
73 UNU-WIDER articles, publications, projects, experts...
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Working Paper
Gender and the South African labour marketThis paper has three primary objectives. First, it provides a broad overview of the available South African data used to examine gender in the labour market, with specific reference to the South African Revenue Services (SARS) tax data which has...
Working Paper
The distributional impact of structural transformation in rural IndiaThe North Indian village of Palanpur has been the subject of close study over a period of six decades from 1957/8 to 2015. Himanshu et al. (2018) have documented the evolution of the village economy over this period in an exhaustive study entitled...
Policy Brief
Inequality dynamics in ChinaIn the late 1970s, China embarked on a major programme of economic transition and reform. Since then, China’s economy has been transformed from a socialist planned economy to a predominately market economy characterized by a combination of state...
Blog
Inequality: Driving forces and policy solutionsThe many faces of inequality Measuring inequality isn’t as simple as it may seem. We know that since the 1970s global inequality has been falling in...
Working Paper
The wage-setting power of firmsUsing administrative tax records from South Africa for the period 2011–14, I find that firm wage premia explain 25 per cent of the total wage variance, 60 per cent of the gender wage gap, and 40 per cent of the gap between workers in the middle and...
Policy Brief
Inequality in BrazilAfter three decades of persistently high inequality, Brazil has been experiencing a downward trend since 2001, accompanied by a rise in household incomes. These trends lasted until 2014 when a major reversal took place on both fronts. Since the 1970s...
Policy Brief
Reducing inequalities in South AfricaSouth Africa has the highest rate of measured inequality in the world. Often thought to be a legacy of the apartheid system, inequality in South Africa has stubbornly persisted. South Africa’s position as highest inequality country in the world has...
Working Paper
How do human rights violations affect poverty and income distribution?The goal of this paper is to examine the impact of human rights on income distribution and poverty by exploring how both aid and trade can influence poverty and income distribution through human rights. The analysis employs data for 125 countries and...
Journal Article
Skills, personality traits, and gender wage gapsWe use a recent first-hand linked employer–employee survey covering the formal sector of Bangladesh to explain gender wage gaps by the inclusion of measures of cognitive attainment and personality traits. Our results show that cognitive skills have...
Working Paper
Fiscal redistribution in BrazilThis paper assesses causes and consequences of fiscal redistribution in Brazil. The framework proposed allows evaluating in an integrated manner the impacts of government-sponsored actions in inequality and mean income changes on social welfare...
Working Paper
Income under-reporting and tax evasionPersonal income tax is attracting more attention from the Vietnamese government, which has been looking for a way to reinforce its budget revenue. Although this tax plays an increasing role, representing 7.3 per cent of the revenue expected in 2018...
Working Paper
The long-term evolution of income inequality and poverty in ChinaBy using the five waves of the China Household Income Project surveys conducted during 1988–2013, this paper investigates long-term changes in income inequality and poverty in China. Income inequality rose before 2007 and then fell by a small amount...
Working Paper
The distributional impact of tax and benefit systems in six African countriesThis paper assesses the effects of public policies on income taxes and benefits in six African countries. The comparative analysis focuses on the distribution and composition of incomes and assesses the effect of these policies on inequality and...