Template-type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: jovanovic, branimir
Author-Email: branimir.jovanovic@unito.it
Author-Workplace-Name: University of Turin
Author-Workplace-Homepage: http://www.est.unito.it/
Title: When is there a Kuznets curve?
Abstract: This paper investigates when is there a Kuznets curve, that is, under which conditions economic
growth is associated with a decline in income inequality. The analysis is done on a sample of 26
ex-socialist countries from Eastern Europe, during the post-socialist years. These countries had very
similar characteristics when socialism collapsed, but very di¤erent experiences with the transition
afterwards, which makes them a suitable group for analysing the relationship between GDP and in-
equality. We focus on four factors that may shape this relationship - labour market institutions, market
power of companies, social bene?ts and taxes. Findings suggest that inequality (before government re-
distribution) declines with economic growth when labour markets are more regulated, anti-monopoly
policy is more exective and taxes are higher. Taxes seem to be the single most important factor.
Length: 49 pages
Creation-Date: 2015-12
File-URL: http://www.est.unito.it/do/home.pl/Download?doc=/allegati/wp2015dip/wp_50_2015.pdf
File-Format: Application/PDF
Handle: RePEc:uto:dipeco:201550