- Title
- Financial development, income inequality and poverty: case of a selected SADC countries
- Creator
- Leve, Samkele
- Subject
- Finance Economic development Income distribution
- Date Issued
- 2019
- Date
- 2019
- Type
- Thesis
- Type
- Masters
- Type
- MCom (Economics)
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10353/16918
- Identifier
- vital:40785
- Description
- The financial sector plays a pivotal role in an economy of a country; hence the importance of financial development cannot be underestimated. Financial development is widely regarded as another conduit through which income inequality and poverty can be alleviated, however both theoretical and empirical literature does not reach consensus on the effect of financial development on income inequality and poverty. Against this background, the study empirically examines the effect of financial development on income inequality and poverty in selected Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries, employing the Generalised Method of Moments (GMM) technique for the period 1980 to 2011. Based on the inequalitydecreasing and Mckinnon Conduit effect, two models which link financial sector development and inequality and financial sector development and poverty were estimated using five different dimensions of financial development. Empirical results revealed that financial development overall does have an impact on income inequality and poverty in the selected SADC countries. An interesting observation from the empirical results is that the actual dimension of financial development plays a significant role in determining the relationship between financial development, income inequality and poverty in the SADC region. The impact of financial depth on poverty is not obvious in the study, depending on the variable used. On the relationship between financial system stability, income inequality and poverty, results reveal that a stable financial system is beneficial to the poor. Financial efficiency does not appear to have a significant role in reducing income inequality and poverty in the selected SADC countries. Overall, the findings from the study indicate that financial access or financial inclusion and financial stability is what reduces poverty instead of mere financial sector development at a broader level.
- Format
- 165 leaves
- Format
- Publisher
- University of Fort Hare
- Publisher
- Faculty..
- Language
- English
- Rights
- University of Fort Hare
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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