The financial Kuznets curve for Mexico: an econometric analysis for the period 1995–2022
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18381/eq.v22i2.7341Keywords:
income inequality, unit root; cointegration; financial development; foreign direct investment; economic complexityAbstract
Objective: this paper analyzes the effect of financial development, economic complexity and foreign direct investment on income inequality for 1995-2022. Methodology: unit root and cointegration tests are applied and long-term relationships between variables are estimated with robust methods. Results: evidence is shown that the series are integrated of order one, that there are longterm equilibrium relationships, and that the Kuznets financial curve hypothesis is valid for the mexican economy. Limitations: the availability of data and not considering other variables such as education and politics in this study. Originality: this research contributes to the literature by analyzing the impact of foreign direct investment, economic complexity and financial development on income inequality. Conclusions: economic complexity, financial development and foreign direct investment can help reduce income inequality in Mexico.Downloads
References
Atkinson, A. B. (1997). Bringing Income Distribution in From the Cold. The Economic Journal, 107(441), 297–321. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2957944.
Bandeira Morais, M., Swart, J., & Jordaan, J. A. (2021). Economic complexity and inequality: Does regional productive structure affect income inequality in Brazilian states? Sustainability, 13(2), 1006. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13021006.
Beck, T., Demirgüç-Kunt, A., & Levine, R. (2007). Finance, inequality and the poor. Journal of Economic Growth, 12(1), 27–49. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10887-007-9010-6.
Bittencourt, M., Chang, S., Gupta, R., & Miller, S. M. (2019). Does financial development affect income inequality in the U.S. States?, Journal of Policy Modeling, 41(6), 1043-1056. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpolmod.2019.07.008.
Campos Vázquez, R. M., & Rodas Milian, J. A. (2019). Desigualdad en el ingreso: posibilidades de acción pública. Economía UNAM, 16(46), 251–261. https://www.scielo.org.mx/pdf/eunam/v16n46/1665-952X-eunam-16-46-251.pdf.
CEPAL (2018). La igualdad no solo promueve el bienestar social, sino que también contribuye a un sistema económico favorable para el aprendizaje, la innovación, la productividad y la protección ambiental. Cepal.org. https://www.cepal.org/es/comunicados/la-igualdad-solopromueve-bienestar-social-sino-que-tambiencontribuye-un-sistema.
Cetin, M., Demir, H., & Saygin, S. (2021). Financial development, technological innovation and income inequality: Time series evidence from turkey. Social Indicators Research, 156(1), 47–69. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-021-02641-7.
Chu, L.K., & Hoang, D.P. (2020). How does economic complexity influence income inequality? New evidence from international data. Economic Analysis and Policy, 68, 44-57. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eap.2020.08.004.
Clarke, G. R. G., Xu, L. C., & Zou, H.-F. (2006). Finance and income inequality: What do the data tell us? Southern Economic Journal, 72(3), 578. https://doi.org/10.2307/20111834.
Cornia, G. A. (2003). The impact of liberalisation and globalisation on income inequality in developing and transitional economies. SSRN: http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.380347.
Demirgüç-Kunt, A., & Levine, R. (2009). Finance and inequality: Theory and evidence. Annual Review of Financial Economics, 1(1), 287–318. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.financial.050808.114334.
Dickey, D. A. & Fuller W.A. (1981). Likelihood ratio statistics for autoregressive time series with a unitroot. Econometrica, 49(4), 1057-1072. https://doi.org/10.2307/1912517.
Dickey, D. A., & Fuller, W. A. (1979). Distribution of the estimators for autoregressive time series with a unit root. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 74(366), 427. https://doi.org/10.2307/2286348.
Dollar, D., & Kraay, A. (2002). Growth is good for the poor. Journal of Economic Growth, 7(3), 195–225. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40216063.
Engle, R.F., & Granger, C.W. J. (1987). Co-integration and error correction: Representation, estimation, and testing. Econometrica: Journal of the Econometric Society, 55(2), 251. https://doi.org/10.2307/1913236.
Galor, O., & Moav, O. (2004). From physical to human capital accumulation: Inequality and the process of development. The Review of Economic Studies, 71(4), 1001–1026. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3700726.
Gohou, G., & Soumaré, I. (2012). Does foreign direct investment reduce poverty in Africa and are there regional differences? World Development, 40(1), 75–95. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2011.05.014.
Gómez-Zaldívar, M., Osorio-Caballero, M.I., & Saucedo-Acosta, E.J. (2022). Income inequality and economic complexity: Evidence from Mexican states. Regional Science Policy & Practice, 14(6), 344–363. https://doi.org/10.1111/rsp3.12580
Greenwood, J., & Jovanovic, B. (1990). Financial development, growth, and the distribution of income. The journal of political economy, 98(5, Part 1), 1076–1107. https://doi.org/10.1086/261720.
