TY - JOUR
T1 - Inequality and sustainable development: Insights from an analysis of the human development index
AU - Castells-Quintana, David
AU - Royuela, Vicente
N1 - We are very grateful for helpful comments by Raul Ramos, Jose Maria Larru, and two anonymous reviewers. We also thank comments received at the UB PhD workshop, 2016 and at the XXth Encuentros de Economía Aplicada, 2017. We also acknowledge the support of ECO2016-75805-R and ECO2016-76855-P.
PY - 2019/1
Y1 - 2019/1
N2 - In this paper, we connect two lines of research in the development economics literature: the analysis of the effect and transmission channels of inequality on economic development and the discussion about the necessity for a broader measure for development. We estimate the association between income inequality and the Human Development Index and its components in a panel of 117 countries over the period of 1970 to 2010. In doing so, we find evidence for (a) a negative long-run association between inequality and human development and (b) different short-run associations between inequality and different dimensions of human development: a positive one with economic development but a negative one with educational outcomes, hinting at particular transmission channels. In addition, we detect (c) that those associations can be even more pronounced in countries with low levels of development, reconciling seemingly conflicting findings in the literature.
AB - In this paper, we connect two lines of research in the development economics literature: the analysis of the effect and transmission channels of inequality on economic development and the discussion about the necessity for a broader measure for development. We estimate the association between income inequality and the Human Development Index and its components in a panel of 117 countries over the period of 1970 to 2010. In doing so, we find evidence for (a) a negative long-run association between inequality and human development and (b) different short-run associations between inequality and different dimensions of human development: a positive one with economic development but a negative one with educational outcomes, hinting at particular transmission channels. In addition, we detect (c) that those associations can be even more pronounced in countries with low levels of development, reconciling seemingly conflicting findings in the literature.
KW - economic growth
KW - Human Development Index
KW - inequality
KW - sustainable development
UR - http://www.mendeley.com/research/inequality-sustainable-development-insights-analysis-human-development-index
U2 - 10.1002/sd.1917
DO - 10.1002/sd.1917
M3 - Article
SN - 0968-0802
VL - 27
SP - 448
EP - 460
JO - Sustainable Development
JF - Sustainable Development
IS - 3
ER -
