In most OECD countries, the gap between rich and poor is at its highest level since 30 years. Today, the richest 10 per cent of the population in the OECD area earn 9.5 times the income of the poorest 10 per cent; in the 1980s this ratio stood at 7:1 and has been rising continuously ever since....

Countries undergoing economic transition in the early 1990s faced enormous challenges in the process of shifting from a centrally-planned economic system toward a market-based economy. During the transition period, large state sectors of the former Socialist countries in the Eastern bloc...

In modern societies, employment has not only economic functions, such as income creation, but also social functions, such as alleviating inequality or enhancing social stability (high unemployment threatens social stability). Since utilities stemming from the social functions of employment...

Evidence from a current panel of harmonized worldwide data highlights a robust negative effect of income inequality on economic growth that we trace back to its transmission channels. Less equal societies tend to have less educated populations and higher fertility rates, but not necessarily...

Recently, some influential empirical studies found evidence in favour of a negative relationship between income inequality and economic growth, implying the conclusion that inequality reducing policies will foster economic growth. The studies have in common that they all rely on the System GMM...

The relationship between income inequality and economic growth is complex. Some inequality is integral to the effective functioning of a market economy and the incentives needed for investment and growth. But inequality can also be destructive to growth, for example by amplifying the risk of...

Recently, some influential empirical studies found evidence in favor of a negative relationship between income inequality and economic growth, implying the conclusion that inequality reducing policies will foster economic growth. The studies have in common that they all rely on the System GMM...

Evidence from a current panel of harmonized worldwide data highlights a robust negative effect of income inequality on economic growth that we trace back to its transmission channels. Less equal societies tend to have less educated populations and higher fertility rates, but not necessarily...

Recently, some influential empirical studies found evidence in favour of a negative relationship between income inequality and economic growth, implying the conclusion that inequality reducing policies will foster economic growth. The studies have in common that they all rely on the System GMM...

Widespread increases in inequality over the past three decades have raised the question of the distribution of the growth dividends. This paper finds that there is no single answer to this question. The mechanisms that link growth and income inequality are found to differ depending on the...