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Household debt and income inequality: Evidence from Italian survey data
Author(s) -
Loschiavo David
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
review of income and wealth
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.024
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1475-4991
pISSN - 0034-6586
DOI - 10.1111/roiw.12454
Subject(s) - economics , income inequality metrics , inequality , income distribution , economic inequality , household debt , survey data collection , distribution (mathematics) , household income , debt , income shares , demographic economics , labour economics , affect (linguistics) , macroeconomics , geography , mathematical analysis , statistics , mathematics , linguistics , philosophy , archaeology
Does regional income inequality affect a household’s likelihood of being indebted? This question is addressed by using survey data on Italian households. The analysis shows that inequality in the regional income distribution has a negative effect on the probability of being indebted. However, this effect is asymmetric across income groups: greater inequality increases (decreases) the share of indebted households that are at the top (bottom) of the income ladder. The study suggests that supply factors are more important than demand ones in explaining these results.