however with the onset and lasting effects of the recent global financial and economic crisis greater attention is being given to the negative longterm impact of rising inequality and to the role of fiscal and social policy in shaping and curbing these effects berg and ostry examined the relationship between income inequality and economic growth across countries to reveal that income inequality was a strong determinant of the quality of growth even when market structure and other institutional factors were taken into account countries with low levels of inequality tend to sustain high rates of growth for longer durations while growth spurts tend to fade more quickly in more unequal countries