Education, Inequality and Income Inequality

75 Pages Posted: 21 Feb 2008

See all articles by Daniele Checchi

Daniele Checchi

Università degli Studi di Milano - Dipartimento di Economia Politica e Aziendale (DEPA); IZA Institute of Labor Economics; IRVAPP

Date Written: May 2001

Abstract

In this paper we propose to measure inequality of educational achievements by constructing a Gini index on educational attainments. We then use the proposed measure to analyse the relationship between inequality in incomes and educational achievements (in terms of both the average attainments and its concentration). Even if theoretical considerations suggest a non-linear relationship between these two measures of inequality, actual data indicate that average years of education have a stronger negative impact on measured income inequality. Multivariate regressions also prove that, once we take into account the negative correlation between average educational achievement and its dispersion, the relationship between income inequality and average years of schooling is U-shaped, with a lower turning point at 6.5 years. Income inequality is also negatively related to per capita income and positively related to capital/output ratio and government expenditure in education.

Suggested Citation

Checchi, Daniele, Education, Inequality and Income Inequality (May 2001). LSE STICERD Research Paper No. 52, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1094825

Daniele Checchi (Contact Author)

Università degli Studi di Milano - Dipartimento di Economia Politica e Aziendale (DEPA) ( email )

Milan, 20122
Italy
+39 02 5032 1519 (Phone)
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IZA Institute of Labor Economics

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IRVAPP ( email )

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