Main Takeaways Urgent measures are necessary to provide sufficient income to millions of people who cannot work due to pandemicrelated restrictions, so that they can still meet their basic needs. Many of these workers lack social and labor protections.  Basic income schemes vary in type, design and implementation. Those...

Our economy is broken, with hundreds of millions of people living in extreme poverty while huge rewards go to those at the very top. The number of billionaires has doubled since the financial crisis and their fortunes grow by $2.5bn a day, yet the super-rich and corporations are paying...

Our economy is broken, with hundreds of millions of people living in extreme poverty while huge rewards go to those at the very top. The number of billionaires has doubled since the financial crisis and their fortunes grow by $2.5bn a day, yet the super-rich and corporations are paying...

In recent months, a debate has flared in academic and philanthropy circles around the extent to which the human rights framework can serve to challenge rising economic inequality. Naysayers can be found on different sides of the ideological spectrum. Some, such as Yale historian Samuel Moyn, argue that the...

Universal basic income refers to unconditional cash transfers to everyone in a society regardless of their income, employment status, job search, or other key criteria. The concept differs from traditional forms of social protection, which tend to provide income support or services to people experiencing specific contingencies, i.e., due...

In 2015, the leaders of 193 governments promised to reduce inequality under Goal 10 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Without reducing inequality, meeting SDG 1 to eliminate poverty will be impossible. In 2017, Development Finance International (DFI) and Oxfam produced the first index to measure the commitment of...

Federal and state policymakers are weighing changes to federal programs that help low-income people meet their basic needs for food, medical care, and shelter. As policymakers consider these changes to the public safety net, they run the risk of increasing material hardship, which could have detrimental short- and long-term...

En 2017, 82 % des richesses créées dans le monde ont bénéficié aux 1 % les plus riches, alors que les 50 % les plus pauvres n’en ont reçu que des miettes. La France n’échappe pas à cette tendance : les 10 % les plus riches détiennent plus de...

This paper gives content to the idea of a minimum income as reflected in ILO Conventions and Recommendations. It also aims to provide some practical guidance as to how such minima can best be operationalized. The practical purpose of this analysis is to define a reference income level that...

The theme of the book is Growth and Inequality. These are the two fundamental problems with the economy of the Pakistan. The rate of economic growth has barely touched 5 percent over the last decade. Simultaneously, the economic and social structure have perpetuated high income, wealth and regional disparities....

The last four decades have been characterised by drastic changes in the distribution of income between wages and profits in both OECD countries and emerging economies. We have recently analysed the causes of the decline in the wage share in the developed and developing countries for a project titled...

Inequality in Asia and the Pacific is on the rise. Many countries, including those held up as models of dynamism and prosperity, have experienced a widening of existing gaps, accompanied by environmental degradation. Market-led growth alone is not sufficient to deliver a prosperous, sustainable future for all. This report...

Consistently with the emphasis that the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has placed on equality since 2010, and in keeping with the purpose of leaving no one behind enshrined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, this document examines the mechanisms by which inequality erodes...

Consistently with the emphasis that the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has placed on equality since 2010, and in keeping with the purpose of leaving no one behind enshrined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, this document examines the mechanisms by which inequality erodes...

This paper analyzes social protection policies for families and early childhood focusing on three main policies: family allowances and other types of monetary transfers for families with children, work leaves and early childhood education and care (ECEC) policies worldwide. It analyzes the design and reform of policies which protect...

We study economic globalization as a multidimensional process and investigate its effect on incomes. In a panel of 147 countries during 1970-2014, we apply a new instrumental variable, exploiting globalization’s geographically diffusive character, and find differential gains from globalization both across and within countries: Income gains are substantial for...

New estimates show that just eight men own the same wealth as the poorest half of the world. As growth benefits the richest, the rest of society – especially the poorest – suffers. The very design of our economies and the principles of our economics have taken us to...

In spite of the rising global interest in inequality, emerging economies have not been studied enough, due to the lack of sufficient data and differences in economic and social structures. It is important to measure the extent of inequality to understand the growth trajectories of these economies and the...

The World Inequality Report 2018 relies on a cutting-edge methodology to measure income and wealth inequality in a systematic and transparent manner. By developing this report, the World Inequality Lab seeks to fill a democratic gap and to equip various actors of society with the necessary facts to engage in informed...

The Inclusive Development Index (IDI) is an annual assessment of 103 countries’ economic performance that measures how countries perform on eleven dimensions of economic progress in addition to GDP. It has 3 pillars; growth and development; inclusion and; intergenerational equity – sustainable stewardship of natural and financial resources. The...

This paper uses the United Nations Global Policy Model (GPM) to assess how increasing minimum wages might impact the South African economy by increasing the share of income going to workers (the “labour share”) – in contrast to the share that accrues to capital through profits and property income....

India was one of the first developing countries to introduce the Minimum Wages Act in 1948 and it is still considered to be an important piece of labour legislation. However, the Act is only applicable to a small proportion of workers. This has resulted in intense academic and policy...

In this edition of Social Panorama of Latin America, ECLAC has addressed the questions posed by the countries of the region in three major areas: income inequality between individuals and households and how these relate to labour market dynamics; the evolution of poverty and its determinants; and the effects...

Despite long-standing conceptual considerations of shame in understanding poverty and debates about its moral, social and emotional qualities, the role of shame in poverty reduction policies remains largely unexplored. Notions of shame or mechanisms leading to shame – such as stigma or lack of dignity or respect – feature...

The briefing explores a critical set of redistributive policies – in the areas of social protection, health, education and taxation – that are key to tackling economic inequality from a human rights perspective. It also explains the equally crucial ‘pre-distributive’ policies – actions governments should take to ensure the...