The Multidimensional Effects of Financialization on the Growth of Income Inequality: New Empirical Evidence for 97 Countries

Abstract

Increasing financial relations and transactions, which constitute one of the important components of income inequality, is the leading factor that should be considered in analyzing the transformations of internal dynamics of current economies. In this sense, the linkage of the changes in financial sector, which is examined under the concept of financialization, with income inequality is the basis of this study. The financialization-income inequality nexus deals with the period of 1991-2014 for 97 countries by way of analyzing with the fixed effects method. According to the empirical results, which include labor market variables as well as economic variables, there is a positive correlation between financialization and income inequality. In other words, increasing the scale of financial relations and transactions has a positive effect on income inequality. The empirical outputs point out that this fact mainly depends on the current transformation in the labor markets. The reduction in the bargaining power of labor is assumed to have an increasing effect on the level of income inequality within the framework of financialization.

Keywords

• Financialization
• Income Inequality
• Bargaining Power
• Labor Markets
• Globalization

Finansallaşmanın Gelir Eşitsizliği Artışı Üzerine Çok Boyutlu Etkileri: 97 Ülke İçin Yeni Ampirik Kanıtlar

Abstract

Gelir eşitsizliği olgusunun önemli bileşenlerinden birini oluşturan artan finansal ilişkiler ve işlemler mevcut ekonomilerin iç yapısında yaşanan dönüşümlerin analiz edilmesinde göz önünde bulundurulması gereken faktörlerin başında gelmektedir. Bu çerçevede, finansallaşma kavramı altında incelenen finans sektöründe yaşanan değişimlerin gelir eşitsizliği ile olan bağlantısı mevcut çalışmanın temelini oluşturmaktadır. Sabit etkiler yöntemine bağlı olarak incelenecek olan finansallaşma-gelir eşitsizliği bağıntısı 97 ülke için 1991-2014 yılları arasını ele almaktadır. İktisadi değişkenlerin yanı sıra emek piyasası değişkenlerinin de içerildiği ampirik sonuçlara göre finansallaşma ile gelir eşitsizliği arasında pozitif bir korelasyon bulunmaktadır. Diğer bir deyişle, artan finansal ilişkilerin ve işlemlerin gelir eşitsizliğini artırıcı bir etkisi bulunmaktadır. Ampirik çıktılar bu durumun temel olarak emek piyasalarında yaşanan dönüşüme bağlı olduğuna işaret etmektedir. Emeğin pazarlık gücündeki düşüşün finansallaşma çerçevesinde gelir eşitsizliğini artırıcı bir etkide bulunduğu varsayılmaktadır. 

Keywords

• Finansallaşma
• Gelir Eşitsizliği
• Pazarlık Gücü
• Emek Piyasaları
• Küreselleşme

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