Distribuição Funcional da Renda e Crescimento Econômico: uma Síntese da Literatura Empírica

This paper aims to expose and present a collection of some of the major empirical evidences reported by the Bhaduri-Marglin distribution and growth literature. Furthermore, some of the critical aspects of this literature are probed, namely, the recurrent empirical regularities, the distinct econometric methodologies employed and the difficulties faced by said literature. First, an arrangement of the results produced by a portion of this literature, referred to as the single equation literature and characterized by the use of single equation econometric methods, is presented and discussed. In this perspective, it is possible to observe an evidential trend towards the wage-led nature of economic growth. These conclusions change slightly in favor of the profit-led alignment, once elements of trade are introduced. However, this switch is not enough to overturn the wage-led predominance of results. Meanwhile, the multiple equation portion of the literature, so named since it employs multiple equation econometric approaches, rose out of the need to tackle potential endogeneity issues not accounted for by the single equation studies. In this scope, evidential results are still scarce, given that multiple equation models are defined by their complexity in application. On the other hand, reported results of multiple equation studies do not reinforce the unequivocal wage-led trend detected by the single equation literature.