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Status Aspirations, Wealth Inequality, and Economic Growth
Author(s) -
Stark Oded
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
review of development economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.531
H-Index - 50
eISSN - 1467-9361
pISSN - 1363-6669
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9361.2005.00309.x
Subject(s) - gini coefficient , economics , inequality , distribution of wealth , population , economic inequality , income inequality metrics , wealth distribution , measure (data warehouse) , demographic economics , labour economics , sociology , mathematics , demography , mathematical analysis , database , computer science
This paper argues that an increase in the inequality of wealth prompts a stronger quest for status that in turn fosters the accumulation of wealth. It proposes a measure for an individual's want of social status. For a given level of a population's wealth, the corresponding aggregate measure of want of social status is shown to be positively related to the Gini coefficient of wealth inequality. Hence, the Gini coefficient and growth are positively correlated, holding the population's wealth constant.