This paper argues that the relationship between inequality and economic growth is not constant, but may vary for different growth experiences. Ariun-Erdene empirically examines the effect of economic growth on top income shares in the presence of a Kuznets inverted U-curve relationship between inequality and development by accommodating asymmetries in the marginal responses for 26 countries over the period of 1870-2011. Estimation results of simple pooled-OLS and GLS with existence of heteroskedasticity and autocorrelation show that a strong U-curve relationship exists between top income shares and per capita income. Moreover, the findings suggest that positive asymmetry exists in the response of top income shares to economic growth, as top income earners benefit when economic growth accelerates but do not suffer to the same extent when the economy decelerates.