| Abstract [eng] |
In the last decade income inequality is growing in many countries, including the European Union (EU) member countries, the United States of America, Japan and so on. Analyzing interaction between income inequality and economic growth, aims to assess the effectiveness of economic activity, focusing not only on income level, but also to income distribution among population. It is important to acknowledge that public welfare is less dependent merely on increasing economic growth, but it is very significant that the social and environmental factors establish the appropriate conditions to function all-around the public and future generations. Researchers pay a lot of attention to this objective in order to ensure a balance between quality of life and safe environment. Consequently, the social, economic and environmental factors include sustainable economic growth, especially these days it is important to assess the interaction with income inequality in the context of globalization and international integration. The object of the research is the income inequality impact on sustainable economic growth. The aim is to assess the impact of income inequality on sustainable economic growth, which is to achieve the following tasks: to identify the impact of income inequality as the importance of the country's economic growth; to define the concept of income inequality, its factors, consequences and measurements; to characterize the concept on sustainable economic growth; to investigate the effects of income inequality in the direction of sustainable economic growth; to establish the research methodology of income inequality impact on sustainable economic growth; to assess the impact of income inequality on sustainable economic growth in Lithuania and the groups of EU member countries. The research reveals that ten of the EU-25 establish a positive relationship of income inequality and economic growth, while the remaining fifteen – denying. Lithuania provides a very weak negative correlation between income inequality and economic growth, which determines that in Lithuania economic growth lead to more changes in other factors than in income inequality. The conclusion of dynamic analysis presents that economic growth leads to more sustainable alternate changes than in income inequality. Regression analysis denotes that EU-25 country groups establish a strong relationship between economic growth and environmental indicators, while income inequality impact on the environment is insignificant in general or not. Lithuania identifies a positive impact of economic growth on share of renewable energy in gross final energy consumption, but the connection between economic growth and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as between income inequality and the environmental indicators is gradual. |
