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Prosperity and Income Inequality Dynamics in Selected ASEAN Countries: How the Rule of Law Moderates

FAJRIN HARDINANDAR & YU-LI WANG

Asian Development Review2026https://doi.org/10.1142/s0116110526500058article
ABDC C
Weight
0.50

What the paper says

This study reexamines the nonlinear relationship between prosperity and income inequality in member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations during 1990–2023 and assesses how the rule of law shapes the sensitivity of inequality to economic growth. Using an instrumental variable strategy based on external trade shocks, the study addresses endogeneity and identifies the causal component of the growth–inequality relationship. The results indicate that most countries in the region lie on the left-hand side of the inverted U-shaped Kuznets curve, suggesting that they remain in a transitional stage of development. The findings further show that the interaction between economic growth and the rule of law is context dependent: Weaker legal environments are associated with steeper inequality responses to growth, while stronger legal institutions are linked to a flatter and more stable growth–inequality relationship. Market inequality is more sensitive to the inclusion of Singapore, whereas post-redistribution inequality remains substantially more stable across specifications.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1142/s0116110526500058

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@article{fajrin2026,
  title        = {{Prosperity and Income Inequality Dynamics in Selected ASEAN Countries: How the Rule of Law Moderates}},
  author       = {FAJRIN HARDINANDAR & YU-LI WANG},
  journal      = {Asian Development Review},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1142/s0116110526500058},
}

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Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.