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FINANCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE, TECHNOLOGICAL SHIFT, AND INEQUALITY IN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 January 2012

Ryo Horii ,
Ryoji Ohdoi  and
Kazuhiro Yamamoto
Ryo Horii
Affiliation:
Tohoku University
Ryoji Ohdoi*
Affiliation:
Osaka City University
Kazuhiro Yamamoto
Affiliation:
Osaka University
*
Address correspondence to: Ryoji Ohdoi, Graduate School of Economics, Osaka City University, 3-3-138, Sugimoto, Sumiyoshi-ku, Osaka 558-8585, Japan; e-mail: ohdoi@econ.osaka-cu.ac.jp.
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Abstract

This paper presents an overlapping generations model with technology choice and imperfect financial markets, and examines the evolution of the income distribution in economic development. The model shows that improvements in financial infrastructure facilitate economic development both by raising the aggregate capital–labor ratio and by causing a technological shift to more capital-intensive technologies. Although a higher capital–labor ratio under a given technology reduces inequality, a technological shift can lead to a concentration of economic rents among a smaller number of agents. We derive the condition under which an improvement in financial infrastructure actually decreases the average utility of agents.

Keywords

Technological ShiftIncome DistributionRentsEnforcementCredit Rationing
Type
Articles
Information
Macroeconomic Dynamics , Volume 17 , Issue 3 , April 2013 , pp. 531 - 562
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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