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October 2020

35 years of research for change – bringing inequality to the fore (1998-2020)

by Timothy Shipp

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 Perspective’. The project’s work inspired Credit Suisse’s Global Wealth Report, which remains the most important report on wealth inequality in the world today. Nearly a decade earlier, in 1998, UNU-WIDER began a project under the helm of Giovanni Andrea Cornea that drew attention to rising economic inequality as a pressing global concern on par with global poverty. A collaboration with this project brought the World Income Inequality Database (WIID) to UNU-WIDER in 2000. The WIID has been the most comprehensive collection of income inequality statistics ever since.

Blogs

The global distribution of routine and non-routine work – and why we should we care about it

by Simone Schotte, Piotr Lewandowski, and Albert Park

The nature of work is changing due to technological progress, globalization, and the rapidly expanding supply of college-educated workers. At a global level, these changes have induced a shift ...

The global distribution of household wealth

by James B. Davies, Susanna Sandström, Anthony F. Shorrocks and Edward N. Wolff

While the richest 10% of adults in the world own 85% of global household wealth, the bottom half collectively owns barely 1%. Even more strikingly, the average person in the top 10% owns nearly 3,000 times the wealth of the average person in the bottom 10%.

The WIID celebrates 20 years with a daring new plan

by Carlos Gradín

After 20 years of contributions to income inequality research, the World Income Inequality Database (the WIID) is getting a new expansion that will greatly strengthen knowledge on inequalities. UNU-WIDER is now working to produce a user-friendly companion ...

Populism in Brazil: how liberalisation and austerity led to the rise of Lula and Bolsonaro

by Patricia Justino and Bruno Martorano

While the rise of populist politicians in the Europe and the US gets a lot of attention from the media and researchers alike, the drivers of the populism taking hold in emerging and developing economies ...

Personal assets from a global perspective

by James B. Davies

In 2005 much attention focused on estimates of the world distribution of income by World Bank researchers and others. The global distribution of income is very unequal and the inequality has not been falling over time. In some regions poverty and inequality have become much worse. WIDER researchers have long been interested ...

Nobel Peace Prize acknowledges link between preventing hunger and promoting peace

by Patricia Justino

Since the beginning of history, humanity has faced a vicious cycle of hunger and conflict. In their search for secure food supplies, our ancestors (as many of us today) fought others for the control ...

Events

Seminar | Towards UN LDC5: Recovery from COVID-19

21-23 October 2020

How to support least developed countries to recover from the shocks caused by COVID-19 pandemic? OECD, UN-OHRLLS and FERDI with its partners – including UNU-WIDER – will organize this online event on 21 and 23 October to share and discuss insights ...

Conference | Evidence to enhance inclusive growth

2-6 November 2020

Join us for the 2020 annual conference of the Inclusive growth in Mozambique — scaling up research and capacity programme, which will take place online on 2-6 November. The event will bring together leading researchers, academics, and development practitioners ...

Seminar | François Roubaud and Isabelle Guérin on COVID-19 and the role of RCTs in development

10 November 2020

During this special 75 minute session they will launch their new book on the role of randomized control trials (RCT) in development.

Seminar | Daria Taglioni on international trade and supply chains post COVID-19

24 November 2020

Daria Taglioni will join the WIDER Webinar Series on 24 November 2020 to discuss the impact of COVID-19 on global value chains, and what this means for development.

Seminar | Myles Wickstead on the changing face of aid and development

8 December 2020

Myles Wickstead will join the WIDER Webinar Series to discuss the future of development aid in the post-COVID world.

News

UNU-WIDER joins major new research consortium analysing African cities

A partnership of urban development experts – including UNU-WIDER – has been awarded a contract of £32 million to establish the African Cities Research Consortium (ACRC). ACRC will tackle complex problems in some of Africa’s fastest growing urban areas.

The WIID – an important source for the UN Economists Network report for the 75th Anniversary of the United Nations

New York, 17 September - The UN's top economists warned of crises of our own making if global 'megatrends' are left unchecked in a special report on six global megatrends. In a press release, UNDESA said, 'the chief economists in the United Nations system jointly identified climate change and nature degradation, inequalities, urbanization, rapid population changes and technological revolution as the five megatrends that will shape our world over the course of this century'.

Shaping our future together – UNU-WIDER celebrates United Nations' 75th anniversary

The year 2020 marks a special anniversary for the United Nations: 75 years from the signing of the UN Charter in San Francisco. UNU-WIDER will take part in the commemoration of the anniversary both globally and in collaboration with other UN agencies in Finland.

