Export Diversification and Income Inequality in Iran

The present study aimed to examine the effect of export diversification on income inequality in Iran using the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach and data for the period 1984 to 2018. To this end, the Gini coefficient was employed as the income inequality index and non-oil export diversification was calculated using Herfindahl-Hirschman index and considering the export value of various export goods.
The results of the cointegration test show that diversification initially increases income inequality but after reaching a certain amount it causes to a decrease in income inequality. The results prove an inverted U-shape relation between income inequality and export diversification. Also, the empirical results indicate that there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between per capita income and income inequality, thus confirming the Kuznets curve hypothesis. On the other hand, the empirical results show that an increase in the size of the government leads to an increase in income inequality, but the inflation rate does not have a significant effect on inequality. These findings have important policy implications in order to improve export diversification to reduce income inequality.