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An investigation of the effects of income inequality on financial fragility: Evidence from Organization for Economic Co‐operation and Development countries
Author(s) -
Amountzias Chrysovalantis
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
international journal of finance and economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.505
H-Index - 39
eISSN - 1099-1158
pISSN - 1076-9307
DOI - 10.1002/ijfe.1660
Subject(s) - economics , financial fragility , economic inequality , financial sector development , debt , inequality , deregulation , monetary economics , comprehensive income , vector autoregression , financial system , macroeconomics , finance , financial crisis , financial sector , public economics , mathematical analysis , mathematics , tax reform , gross income , state income tax
Abstract The main scope of the paper is to investigate the proposition that rising income inequality results in systemic financial instability in developed countries. In particular, 33 OECD (Organization for Economic Co‐operation and Development) countries are studied in a panel Vector Autoregression (VAR) framework analysis over 1995–2015. There is a growing literature on the effects of income inequality on financial crises. This study provides significant evidence in favour of a positive relationship between income inequality and financial fragility, when particular factors are controlled for. Complementary findings also suggest that (a) debt accumulation in the private sector significantly depends on credit expansion, (b) the debt levels of the private sector and households co‐move over time, and (c) financial deregulation significantly contributes to financial instability. Therefore, policymakers should take into account regulatory reforms that will promote institutional and financial innovations to restrict debt accumulation and render the financial system more robust to destabilising shocks.