This paper analyses the relationship between inflation and relative price variability, in the direction of the latter, in two countries with very different inflationary experiences: Argentina and Spain. To address this objective, using disaggregated price indexes (the Wholesale Price Index for Argentina and the Consumer Price Index for Spain), we delimitate different inflationary regimes and compute a set of regressions for each country. Our results suggest evidence in favour of the non-neutrality of inflation (mostly in hyperinflation periods) and do not support either the menu costs or the signal extraction approaches. We also detect significant structural changes in the relationship depending on the inflationary regime.

The relationship between income inequality and economic growth is estimated using dynamic panel estimation on a sample covering 112 emerging countries for the period 1980–2014. The results show that income inequality has a positive influence on economic growth for richer countries, in line with the classic theory, and a negative effect for poorer countries, as argued by the political economy approach. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.