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69 UNU-WIDER articles, publications, projects, experts...

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  • Blog
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  • (-) Economic inequality
Working Paper
The effect of top incomes on inequality in South Africa

South Africa exhibits extreme levels of income inequality and is ranked as one of the most unequal countries in the world. In order to measure these severe levels of inequality, it matters how we account for the different parts of the income...

  • Income distribution
  • Economic inequality
  • Personal income tax
Working Paper
A macroeconomic perspective on Asian development

Macroeconomic strategies and policies have differed significantly among Asian countries over the last fifty years, and yet some common issues recur despite their immense diversity in inherited historical initial conditions, differences in political...

  • Unemployment
  • Labour market
  • State
Working Paper
Measuring multidimensional inequality of opportunity

This paper develops a normative approach to the measurement of ex-ante inequality of opportunity in a multidimensional setting—that is, when the individual outcome is represented by a multidimensional variable. We characterize three classes of social...

  • Equality of opportunity
  • Economic inequality
  • Multidimensional welfare
Research Brief
A snapshot of poverty and inequality in Asia
  • Economic inequality
  • Chronic Poverty
  • Asia
Blog
Why is inequality in South Africa higher than in Germany?: Explaining income distributions with ‘decompositions’
Placeholder
by Carlos Gradín March 2020

The understanding of inequality requires the analysis of changes in income distributions across countries and over time as well as the identification...

  • Economic inequality
  • Income inequality
  • Methodology (Economics)
Blog
Virtuous circles and downward spirals: The power of ideas & the limits of technocracy
Placeholder
by Brian Levy November 2021

What will it take to shake loose the distemper of our times, and initiate a virtuous spiral of renewal? In a recent UNU-WIDER webinar, Alan Hirsch and...

  • Sustainable development
  • Institutional quality
  • Democracy
Policy Brief
Inequality is not an inevitable consequence of economic development
  • Developer's dilemma
  • Economic inequality
  • Economic growth
Journal Article
Promoting education under distortionary taxation

A common claim in the policy discourse is that a government wishing to achieve equality of opportunity should use public provision of education for equalisation of opportunities rather than income taxation, which only equalizes incomes. We develop a...

  • Educational subsidies
  • Equality of opportunity
  • Income tax
Journal Article
Snakes and ladders and loaded dice

Longitudinal surveys allow us to understand how markers of (dis)advantage determine present material welfare and economic upward or downward mobility over time. In this paper, we use five waves of panel data to empirically assess the extent and...

  • Economic inequality
  • Poverty Dynamics
  • Social stratification
Blog
Urban poverty: cities, slums, and the need for policy action
by Emily Rains, Anirudh Krishna October 2022

Developing countries will be predominantly urban by 2030. While urbanization is historically associated with development and broad-based social...

  • Social mobility
  • India
  • Urbanization
Blog
Sunshine, elephants, and boomerangs: Is a dramatic rise in global income inequality looming?
by Ravi Kanbur, Eduardo Ortiz-Juarez, Andy Sumner March 2022

Global Inequality 101: Global inequality is the distribution of income across all people on the planet from the poorest to the richest. It can be...

  • Inequalities
  • Inequality
  • Global inequality
Blog
Studying COVID-19 through the lens of microsimulation: The role of tax and benefit policies in alleviating poverty and inequality
by Jesse Lastunen, Pia Rattenhuber December 2020

As the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic evolves, developing nations are struggling to deliver economic assistance and public services to their...

  • Tax-benefit microsimulation
  • Tax-benefit policy
  • Individual poverty
Blog
Late development, early adoption – how new technology is reshaping the future of structural change
Placeholder
by Lukas Schlogl December 2020

Technological catch-up is bringing new asynchronies to development pathways. What does this mean for employment, globalization, and inequality? A...

  • Structural transformation
  • Technology
  • Developer's dilemma
Blog
The developer’s dilemma in India – the role of politics and economic ideology
by Saon Ray, Sabyasachi Kar December 2020

Policy makers seeking inclusive growth frequently face the developer’s dilemma between prioritizing structural transformation, which is potentially...

  • Structural transformation
  • Economic inequality
  • Economic development
Blog
35 years of research for change – what's next?: Building just societies
by Armida Alisjahbana, Kunal Sen, Andy Sumner, Arief Anshory Yusuf December 2020

To celebrate its 35th birthday, UNU-WIDER has looked back at some of its greatest achievements. As the year closes, Armida Alisjahbana, Kunal Sen...

