Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/72299 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2005
Series/Report no.: 
Reihe Ökonomie / Economics Series No. 166
Publisher: 
Institute for Advanced Studies (IHS), Vienna
Abstract: 
This paper argues that an increase in the inequality of wealth prompts a stronger quest for status that in turn fosters the accumulation of wealth. It proposes a measure for an individual's want of social status. For a given level of a population's wealth, the corresponding aggregate measure of want of social status is shown to be positively related to the Gini coefficient of wealth inequality. Hence the Gini coefficient and growth are positively correlated, holding the population's wealth constant.
Subjects: 
quest for status
distribution of wealth
economic growth
JEL: 
A13
A14
D31
D63
O40
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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