The Impact of Islamic Financial Development on Income Inequality in Selected Countries: A Spatial Panel Data Approach

Income inequality has gained prominence by exacerbating the economic stability of both developed and developing countries over the past few decades. The intensity of this issue is non-trivial with economies witnessing failure in policies, indecorous economic governance, and the challenging economic ideologies. Impact of financial development on economic growth is an important channel in economic issues on which plenty of discussions and challenges have arisen. Financial development involves various dimensions of financial systems and markets. Islamic financial development (IFD) is one of these dimensions. This research investigates the impact of IFD on income inequality in 28 countries active in the IFD area, including 14 high-income and 14 middle-income and low-income countries, over 2013-2017 by considering the Kuznets curve hypothesis, financial curve hypothesis, and Kuznets financial hypothesis and through spatial econometrics technique. Results indicate that Islamic financial development (IFD) decreases income inequality. In addition, the findings of the study reveal that there is no clear-cut evidence to support the proposition of economic development along with financial growth, which would reduce the problem of income inequality. The results show that the GDP per capita, Inflation and Trade Openness increase the income inequality. In contrast, General government final consumption expenditure, urban population and age dependency ratio, help countries reduce income inequality.