Rising income inequality: trends - and measures to prevent and reverse it

ILO, UNCTAD, and UNU-WIDER invite interested professionals to the policy seminar on ‘Rising income inequality: trends, and measures to prevent and reverse it’.

The last decade has witnessed a revival of concern over the impact of high-income concentration on economic development and wellbeing. This is thanks to theoretical advances in this area and, even more so, to the evidence of a sharp rise in income inequality in the OECD area, China, India, and other economies.

Many observers are asking how rising inequality could be halted and reversed—through policies in the areas of trade and banking regulation, labour markets, social transfers, and other measures. This debate can benefit from the evidence of a significant decline in inequality recorded in much of Latin America since 2002, including the turbulent years 2008-13. The region holds many policy lessons for helping to shape policies aimed at reducing inequality and poverty in other parts of the world in the years ahead.

Programme

10:00-10:15 Coffee
10:15-10:30 Welcome and introduction
10:30-11:00 Inequality: bringing redistribution back in the development agenda by Isabel Ortiz
11:00-11:30 Can international trade and finance help reduce income inequality? by Richard Kozul-Wright
11:30-12:00 Falling inequality in Latin America: trends and policies by Giovanni Andrea Cornia
12:00-13:00 Q&A and panel discussion