Abstract
This paper investigates the relationship between energy consumption and income inequality in an unbalanced panel of 144 countries over the period 1990–2018. Using fixed effect and instrumental variable panel methods and controlling for other determinants of inequality, I find a large and strong negative relationship between energy use and income inequality. The paper also demonstrates that results hold for models which divide the total sample into subsamples of economic blocs and regions. In addition, greater energy use reduces the income share of the top 10% and increases the share of the bottom 40%.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 83-97 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| Journal | Contemporary Economic Policy |
| Volume | 40 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jan 2022 |
Funding
This an updated version of a paper given by invitation at a Public Policy and Inequality session at the Western Economic Association International meetings in Santiago, Chile, in January, 2017. The author would like to thank session participants and Robert Eyler, Josip Tica, and Anupam Das for their input. I would also like to thank Craig A. Depken and two anonymous referees for their thoughtful comments, the paper is much improved because of it. Any errors are naturally the author's responsibility.
Keywords
- energy
- income inequality
- panel methods
