Authors:
Mostafa Shahee Department of Policy Studies, Queen's University, Robert Sutherland Hall, Kingston, Ontario, K7L 3N6, Canada

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Glenn P. Jenkins Department of Economics, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada and Eastern Mediterranean University, Famagusta, North Cyprus

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Abstract

This study empirically examines the relationship between the severity of recessions experienced by countries and their income distributions. The analysis is carried out for 28 higher middle- and high-income countries between 1970 and 2013. The empirical evidence derived from the changes in the Gini-index suggests that a greater degree of income inequality increases the cumulative loss of GDP inflicted by recessions. The increased cost emerges from both a longer duration and a deeper amplitude for the contractionary phase of the business cycle.

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Senior editors

Editors-in-Chief: István P. Székely, Dóra Győrffy

Editor(s): Judit Kálmán

Associate Editors

  • Péter Benczúr, Joint Joint Research Center, European Commission
  • Dóra Benedek, International Monetary Fund
  • Balázs Égert, OECD
  • Dániel Prinz, World Bank
  • Rok Spruk, University of Ljubljana, School of Economics and Business, Slovenia

Editorial Board

  • Anders Åslund, Georgetown University and Advisory Council of CASE, USA
  • István Benczes, Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary 
  • Agnieszka Chłoń-Domińczak, SGH Warsaw School of Economics, Poland
  • Fabrizio Coricelli, University of Siena, Italy
  • László Csaba, Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary and Central European University, Austria
  • Beáta Farkas, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, University of Szeged, Hungary
  • Péter Halmai, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, and National University of Public Service, Hungary
  • Martin Kahanec, Central European University, Austria
  • Michael Landesmann, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (WIIW), Austria
  • Péter Mihályi, Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary
  • Debora Revoltella, European Investment Bank

Corvinus University of Budapest
Department of Economics
Fővám tér 8 Budapest, H-1093, Hungary
E-mail: judit.kalman@uni-corvinus.hu

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Acta Oeconomica
Language English
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1966
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Founder Magyar Tudományos Akadémia
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