Income inequality, unequal opportunities, growth and employment

Does inequality have a negative impact on growth and employment? In theory, there are different mechanisms leading to effects of inequality on growth and employment working in opposite directions. So this is an empirical question. We look at two types of inequality: income inequalit y (before and after redistribution) and unequal opportunities (which we measure by the quality of the education system). For OECD countries, we look at the correlations between these measures of inequality, the growth rate and the employment rate. We see that: Low growth and employment rates increase inequality before redistribution; Equal opportunities increase growth and the employment rate sharply , and therefore reduce inequality. It is therefore the fight for equal opportunities that is important.