Inequality and Growth Reconsidered: Lessons from East Asia
研究东亚经济体在快速增长的同时如何降低收入不平等，发现强调高质量基础教育和增加劳动力需求等政策既减少了贫困和不平等，又刺激了增长，并指出低不平等可能直接促进经济增长。
East Asian economies have experienced rapid growth over three decades, with relatively low levels of income inequality, and appear to have also achieved reductions in income inequality. We argue that policies that reduced poverty and income inequality, such as emphasizing high-quality basic education and augmenting labor demand, also stimulated growth. Closing two virtuous circles, rapid growth and reduced inequality led to higher demand for, and supply of, education, Moreover, low levels of income inequality may have directly stimulated growth. We present cross-economy regression results that are consistent with a positive causal effect of low inequality on economic growth and with low inequality of income as an independent contributing factor to Fast Asia's rapid growth. We conclude that policies for sharing growth can also stimulate growth. In particular, investment in education is a key to sustained growth, both because it contributes directly through productivity effects and because it reduces income inequality.