Abstract:
This pilot empirical study seeks to ascertain how income inequality affects growth by incorporating panel data information into a macroeconometric model. People's Republic of China is used as the pilot fi eld. Provincial urban and rural household data are used to construct income inequality measures, which are then used to augment household consumption equations in a quarterly macroeconometric model. Model simulations are performed to study the inequality effect on gross domestic product growth and its sectoral components. Results show that income inequality forms robust explanatory variables of consumption and that the way inequality develops carries certain negative consequences on gross domestic product and sectoral growth.