The social consequences of economic growth: the relationship between real household income and self-declared tolerance

摘要

A widespread opinion, supported by many theoretical contributions of philosophers andeconomists, states that economic prosperity has positive consequences on material wellbeingwhich are traded off by negative “moral” consequences and social externalities. An oppositeschool of thought challenges this view by emphasizing that economic growth has alsobeneficial moral consequences in terms of higher tolerance, affection towards democracy,generosity and social consensus for competition. This paper focuses on the presumedpositive effect of economic growth on tolerance, so far unexplored in the literature from anempirical point of view. Using panel data from the German Socioeconomic Panel on around33,000 individuals over the period 1992-2004 we find a robust positive relationship betweenreal personal household income and self-declared tolerance, both in levels and firstdifferences. Our results suggest that growth may have positive moral consequences assumedthat it translates from aggregate into individual level.