How does high dependence on natural resources affect income inequality? Surprisingly little is known about the impact of dependence on primary goods on income distribution. Building on insights from the resource curse literature, this paper studies the relationship between income shocks through changes in commodity prices and income inequality in a panel of 80 countries from 1990 to 2016. We analyze differentiated effects of commodity price shocks depending on the type of commodity (labor vs. capital-intensive). We also study differences across world regions and explore potential mechanisms by looking at different types of inequality (pay-driven vs. capital-rents-driven). Results show that commodity price shocks have an impact on income inequality. However, this impact depends on the type of commodity and inequality.

对自然资源的高度依赖如何影响收入不平等？令人惊讶的是，人们对依赖初级产品对收入分配的影响知之甚少。基于资源诅咒文献的见解，本文研究了 1990 年至 2016 年 80 个国家的面板商品价格变化带来的收入冲击与收入不平等之间的关系。我们根据商品类型分析了商品价格冲击的差异化影响（劳动与资本密集型）。我们还研究了世界各地区的差异，并通过研究不同类型的不平等（薪酬驱动与资本租金驱动）来探索潜在机制。结果表明，商品价格冲击对收入不平等有影响。然而，这种影响取决于商品的类型和不平等。