Persistence of High Income Inequality and Banking Crises: 1980-2010
CESifo, Munich, 2013
CESifo Working Paper No. 4293
![](https://cesifo.org/DocImg/cesifo1_wp4293.jpg?c=1689237123)
Differently from Atkinson and Morelli (2011) who detect no clear link between increases in income inequality and systemic banking crises, we show that a large majority of crises occurred between 1982 and 2008 have been preceded by persistently high levels of income inequality. Such association is robust when considering Gini values for incomes after-tax as well as before-tax and transfers. Moreover, we investigate the pattern of income inequality levels before and after a group of banking crises and the relative levels of income inequality in a large sample of OECD countries that did not experience banking crises between 1980 and 2010.
Fiscal Policy, Macroeconomics and Growth