ECM - École Centrale de Marseille : UMR7316 (Pôle de l'étoile - Technopole de Château-Gombert - 38 rue Frédéric Joliot-Curie - 13013 Marseille - France)
Abstract : This paper provides an empirical assessment of the effect of income inequality on credit dynamics in 12 advanced economies over the period 1948-2015. We use foreign Communist influence as an instrument to identify exogenous variation in inequality and estimate the dynamic effect of a top income shock on credit over GDP. The results suggest that the evolution of top incomes has persistent effects on credit expansion, especially for mortgage and business loans.