Milanovic, Branko, (2016), “Introducing Kuznets waves: How income inequality waxes and wanes over the very long run“, Voxeu, 24 February.
The Kuznets curve was widely used to describe the relationship between growth and inequality over the second half of the 20th century, but it has fallen out of favour in recent decades. This column suggests that the current upswing in inequality can be viewed as a second Kuznets curve. It is driven, like the first, by technological progress, inter-sectoral reallocation of labour, globalisation, and policy. The author argues that the US has still not reached the peak of inequality in this second Kuznets wave of the modern era.
Relevant Posts
- Bengtsson, Erik, Waldenström, Daniel, (2015), “Capital shares and income inequality: Evidence from the long run”, Centre for Economic Policy Research, December.
- Alfani, Guido, Ryckbosch, Wouter, (2015), “Income inequality in pre-industrial Europe”, Voxeu, 6 November.