## Income Inequality and Redistributive Government Spending

_IMF Working Papers, January 1, 2003_

## Source details

**Canonical URL:** [Income Inequality and Redistributive Government Spending](https://www.imf.org/en/publications/wp/issues/2016/12/30/income-inequality-and-redistributive-government-spending-16261)

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## Bibliographic details
- Published: January 1, 2003
- Series: IMF Working Papers
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9781451843149.001

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### Research question and scope
- Examines empirically whether more unequal societies spend more on income redistribution than more egalitarian counterparts.
- Theoretical arguments are inconclusive.
- Data sources: cross-country evidence based on different data sources (details in full paper).
- Publication date: January 1, 2003.
- Pages: 25.

### Theoretical perspectives reviewed
- Political economy argument: redistributive spending is higher in unequal societies due to median voter preferences.
- Alternative argument: unequal societies may spend less on redistribution because of capital market imperfections.

### Main findings and evidence
- Cross-country evidence reported in this paper suggests that more unequal societies do spend less on redistribution.
- Exact phrasing from the paper: "Based on different data sources, the cross-country evidence reported in this paper suggests that more unequal societies do spend less on redistribution."

### Subjects and keywords
- Subject: Expenditure, Income distribution, Income inequality, National accounts, Personal income
- Keywords: after-tax income, Asia and Pacific, capital deepening, East Asia, factor income, GDP, Gini coefficient, government spending, growth equation, income, Income distribution, income distribution indicator, Income inequality, income share, inequality data, inequality indicator, inequality-redistribution hypothesis, low-inequality country, parameter estimate, Personal income, redistributive spending, spending, WP

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_Source: https://www.imf.org/en/publications/wp/issues/2016/12/30/income-inequality-and-redistributive-government-spending-16261_