Essays on inequality, economic growth and political polarization

Kumulative Dissertation, Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg, 2021

Economic inequality has moved into the focus of academic debate in the last decade as it gained increasing public attention in the aftermath of the financial crisis in 2007. The present dissertation contributes to the growing and existing literature on income inequality by presenting three contributions that empirically analyze the economic, political and social consequences of income inequality. Chapter 1 explores the dynamic relationship between economic growth and the different metrics of income inequality using a compiled dataset covering 110 advanced and developing economies from 1980 to 2016. Chapter 2 examines the macroeconomic and social determinants of voting behavior, and especially of political polarization, using a compiled dataset for 20 advanced economies from 1980 to 2016 which covers 291 parliamentary elections. Finally, chapter 3 investigates the effects of group identity and income inequality on social preferences and polarization by means of a laboratory experiment.