Hartmann, D., Guevara, M.R., Jara-Figueroa, C., Aristarán, M., & Hidalgo C.A. (2017). Linking Economic Complexity, Institutions, and Income Inequality. World Development, 93, 75-93. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2016.12.020.
Herzer, D., Hühne, P., & Nunnenkamp, P. (2014). FDI and income inequality—evidence from Latin American economies. Review of Development Economics, 18(4), 778–793. https://doi.org/10.1111/rode.12118.
Hidalgo, C. A., & Hausmann, R. (2009). The building blocks of economic complexity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(26), 10570–10575. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0900943106.
Hidalgo, C.A. (2021) Economic complexity theory and applications. Nat Rev Phys 3, 92–113. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42254-020-00275-1.
Jaumotte, F., Lall, S., & Papageorgiou, C. (2013). Rising income inequality: Technology, or trade and financial globalization? IMF Economic Review, 61, 271–309. https://doi.org/10.1057/imfer.2013.7.
Jensen, N. M., & Rosas, G. (2007). Foreign direct investment and income inequality in Mexico, 1990–2000. International Organization, 61(03), 467-487. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0020818307070178.
Johansen, S. (1995). A statistical analysis of cointegration for I(2) variables. Econometric Theory, 11(1), 25–59. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3532929.
Kaulihowa, T., & Adjasi, C. (2018). FDI and income inequality in Africa. Oxford Development Studies, 46(2), 250–265. https://doi.org/10.1080/13600818.2017.1381233.
Khatatbeh, I. N., Al Salamat, W., Abu-Alfoul, M. N., & Jaber, J. J. (2022). Is there any financial kuznets curve in Jordan? a structural time series analysis. Cogent Economics & Finance, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/23322039.2022.2061103.
Khatatbeh, I. N., & Moosa, I.A. (2023). Financialisation and income inequality: An investigation of the financial Kuznets curve hypothesis among developed and developing countries. Heliyon, 9(4). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e14947.
Kuznets, S. (1955). Economic growth and income inequality. Am. Econ. Rev. 45, 1–28. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1811581.
Lambert, F., & Park, H. (2019). Income Inequality and Government Transfers in Mexico. IMF Working Papers, 2019(148), 1-20 https://doi.org/10.5089/9781498320863.001.
Levine, R. (2004). Finance and growth: Theory and evidence. National Bureau of Economic Research.
Liang, Z. (2008). Financial development and income inequality in rural China 1991–2000. In Understanding Inequality and Poverty in China (pp. 72–88). Palgrave Macmillan UK. https://www.wider.unu.edu/sites/default/files/rp2006-96.pdf.
Mallela, K., Singh, S.K., & Srivastava, A. (2023). Remittances, financial development, and income inequality: A panel quantile regression approach. International Economics 175, 171-186. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.inteco.2023.07.003.
Nguyen, V.B. (2023). The role of digitalization in the FDI – income inequality relationship in developed and developing countries. Journal of Economics, Finance and Administrative Science, 28(55), 6-26. https://doi.org/10.1108/JEFAS-09-2021-0189.
OCDE (2011). Definición Marco de Inversión Extranjera Directa: Cuarta edición. Consultado el 2 de diciembre, 2022, en https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/finance-and-investment/ocde-definicion-marco-de-inversion-extranjeradirecta_9789264094475-es.
OECD (2021). Does Inequality Matter?: How People Perceive Economic Disparities and Social Mobility, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/3023ed40-en.
Park, J. Y. (1992). Canonical Cointegrating Regressions. Econometrica, 60(1), 119–143. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2951679?origin=crossref&seq=1.
Phillips, P.C. & Hansen, B.E. (1990). Statistical inference in instrumental variables regression with I (1) processes. Rev. Econ. Stud. 57 (1), 99–125. https://doi.org/10.2307/2297545.
Phillips, P.C. & Perron, P. (1988). Testing for a unit root in time series regression. Biometrika, 75(2): 335-346. https://doi.org/10.2307/2336182
Piketty, T. (2014). El capital en el siglo XXI. Bogotá, Colombia, Fondo de Cultura Económica.
Rostow, W. W. (1960). The stages of economic growth – A non-communist manifesto. Cambridge University Press.
Saqib N., Dincă G. (2023). Exploring the asymmetric impact of economic complexity, FDI, and green technology on carbon emissions: Policy stringency for clean-energy investing countries. Geoscience Frontiers. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gsf.2023.101671.
Stock, J., & Watson, M. (2012). Introducción a la Econometría (3a ed.). Pearson.
Tridico, P., & Pariboni, R. (2018). Inequality, financialisation, and economic decline. Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, 41(2), 236–259. https://doi.org/10.1080/01603477.2017.1338966.
Wang, E.Z., & Lee, C.C. (2021). Foreign direct investment, income inequality and country risk. International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(3), pages 2415-2435. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijfe.2542.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Mario Gómez, Zaira Zyanya Ramírez, José Carlos Rodríguez

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.