Checking of the Kuznets curve for the municipalities of Santa Catarina State, Brazil: A parametric and non-parametric analysis for the years 1991, 2000 and 2010

• Published in: Perspectiva Econômica Vol. 12; no. 1; p. 56
• Main Authors: Julio Cesar Araujo da Silva Junior, Cesar Augusto Pereira dos Santos, Cassieli da Silva, Folle, Julio
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Portuguese
• Published: São Leopoldo Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos - UNISINOS, Editoria de Periódicos Científicos 01.01.2016
• ISSN: 0100-039X; 1808-575X

A question which periodically arises in empirical investigations in the literature regards the relation between economic growth and income inequality. The purpose of this study is to test the Kuznets hypothesis for the municipalities of the state of Santa Catarina, with data from the Gini index and the per capita income of the years 1991, 2000 and 2010. For this purpose, polynomial specifications of degree two and three and panel data models were used. Additionally, non-parametric regressions were estimated by means of the B-splines estimation method. The results suggest the validation of the Kuznets hypothesis for the two parametric specifications, supported by the non-parametric analysis. Another fact found was that the inequality for the quantile concentration of lower income reacts much faster to per capita income growth than for higher inequality quantiles.