Status Aspirations, Wealth Inequality, and Economic Growth

Arbeitspapier

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.

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• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: ZEF Discussion Papers on Development Policy ; No. 95

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity: General ; Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement ; Sociology of Economics ; Personal Income, Wealth, and Their Distributions ; Relation of Economics to Social Values
• Subject: Quest for status ; Distribution of wealth ; Economic growth ; Vermögensverteilung ; Einkommensverteilung ; Sozialer Status ; Wirtschaftswachstum ; Theorie

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Stark, Oded
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): University of Bonn, Center for Development Research (ZEF)
• (where): Bonn
• (when): 2005

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/21851