Economic globalization and income shares
(2026) In Journal of Comparative Economics- Abstract
Low barriers to trade and access to international capital markets have long been argued to improve economic conditions in a country. However, there is less consensus on the impact of economic globalization on the distribution of those gains across society. There are several possible explanations for the conflicting findings in the existing literature, perhaps most notably endogeneity issues that plague the cross-country studies. To alleviate this, we utilize matching methods. Instead of using Gini coefficients, as much of the previous literature, we examine large increases in economic globalization’s impact on 5-year income growth in each quintile of the income distribution as well as top 1 and 5 percent. We find no evidence that income... (More)
Low barriers to trade and access to international capital markets have long been argued to improve economic conditions in a country. However, there is less consensus on the impact of economic globalization on the distribution of those gains across society. There are several possible explanations for the conflicting findings in the existing literature, perhaps most notably endogeneity issues that plague the cross-country studies. To alleviate this, we utilize matching methods. Instead of using Gini coefficients, as much of the previous literature, we examine large increases in economic globalization’s impact on 5-year income growth in each quintile of the income distribution as well as top 1 and 5 percent. We find no evidence that income growth for the middle classes in OECD countries is hurt by economic globalization; if anything, some results indicate statistically positive effects. Most estimates, however, are positive but statistically and economically insignificant.
(Less)
- author
- Bergh, Andreas LU ; Bjørnskov, Christian and Callais, Justin T.
- organization
- publishing date
- 2026
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- epub
- subject
- keywords
- China shock, Economic growth, Financial openness, Globalization, Income shares, Inequality, OECD, Trade openness
- in
- Journal of Comparative Economics
- publisher
- Academic Press
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:105032235521
- ISSN
- 0147-5967
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.jce.2026.02.002
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 1b7335ae-352a-4a52-9b2f-2a291de670cf
- date added to LUP
- 2026-04-21 16:18:37
- date last changed
- 2026-04-21 16:19:42
@article{1b7335ae-352a-4a52-9b2f-2a291de670cf,
abstract = {{<p>Low barriers to trade and access to international capital markets have long been argued to improve economic conditions in a country. However, there is less consensus on the impact of economic globalization on the distribution of those gains across society. There are several possible explanations for the conflicting findings in the existing literature, perhaps most notably endogeneity issues that plague the cross-country studies. To alleviate this, we utilize matching methods. Instead of using Gini coefficients, as much of the previous literature, we examine large increases in economic globalization’s impact on 5-year income growth in each quintile of the income distribution as well as top 1 and 5 percent. We find no evidence that income growth for the middle classes in OECD countries is hurt by economic globalization; if anything, some results indicate statistically positive effects. Most estimates, however, are positive but statistically and economically insignificant.</p>}},
author = {{Bergh, Andreas and Bjørnskov, Christian and Callais, Justin T.}},
issn = {{0147-5967}},
keywords = {{China shock; Economic growth; Financial openness; Globalization; Income shares; Inequality; OECD; Trade openness}},
language = {{eng}},
publisher = {{Academic Press}},
series = {{Journal of Comparative Economics}},
title = {{Economic globalization and income shares}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jce.2026.02.002}},
doi = {{10.1016/j.jce.2026.02.002}},
year = {{2026}},
}