Natural resources abundance and Income Inequality: Time series evidence from India

This study examines how the abundance of natural resources influences income inequality in India for the period 1971 to 2020. The study employs the Lee and Strazicich unit root test to identify structural break in the data, the Bayer-Hanck test of Co-integration and, methods for example FMOLS, DOLS and CRR to estimate long run coefficient. Further, to determine the direction of causality among the variables, Pairwise Granger Causality Tests is used. The results of Bayer-Hanck test for Co-integration confirms the presence of long-run association among variables. Empirical results show that income inequality is positively and significantly related with natural resources, urbanization, digitalization and physical capital, while it is negatively associated with human capital. The Granger Causality test reveals a bidirectional causal relation between natural resources and digitalization, whereas a unidirectional causal relationship is observed from human capital and physical capital to income inequality. The result of this study recommends policymakers, addressing income inequality in India requires effective and equitable allocation of resources, ensuring digital inclusion of its citizens, economic integration, promoting sustainable urban development and investment in both human and physical capital.