Desigualdad y crecimiento económico: ¿círculos viciosos o virtuosos?

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Ana Jesús López Menéndez
Universidade de Oviedo
España
Frank A. Cowell
London School of Economics and Political Science
Reino Unido
Vol. 22 (2013): Economía de la desigualdad, Extraordinario
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15304/rge.22.Extra.1386
Recibido: 10-09-2013 Aceptado: 10-09-2013
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Resumen

Las relaciones entre desigualdad y crecimiento económico han sido objeto de un amplio debate conceptual y empírico que se ha prolongado a lo largo del tiempo sin alcanzar un consenso. El efecto del crecimiento sobre la desigualdad fue estudiado por Kuznets (1955), cuya hipótesis postula que la desigualdad aumenta inicialmente con el crecimiento para posteriormente disminuir tras un punto de retorno. Este modelo de U-invertida fue extendido por Anand y Kanbur (1993), y su contraste empírico conduce a conclusiones dispares según la información, los indicadores y los métodos empleados. Con respecto al impacto de la desigualdad sobre el crecimiento, los trabajos de Lewis (1954) y Kaldor (1956) defienden la existencia de efectos positivos, mientras que los de Alesina y Rodrick (1994), Persson y Tabellini (1994) o Deininger y Squire (1998) postulan relaciones negativas. Dado que la diversidad de hipótesis y resultados empíricos impide obtener conclusiones sobre la existencia de círculos viciosos o virtuosos entre desigualdad y creci-miento, en este trabajo proporcionamos nueva evidencia incorporando al análisis la renta en un doble sen-tido: como criterio de clasificación de países y, desde una óptica socioeconómica, distinguiendo entre la desigualdad relativa a rentas bajas y altas.

Palabras clave:

Crecimiento, Desigualdad, Curva de Kuznets, Modelos de panel
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