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Education, economic growth and measured income inequality

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  • Rehme, Günther

Abstract

In this paper education simultaneously affects growth and income inequality. More education does not necessarily decrease inequality when the latter is assessed by the Lorenz dominance criterion. Increases in education first increase and then decrease growth as well as income inequality, when measured by the Gini coefficient. There is no clear functional relationship between growth and measured income inequality. The model identifies regimes of this relationship which depend crucially on the production and schooling technology. Conventional growth regressions with human capital and inequality as regressors may miss the richness of the underlying nonlinearities, but viewed as approximations may still provide important information on the nonlinear relationship between growth and education.

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  • Rehme, Günther, 2006. "Education, economic growth and measured income inequality," Darmstadt Discussion Papers in Economics 163, Darmstadt University of Technology, Department of Law and Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:darddp:dar_25519
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    13. D Mayston & J Yang, 2008. "A Pecking Order Analysis of Graduate Overeducation and Educational Investment in China," Discussion Papers 08/25, Department of Economics, University of York.
    14. Yu, Nannan & Yu, Bo & de Jong, Martin & Storm, Servaas, 2015. "Does inequality in educational attainment matter for China's economic growth?," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 164-173.
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    19. Maru?a Pescu (Beca) & Camelia ?tefan (Baraba?), 2016. "The Effects of Gaps and Disparities on Economic Growth. A Study of 10 Former Socialist Countries from the CEE, Members of the EU," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 18(43), pages 592-592, August.
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    21. Song, Yuegang & Paramati, Sudharshan Reddy & Ummalla, Mallesh & Zakari, Abdulrasheed & Kummitha, Harshavardhan Reddy, 2021. "The effect of remittances and FDI inflows on income distribution in developing economies," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 255-267.
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    23. David Mayston & Juan Yang, 2012. "Education, Risk and Efficiency in Human Capital Investment," Discussion Papers 12/15, Department of Economics, University of York.
    24. Paweł Kumor, 2010. "Zależność nierówności plac od poziomu rozwoju gospodarczego," Gospodarka Narodowa. The Polish Journal of Economics, Warsaw School of Economics, issue 7-8, pages 45-62.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Education; Growth; Inequality; Policy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O4 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity
    • I2 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education
    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • H2 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue

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