Does government spending affect income inequality? A meta-regression analysis

Anderson, Edward, Jalles D'Orey, Maria Ana, Duvendack, Maren ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8125-9115 and Esposito, Lucio (2017) Does government spending affect income inequality? A meta-regression analysis. Journal of Economic Surveys, 31 (4). 961–987. ISSN 0950-0804

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Abstract

In this paper findings of a meta-regression analysis are presented exploring the effects of government spending on income inequality, with a particular focus on low and middle income countries. We identify a total of 84 separate studies containing over 900 estimates of the effect of one or more measures of spending on one or more measures of income inequality. The results show some evidence of a moderate negative relationship between government spending and income inequality, which is strongest for social welfare and other social spending, and when using the Gini coefficient or the top income share as the measure of inequality. However, both the size and direction of the estimated relationship between government spending and income inequality is affected by a range of other factors, including the control variables and estimation method used. We also find evidence of publication bias, in that negative estimates of the relationship appear to be under-reported in the literature.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	income inequality,government spending,meta-regression,sdg 10 - reduced inequalities ,/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/reduced_inequalities
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Global Development (formerly School of International Development)
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Gender and Development Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Impact Evaluation Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Literacy and Development Group University of East Anglia Schools > Faculty of Science > Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research Faculty of Science > Research Centres > Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Behavioural and Experimental Development Economics
Depositing User:	Pure Connector
Date Deposited:	23 Sep 2016 23:57
Last Modified:	14 Jun 2023 12:36
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/59745
DOI:	10.1111/joes.12173

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