Inequality in Developing Countries: Causes and Consequences

This article discusses the causes and consequences of inequality in developing countries, using Kenya as an example. It covers factors such as gender, age, skills, technology, and personal beliefs, and explores the implications of income and wealth inequality, including class conflict, exploitation, political domination, and suppression of talent.

Running Head: ECONOMICS
Development Economics
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Introduction
A market is a place where producers and consumers exchange goods and services either
through barter trade or exchange for money. A market failure is a situation whereby the
allocation of goods and services in a certain economy is not efficient. This task will look at a
certain market failure in developing countries example Kenya (Solt, 2016). The task will also
describe and analyse the causes of that market failure and lastly look at the major consequences
of the market failure.
Market failure
Market economies in less developed countries face a problem of inequality whereby the
income and wealth are not well distributed (Helpman & Reddings, 2013). Income is the money
which is allocated to the factors of production while wealth is the asset’s value that is currently
owned by an individual or the community as a whole. Examples of incomes include the salaries
earned from jobs by people, saving’s interests and rental incomes from properties. Examples of
wealth include the shares in businesses, savings and pension schemes.
If a market has unequal distribution of these resources, it is said to have failed. This
inequality mostly affects the poor people because they may fail to receive any income when it is
distributed (Ostry, 2011). Incomes vary where some people receive high incomes, others
moderate incomes and others low incomes. Some people may also end up not receiving any
income at all hence being unable to purchase the basic goods and services they need. This brings
about the problem of income and wealth inequality in less developed countries. People likely to
receive less income include the unemployed, the underemployed, the sick and the disabled, the

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old people and workers of unofficial labor markets. Example of this country is Kenya which is
among the unequal countries in the world where the gap between the rich and the poor is large.
According to the report by the United Nations Development Programme, 60% of
Kenyans live in poverty conditions where they are unable to receive quality health services and
education. Among the 169 countries in Africa, Kenya is ranked 103 country in the inequality list
hence making it the 66th unequal country in the world. The quality life of Kenyans has been
diluted in the last five years according to the report by HDI (Corak, 2013). Even though the
country has a poor ranking, it finished ahead of the other EAC member states. Uganda finished
in position 143, Tanzania finished in position 148 and Rwanda finished in position 152. One of
the major challenge that Kenya has been facing is the distribution of benefits of economic
growth. In 2005 the economy of the country was 1.17 trillion which expanded to 1.39 trillion last
years. The problem is that 38% of the wealth remains in the hands of 10% of the whole
population hence 90% of the population being left to share the rest. This problem of income
inequality in Kenya has pushed 86% of people to live in poor conditions hence being unable to
access health and education facilities. This is the evidence of the widening gap between the rich
and the poor in the country (Kaplinsky, 2013). The problem is due to high unemployment rates,
corruption, lack of government intervention.
Policy interventions have either failed or not yet implemented example the youth
empowerment programmes and land reforms that may increase growth in agricultural sector.
Due to corruption and poor execution, the government has spent about 3.8 billion shillings on
small and medium sized firms. The problem of high unemployment rates has led to the widening
gap of income to increase. in this case, the youths are the most affected and hence suffer a 21%
unemployment rate excluding the college students. Tiberius Baraza of Institute of Policy

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Analysis and Research says that high rates of unemployed youths mean more poverty while the
employed continue earning more income year after year. Baraza continues to say that even
though reducing this unemployment rate is a challenge, the governments may use the tax system
to be able to stimulate job creation.
Many analysts see the only hope of reducing inequality as the renewed fight against graft
according to the new constitution (Kumhof, 2015)This constitution has provided a momentum to
fight against graft hence it has promised to reduce the theft of a lot of money which is to be used
for development.
Causes
There are several factors which lead to the inequality of income and wealth as a market failure in
developing countries (Hurst, 2016). As these less developed countries industrialize, the move
from a manufacturing economy to a service-based economy. These causes are discussed below;
Gender
In some developing countries example Kenya, gender is a major cause of inequality in wealth
and income distribution. This is mainly in education where there is gender inequality definitely
income inequality is evident (Corak, 2013).
Age
Age factor is also a cause of inequality in income and wealth whereby the young people are more
are more able to source for income than the old people in the society.
Skills

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This occurs when one person has more technical skills to do a certain job than another person.
This leads to that more skilled person to be more advantaged to earn more income than the less
skilled. It creates a widening gap in the income and wealth distribution.
Technology growth
As the developing countries experience the advancement in technology, many jobs are becoming
automated hence leading to more unemployment in the countries (Helpman & Muendler , 2017).
Many people lose jobs in this case hence making the working class citizens to have more income
than the jobless citizens.
Personal factors
Some people belief that having large volumes of income is against their beliefs hence this makes
them to hold less income (Western & Pettit, 2015)This cause inequality in income and wealth
distribution among the societies due to some beliefs of people.
Implications
The issue of inequality in income and wealth distribution has many consequences in developing
countries (Brueckner, 2015). These consequences are discussed below;
Class-conflict
Due to income and wealth inequality the societies now have two sections of the have’s and have
not’s. these two sections are always fighting hence leading to political and social tensions.
Exploitation
The inequality in income and wealth lead to the rich exploiting the poor in the society. This leads
to the political revolution and awakening hence political and social instability (Solt, 2016).

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Political domination
This occurs when the rich people in the society dominate the political machinery hence
using it for their own interests. This brings about corruption, social injustice and grafts (Helpman
& Muendler , 2017).
Suppression of talent
It is difficult for a poor person to make it in life even if the person is brilliant. In this case,
talent of the brainy poor people is suppressed because they are not able to contribute to social
welfare.
Undemocratic
When the gap between the poor and rich is large, democracy is affected hence without
economic equality, there is no political equality (Corak, 2013).
Creation of monopolies
Unequal income and wealth distribution leads to creation of monopolies which combine
and charge more prices to the consumers. This affects the small producers who are dissolved by
the large producers.
Moral degradation
Due to lack of economic strength, the poor end up being demoralized by the rich hence
degrading the poor (Western & Rosenfeld, 2011). The rich are corrupt and become more
dominant in the economies hence human dignity is lost.
Promotes capital formation

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Inequalities on the other hand may be beneficial because it leads to savings because if the income
was to be equally distributed among the citizens, it will be thinly distributed over the whole
population (Lusardi, 2017). When income is evenly distributed, those with more income will
increase their savings. These people who save turn their savings into capital hence promoting
capital formation in the country.
Conclusion
A market failure is a situation whereby the allocation of goods and services in a certain
economy is not efficient. Inequality in income and wealth distribution is a major market failure
in developing countries. In our case we have looked at example of Kenya as a developing
country. The inequality is due to age, gender, technology and also personal factors. This
inequality leads to creation of monopolies, exploitation, capital formation, moral degradation,
political dominion and suppression of talents among others.

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References
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