Structural transformation, income inequality and government expenditure: evidence from international panel data

In the past few decades, several developing countries have experienced a notable increase in income inequality along the path of economic development. Widening income inequality has been accompanied by growing demand for redistributive policy measures. The purpose of this paper is to examine the gov...

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Main Author: Wannaphong Durongkaveroj
Format: Article
Language:en
Published: Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2022
Online Access:http://journalarticle.ukm.my/21387/1/Structural%20Transformation%2C%20Income%20Inequality%20and%20Government%20Expenditure.pdf
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/21387/
https://ejournals.ukm.my/jem/
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author Wannaphong Durongkaveroj,
author_facet Wannaphong Durongkaveroj,
author_sort Wannaphong Durongkaveroj,
building Tun Sri Lanang Library
collection Institutional Repository
content_provider Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
content_source UKM Journal Article Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
description In the past few decades, several developing countries have experienced a notable increase in income inequality along the path of economic development. Widening income inequality has been accompanied by growing demand for redistributive policy measures. The purpose of this paper is to examine the government spending and income inequality nexus in the context of structural transformation using an international panel data set covering 51 countries over the period 1990 to 2018 and an analytical framework that draws on Kuznets (1955). The system GMM estimates show that an expansion of government expenditure first generates rising income inequality but falling at the later stage, suggesting an inverted U-shaped relationship. Compared to developed nations, this inequality-reducing effect of government expenditure is more pronounced in developing countries. In addition, the relationship also varies by specific types of government expenditure and sample composition. For instance, inequality–reducing effect of government spending in Asian countries is only limited to health expenditure, indicating that the redistributive impacts of government expenditure may partly depend on the extent to which the primary beneficiaries of such spending are low-income people.
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institution Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
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spelling my-ukm.journal.213872023-03-27T00:29:19Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/21387/ Structural transformation, income inequality and government expenditure: evidence from international panel data Wannaphong Durongkaveroj, In the past few decades, several developing countries have experienced a notable increase in income inequality along the path of economic development. Widening income inequality has been accompanied by growing demand for redistributive policy measures. The purpose of this paper is to examine the government spending and income inequality nexus in the context of structural transformation using an international panel data set covering 51 countries over the period 1990 to 2018 and an analytical framework that draws on Kuznets (1955). The system GMM estimates show that an expansion of government expenditure first generates rising income inequality but falling at the later stage, suggesting an inverted U-shaped relationship. Compared to developed nations, this inequality-reducing effect of government expenditure is more pronounced in developing countries. In addition, the relationship also varies by specific types of government expenditure and sample composition. For instance, inequality–reducing effect of government spending in Asian countries is only limited to health expenditure, indicating that the redistributive impacts of government expenditure may partly depend on the extent to which the primary beneficiaries of such spending are low-income people. Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2022 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/21387/1/Structural%20Transformation%2C%20Income%20Inequality%20and%20Government%20Expenditure.pdf Wannaphong Durongkaveroj, (2022) Structural transformation, income inequality and government expenditure: evidence from international panel data. Jurnal Ekonomi Malaysia, 56 (3). pp. 29-44. ISSN 0127-1962 https://ejournals.ukm.my/jem/
spellingShingle Wannaphong Durongkaveroj,
Structural transformation, income inequality and government expenditure: evidence from international panel data
title Structural transformation, income inequality and government expenditure: evidence from international panel data
title_full Structural transformation, income inequality and government expenditure: evidence from international panel data
title_fullStr Structural transformation, income inequality and government expenditure: evidence from international panel data
title_full_unstemmed Structural transformation, income inequality and government expenditure: evidence from international panel data
title_short Structural transformation, income inequality and government expenditure: evidence from international panel data
title_sort structural transformation, income inequality and government expenditure: evidence from international panel data
url http://journalarticle.ukm.my/21387/1/Structural%20Transformation%2C%20Income%20Inequality%20and%20Government%20Expenditure.pdf
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/21387/
https://ejournals.ukm.my/jem/
url_provider http://journalarticle.ukm.my/