  • Structural transformation
  • Economic inequality
  • Economic development
Blog
New WIID Companion to improve the study of inequality
Placeholder
by Carlos Gradín April 2021

There is a growing need to understand income inequality trends and how they interplay with other social, economic, and political outcomes, both at the...

  • Inequality
  • Equality
  • Economic inequality
Research Brief
Does exchange rate volatility amplify existing inequalities in South Africa?

Even though poverty and inequality have been of overriding concern in South Africa’s development policies and programmes since its democratization in 1994, measures of poverty, inequality, and related phenomena in the country do not show a clear...

  • Functional distribution
  • Income distribution
  • Economic inequality
Working Paper
The social psychology of economic inequality

In this review, I provide an overview of the literature investigating the social psychology of economic inequality, focusing on individuals’ understandings, perceptions, and reactions to inequality. I begin by describing different ways of measuring...

  • Inequality
  • Economic inequality
  • Psychological aspects (Economics)
Blog
35 years of research for change: Bringing inequality to the fore (1998-2020)
Placeholder
by Timothy Shipp October 2020

UNU-WIDER released the world’s first estimates of the global wealth distribution in 2007 – one result of a 2004–05 project, ‘Personal Assets from a...

  • Global inequality
  • Economic inequality
Research Brief
Analysing the spread of education and healthcare in Asia
  • Healthcare
  • Education policy
  • State
Blog
UNU-WIDER at 35: Letter from the Director
Placeholder
by Kunal Sen September 2020

2020 promised to be a big year for UNU-WIDER, with the celebration of our 35th anniversary, the 45th birthday of UNU, and 75 years of the UN. But as...

  • Structural adjustment (Economic policy)
  • IMF
  • Human Development Report
News
New collaborative programme focusing on economic transformation and inequality launched with South African government and other regional organizations
  • Structural economic transformation
  • Economic inequality
  • Employment and Industry
Presentation
Measuring Inequality in the 21st Century

The Human Development Report Office, LIS, the Stone Center at the City University of New York (CUNY), UNU-WIDER and the World Inequality Lab will host a symposium on Measuring Inequality in the 21st Century. The 2-day event will be held 28-29 March...

28 March 2019 – 29 March 2019
United Nations Headquarters , New York, United States
Past event
Panel discussion
Open dialogue on inequality in the 21st century
29 March 2019
Ex-Press Bar, Third Floor of the General Assembly, United Nations Headquarters, 1st Avenue at 46th Street, New York, United States
Past event
Project
SOUTHMOD – simulating tax and benefit policies for development

Theme: Inclusion

  • Taxation
  • Social protection
  • Income distribution
Seminar
Luis Felipe López Calva on inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean
5 October 2021
Online, Helsinki, Finland
Past event
Seminar
Brian Levy and Alan Hirsch on the challenge of economic inclusion in South Africa
2 November 2021
Online, Helsinki, Finland
Past event
Project workshop
3rd Annual workshop: Inequality and governance in unstable democracies – the mediating role of trust
22 April 2021 – 23 April 2021
Online, Maputo, Mozambique
Past event
Seminar
SA-TIED seminar on pension-related tax expenditures

On 03 May the SA-TIED programme will host an online seminar on pension-related tax expenditures. The presentation will be given by Agustin Redonda and Chris Axelson under the SA-TIED project work stream on Public revenue for inclusive development...

3 May 2021
Online, Pretoria, South Africa
Past event
Presentation
SOUTHMOD presented at the IAB seminar series

The Institute for Employment Research (IAB) is hosting an online seminar series "Corona - leveler or amplifier of social and economic inequality?". The weekly seminar series aims to bring together empirically rigorous contributions from the fields of...

19 May 2021
Online, Nuremberg, Germany
Past event
Project workshop
Inequality and governance in unstable democracies – the mediating role of trust: 2nd Annual Workshop

More than 30 participants attended the 2nd annual workshop for ‘Trust and Governance’ project, held virtually on the 16th and 17th April 2020. The workshop was initially set to be held in Colombia but had to be moved to a virtual environment through...

16 April 2020 – 17 April 2020
Virtual (Zoom)
Past event
Policy seminar
SA-TIED policy dialogue – Macroeconomics and inequality in South Africa
29 June 2021
Online, South Africa
Past event
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