Publications

Book | Inequality, Growth and Poverty in an Era of Liberalization and Globalization

edited by Giovanni Andrea Cornia

Within-country income inequality has risen since the early 1980s in most of the OECD, all transitional, and many developing countries. More recently, inequality has risen also in India and nations affected by the Asian crisis. Altogether, over the last twenty years, ...

Book | Personal Wealth from a Global Perspective

edited by James B. Davies

There is great media fascination in the activities and lifestyles of the super-rich. But personal wealth is also important for those of more modest means as a store of potential consumption, as a cushion against emergencies, and as collateral for business and ...

Journal Special Issue | Involuntary Migration, Inequality, and Integration – Vietnamese and Afghan migrants in Canada, Germany, the UK, and the US

edited by Rachel M. Gisselquist

OPEN ACCESS ON EARLY VIEW | Migration is an inherent feature of human history. A rich literature considers the experiences of ...

Research Brief | Are credits or deductions better in public health spending? The impact on equality in South Africa

The impact of medical deductions and medical credits on income inequality is a subject of discussion in South Africa, as well as in many other countries, raising critical questions about the fairness of the medical tax system and the impact on affordability for the poor.

Research Brief | Finding optimal solutions for efficient youth labour policies – what kind of firms employ young people in South Africa?

According to South Africa’s National Development Plan Vision 2030, serious action needs to be taken to reduce poverty and encourage economic growth. One of the main challenges involves reducing the unemployment rates in South Africa, particularly among youth.

Research Brief | Wage inequality in post-apartheid South Africa

Much work has been done on inequality in South Africa, but to date the literature that assesses the dynamic response of income or wealth distribution to economic policy actions is almost non-existent. This information gap is caused by data shortcomings that make it difficult to provide accurate economic analyses for improving policies.

WIDER Working Paper Series

Working Paper

Inequality, institutions, and cooperation

Working Paper

Estimating the level and distribution of global household wealth

Working Paper

Changes in inequality within countries after 1990

Working Paper

Comment on 'Redistribution, inequality, and growth: new evidence'

Working Paper

Fiscal policy, labour market, and inequality – diagnosing South Africa's anomalies in the shadow of racial discrimination

Working Paper

Subjective returns to education – rational expectations of disadvantaged groups in India

Working Paper

The political economy of the resource curse – a development perspective

Working Paper

The Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918–20 – an interpretative survey in the time of COVID-19

Working Paper

Ethnic diversity and informal work in Ghana

Projects

Personal assets from a global perspective

The project aims to assemble data about the distribution and composition of personal assets in developing, transition, and developed countries and to study the implications of personal asset-holding for economic development. The most important asset types — financial assets, land and housing — will be given special attention.

Addressing group-based inequalities

This project aims to study and learn from the policy efforts and experience of countries fighting inequality, with particular attention to experiences from the Global South. By doing so, it hopes to offer key lessons and frameworks for reducing inequalities around the world.

The impact of inequality on growth, human development, and governance @EQUAL

A significant empirical literature in economics and political science explores the impact of inequality on major economic and political outcomes; in particular, economic growth, human development and governance.

Rising income inequality and poverty reduction - are they compatible?

Over the last several years, the donor community has increasingly focused its efforts on poverty eradication. Meanwhile, income inequality appears to have been rising in many developed, developing and transitional countries. Economic theory explains only poorly the rise in inequality over the last 20 years or so and the relation ...

Women's work – routes to economic and social empowerment

This project looks at what we know about the nature of women’s work in developing countries. The project will consider policy paths for the creation of productive jobs for women that are properly remunerated and thus create a route to women’s economic and social empowerment.

Opportunities

Vacancy | Web Developer

UNU-WIDER is looking for an outstanding individual with strong web and systems development skills to join the institute’s ICT Team. Closing date: open until the position is filled

Vacancy | Research Associate

UNU-WIDER is looking for a postdoctoral fellow to serve as a Research Associate to the project on ‘Institutional legacies of violent conflict’. Closing date: 2 December 2020, 23:59 UTC+2

Vacancy | Research Assistant (6 months)

UNU-WIDER is looking for outstanding individuals with strong commitment and potential to contribute to the SA-TIED programme. Closing date: 15 November 2020 at 23:59 UTC+2

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