Laura De Dominicis, Faculty of Economics, Tor Vergata University of Rome, Italy and Department of Spatial Economics, Free University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, G. d'Annunzio University of Pescara, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Henri L.F. De Groot, Dept. of Spatial Economics, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Raymond J.G.M. Florax, Dept. of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University
Dept. of Spatial Economics, Free University , Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Growth and Inequality - a Meta-Analysis (assigned to theme
In recent years, the debate about the relationship between Inequality and Growth has been at the centre of an active discussion among researchers. Both theoretical and empirical approaches have produced controversial and unstable results. Although there is a considerable part of the literature which considers inequality detrimental for the development of an economy, more recent studies pointed out that the presence of disparities within a country can be at the base of the subsequent growth. Which of the two approaches is capturing the real impact of inequality on growth is still an open issue. In our study we aim at providing a new contribution to the debate by using meta-analytical techniques. We have constructed a database containing 240 observations on the effect of inequality on economic growth, as captured by the Gini coefficient. To correct for the presence of multiple measurement from the same study, we make use of hierarchical linear models, widely used in meta-analysis in the field of medicine, but less common in economics.
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