Service Sector Growth and Income Inequalities: A Longitudinal Analysis from an International Sample
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Date
2003-05-19
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Abstract
The rise of the service sector has been offered as a possible reason for rising income inequalities in highly developed countries. Here, data from 1980, 1990 and 1995 are analyzed to investigate the effects of growth in the service sector on income inequalities for 77 nations around the world. Statistical models examine the effects that the state, through redistribution efforts, has on income inequality. Results of random effects models show that 1)service sector growth has a positive relationship with income inequality, 2) that level of development has a strong positive relationship with income inequality, and 3) that redistribution efforts have had little impact on income inequality over time. Some support is given to the idea that there is an interaction effect between service sector growth and relative placement within the overall world system. This raises the question of whether service sector growth affects the income inequality of a nation differently based on where they are ranked in the hierarchy of world development.
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Keywords
Income Inequality, International Development, World-Systems Theory
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Degree
MS
Discipline
Sociology
