What is the impact of trade openness on income inequality, and how does this effect vary across countries at different stages of economic development?
(2026) EKHS42 20261Department of Economic History
- Abstract
- This paper examines the impact of trade openness on income inequality and how this relationship varies across countries at different stages of economic development. Using system GMM, and quantile regression on a self-constructed panel dataset of 57 countries from 1970 to 2015, the study analyzes the moderating roles of political power concentration and economic complexity. Based on the Stolper-Samuelson theorem, trade openness is expected to increase inequality in the Global North and reduce it in the Global South, with institutions and economic complexity shaping these outcomes. However, across the full sample and regional subsamples, the results show limited statistical significance and provide no consistent empirical support for the... (More)
- This paper examines the impact of trade openness on income inequality and how this relationship varies across countries at different stages of economic development. Using system GMM, and quantile regression on a self-constructed panel dataset of 57 countries from 1970 to 2015, the study analyzes the moderating roles of political power concentration and economic complexity. Based on the Stolper-Samuelson theorem, trade openness is expected to increase inequality in the Global North and reduce it in the Global South, with institutions and economic complexity shaping these outcomes. However, across the full sample and regional subsamples, the results show limited statistical significance and provide no consistent empirical support for the proposed hypotheses. While no clear relationship is identified, the study highlights the importance of structural and institutional conditions in understanding the distributional effects of trade liberalization. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9233024
- author
- van den Bosch, Sebas Gijs Marijn LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- EKHS42 20261
- year
- 2026
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Trade openness, income inequality, political power concentration, economic complexity, institutions
- language
- English
- id
- 9233024
- date added to LUP
- 2026-09-07 13:57:23
- date last changed
- 2026-09-07 13:57:23
@misc{9233024,
abstract = {{This paper examines the impact of trade openness on income inequality and how this relationship varies across countries at different stages of economic development. Using system GMM, and quantile regression on a self-constructed panel dataset of 57 countries from 1970 to 2015, the study analyzes the moderating roles of political power concentration and economic complexity. Based on the Stolper-Samuelson theorem, trade openness is expected to increase inequality in the Global North and reduce it in the Global South, with institutions and economic complexity shaping these outcomes. However, across the full sample and regional subsamples, the results show limited statistical significance and provide no consistent empirical support for the proposed hypotheses. While no clear relationship is identified, the study highlights the importance of structural and institutional conditions in understanding the distributional effects of trade liberalization.}},
author = {{van den Bosch, Sebas Gijs Marijn}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{What is the impact of trade openness on income inequality, and how does this effect vary across countries at different stages of economic development?}},
year = {{2026}},
}