Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Economics and Political Science - Department of Economics

Kuznets empirical study in 1950 found that the relationship between income inequality and economic growth takes the shape of an inverted parabola. However, this empirical relationship was tested by many researchers for many countries using different approaches. The scope of studies to test the hypothesis differed from one paper to another, many tested the relationship in a single country across time while others tested it in various countries during the same period and few devoted their attention to testing the hypothesis across many countries during different time spans. This thesis uses income inequality data available for Arab countries in a unique approach for testing the validity of Kuznets hypothesis across Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and Tunisia throughout the period between 1965 and 2010 qualitatively and quantitatively by using panel data estimation methods (FGLS model) with testing for heteroskedasticity, serial autocorrelation, endogeneity and cross-sectional independence. Kuznets hypothesis was found to be valid in the period from 1965 to 2010 in Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, and Morocco

Issued also as CD