Globalization–Income Inequality Nexus in the Post-Soviet Countries: Analysis of Heterogeneous Dataset Using the Quantiles via Moments Approach

Abstract

Deglobalization, as opposed to the term globalization, appears in the world order due to local solutions to problems and border controls, ignoring the principles of treaties, trade wars, and the expansion of regionalism. In addition, slowbalization helps shrink the global flow of trade, information, and societal and cultural exchange dynamism. However, this scary global order, as triggered by deglobalization and slowbalization, significantly impacts the income factors of allied nations. Against this background, we aim to investigate whether deglobalization and slowbalization proxied by the influencing magnitudes of globalization dimensions (e.g., globalization de facto and de jure, internet diffusions, and trade openness) impact the income inequality of the 12 post-Soviet countries, considering the panel data during 1991–2019. To this end, we apply the quantiles via moments approach to investigate the time-varying connectedness between variables that have country and data-centric heterogeneities. Our findings depict that deglobalization is futile in affecting the post-Soviet countries’ income dynamics, as globalization negatively affects income inequality in diverse quantiles. Specifically, globalization de facto (globalized policy-implementation spectrum) and internet diffusions have a significantly negative influence on reducing income inequality from low to medium quantiles (q.25–q.75). Globalization de jure (globalized policy-decision spectrum) and trade openness are statistically insignificant in entire quantiles (q.25–q.95), implying the likely existence of slowbalization. Finally, government expenditures and governance quality are monotonically negative in reducing income inequality at all quantiles (q.25–q.95). Therefore, policy suggestions enclose galvanizing globalization potentials in curbing income inequality to keep away the distressful phases of deglobalization and slowbalization. © 2023 by the authors.