Education and Income Inequality: New Evidence From Cross‐Country Data

Abstract

This paper presents empirical evidence on how education is related to income distribution in a panel data set covering a broad range of countries for the period between 1960 and 1990. The findings indicate that educational factors-higher educational attainment and more equal distribution of education-play a significant role in making income distribution more equal. The results also confirm the Kuznets inverted-U curve for the relationship between income level and income inequality. We also find that government social expenditure contributes to more equal distribution of income. However, a significant proportion of cross-country variation in income inequality remains unexplained.

Direct versus Indirect Taxation: Trends, Theory, and Economic Significance

“…As education expands, income distribution may become more unequal, which is par ticularly important in countries with very low levels of education. However, as more people receive education, the return to education will generally decline, reducing income inequality (Schultz, 1960;Becker, 1964;Mincer, 1974;Knight and Sabot, 1983;and Gregorio and Lee, 2002). 50.…”

Inflation and Income Inequality

“…This process is considered to be strengthened by globalization, which forces skilled workers to compete with low-wage workers around the world putting downward pressure on wages (Schmitt, 2012), and by unequal access to increasingly important education (e.g. Gregorio, Lee, 2002).…”

The Expansion of Mass Education in Twentieth Century Latin America: A Global Comparative Perspective

“…The authors argue that several LACs such as Argentina, Chile and Uruguay obtained equal or even considerably higher attainment levels in the 1990s than many of the East Asian and European development successes such as Singapore, Portugal or Spain. Hence, Cole et al argue that,10 See for comparative analyses of educational inequality for instance Ram (1990); Lopez, Thomas and Wang (1998); Hanushek and Kimko (2000); Castello and Domenech (2002); Gregorio and Lee (2002); Thomas, Wang and Fan (2001); Sahn and Younger (2004).…”