    16. Martin Ravallion, 2013. "The Idea of Antipoverty Policy," NBER Working Papers 19210, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Denis Cogneau & Charlotte Guénard, 2002. "Les inégalités et la croissance : une relation introuvable," Working Papers DT/2002/03, DIAL (Développement, Institutions et Mondialisation).
    18. Akyol, Ahmet & Athreya, Kartik, 2005. "Risky higher education and subsidies," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 29(6), pages 979-1023, June.
    19. Erasmo Papagni, 2008. "The Long-run Effects of Household Liquidity Constraints and Taxation on Fertility, Education, Saving, and Growth," Discussion Papers 11_2008, D.E.S. (Department of Economic Studies), University of Naples "Parthenope", Italy.
    20. Simone Valente, 2005. "Tax Policy and Human Capital Formation with Public Investment in Education," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 86(3), pages 229-258, December.

    More about this item

    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:tcu:wpaper:201202. 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: John Harvey (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/detcuus.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.