Urban Agglomeration and Income Inequality

Is Kuznets Hypothesis Valid for Sub-Saharan Africa

Bibliographic Data

ID2064490
AuthorsIsaiah Maket (0000-0002-9562-0901, University of Szeged, corresponding author), Izabella Szakálné Kanó (0000-0002-4149-1243, University of Szeged), Zsófia Vas (0000-0001-9798-8374, University of Szeged)
Year2023
Volume170
Issue3
Pages933-953
Publication date2023-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial Indicators Research (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0303-8300 • E-ISSN: 1573-0921
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1007/s11205-023-03222-6
OpenAlexW4387653516
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited64

This paper contributes to the ongoing debate on the relationship between urban agglomeration and income inequality. The World Bank and the United Nations place Sub-Saharan Africa among the leading urbanizing regions with sizable urban agglomeration inequality challenges. Therefore, the main research question of this study was whether there is a significant relationship between urban agglomeration and income inequality. This study also aimed to determine whether the relationship is nonlinear, estimated using a dynamic panel model, an inverted U-shaped Kuznets hypothesis, and balanced panel data from 2000 to 2020 for 22 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. The findings revealed a nonlinear relationship between urban agglomeration and income inequality in Sub-Saharan Africa. The findings showed that income inequality increases with urban agglomeration in the first stage and decreases in the later stages of urbanization. Based on the findings, our recommendations are to enhance governance capacity in providing urban infrastructural investment, improve industrialization capacity, and open up the peri-urban connecting rural regions through public-private development partnerships to shorten the urbanization-driven income inequality inverted U-shaped Kuznets' turning point in Sub-Saharan Africa

Demographic economics · Development economics · Econometrics · Economic geography · Economic growth · Economic inequality · Economics · Economies of agglomeration · Geography · Income inequality metrics · Industrialisation · Inequality · Kuznets Curve · Market economy · Panel data · Urbanization · Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth · Regional Economics and Spatial Analysis · Taxation and Compliance Studies

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access