Econ Papers Daily / 期刊论文
认真对待库兹涅茨
Taking Kuznets seriously
摘要
Numerous studies have tested Kuznets’ hypothesis of a hump-shaped relationship between inequality and industrialization by regressing the Gini coefficient on the level and square of per capita income. Here, we examine Kuznets’ original idea that inequality first increases and then declines when workers move from agriculture to manufacturing. We collect sectoral wage and employment data for 17 advanced countries over the period 1800-2020 and compute the ‘Kuznets Gini’ as the Gini coefficient that results from changes in sectoral employment shares and the sectoral wage differential. We show the hump-shaped path of the Kuznets Gini and establish, in panel regressions, that inequality arising from sectoral migration has been an important determinant of overall income inequality.
中文摘要
众多研究通过将基尼系数对人均收入水平及其平方项进行回归，检验了库兹涅茨关于不平等与工业化之间呈驼峰形关系的假说。在此，我们考察库兹涅茨的原始构想，即当劳动力从农业向制造业转移时，不平等先上升后下降。我们收集了17个发达国家在1800年至2020年间的部门工资和就业数据，并计算“库兹涅茨基尼系数”，该系数源于部门就业份额变化及部门工资差异。我们展示了库兹涅茨基尼系数的驼峰形路径，并通过面板回归证实，由部门迁移产生的不平等一直是总体收入不平等的重要决定因素。