Financial development and the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on income inequality: An application on G-20countries

The relationship between financial development and income inequality continues to be a subject of great interest. Financial development is seen as a key point both in economic development and in ensuring fairness in income distribution. For this purpose, the main objective of this study is to determine the existence of the relationship between financial development and income inequality. In addition, the Covid-19 pandemic, which occurred in late 2019 and had a global impact, was included in the purpose of the study and its impact on income inequality was investigated. The sample of the study consists of G-20 countries. The European Union, which is included in the country groups, is not included in the study sample. In the sample of 19 countries, data for the years 1990-2021 were used. The data were subjected to panel data analysis. According to the results obtained from the models constructed within the scope of the study; financial development variables affect income inequality. Income inequality is affected to the same extent by the positive or negative effects of financial development. According to the other model in which the Covid-19 pandemic is included, the pandemic has no effect on both financial development and income inequality.