Sharing the Growth Dividend: Analysis of Inequality in Asia
IMF Working Papers, March 4, 2016
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Bibliographic details
- Authors: Sonali Jain-Chandra, Tidiane Kinda, Kalpana Kochhar, Shi Piao, Johanna Schauer
- Published: March 4, 2016
- Series: IMF Working Papers
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9781513546544.001
Summary findings
- Income inequality has risen in most of Asia, in contrast to many regions.
- Historically, rapid growth in Asia came with equitable distribution of gains; more recently, fast-growing Asian economies have not replicated the “growth with equity” miracle.
- There is a growing consensus that high levels of inequality can hamper the pace and sustainability of growth.
- Policies could have a substantial effect on reversing the trend of rising inequality.
Major drivers and focus areas
- Inequality of opportunities is a central concern; priority areas include:
- Broadening access to education.
- Broadening access to health.
- Broadening access to financial services.
- Fiscal dynamics and distributional factors cited:
- Social spending coverage and design.
- Tax progressivity and compliance.
- Labor share and income composition (capital income, personal income, income share measures).
- Measurement and empirical terms referenced:
- Gini coefficient and net Gini measures (including net Gini in Asia, net Gini in India).
- Per capita income, poverty rate, consumption share, income distribution metrics.
Policy recommendations
- Address inequality of opportunities by expanding access to:
- Education.
- Health.
- Financial services (promote financial inclusion while maintaining financial stability).
- Use fiscal policy actively to combat rising inequality:
- Expand and broaden the coverage of social spending.
- Improve tax progressivity.
- Boost tax compliance.
- Further efforts to promote financial inclusion, balanced with financial stability safeguards.
Keywords and subject tags (as listed)
- Education, Income distribution, Income inequality, Labor, Labor share, National accounts, Personal income
- Asia, Asia and Pacific, benefits capital income, consumption share, countries effort, entrepreneurial activity, Gini coefficient, Global, IMF staff calculation, Income distribution, Income inequality, income share, Inequality, inequality measure, Labor share, net Gini in Asia, net Gini in India, per capita income, Personal income, poverty rate, reducing income gap, WP