Testing the Kuznets Hypothesis under Conditions of Societal Duress: Evidence from Post-Revolution Iran
Abbas P. Grammy

Abstract
My motivation for this study is to examine the growth-inequality relationship in a country experiencing marked episodes of societal duress. In doing so, I estimate a Kuznets model for Iran to test the hypothesized inverted-U-shaped relationship between growth and inequality. The empirical results provide no evidence for an inverted-U-shaped relationship between growth and inequality in Iran’s post-revolution era. Data suggest that income per capita has diminished considerablybecause of persistentinflationary pressure and rapid population growth. Meanwhile, inequality in the distribution of income continued to be high, a pattern that has not changed much in more than three decades.

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