Organização: Direção da Faculdade de Economia e Gestão
Dinamização: Pedro Neves
Abstract
The empirical literature on the impact of inequality on growth has produced controversial results regarding its direction and magnitude. This paper develops a meta-analysis on this literature on an attempt to systematize and explain the diversity in studies' results. We find that most of the heterogeneity is due to differences in studies' methodological characteristics, such as data structure, sample coverage, income definition, estimation technique, and type of inequality. These results suggest that there in not one but several underlying effects of inequality on growth, which operate through different mechanisms. We also find traces of publication bias, as authors/journals are more willing to report/publish statistically significant findings and studies' results tend to follow a predictable time pattern.
