Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T23:09:24.633Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

COMMENT ON THE REPORT OF THE INTERNATIONAL PANEL ON SOCIAL PROGRESS, CHAPTER 3: ECONOMIC INEQUALITY AND SOCIAL PROGRESS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 October 2018

Uma Rani*
Affiliation:
Research Department, International Labour Organisation, 4 route des Morillons, Geneva CH 1211, Switzerland. Email: [email protected].

Extract

Chapter 3 discusses the causes, patterns and dynamics of inequalities in an exhaustive review of the literature on inequality of income, expenditure and wealth among individuals and households. It emphasizes how these inequalities reflect and affect inequality along various dimensions, including political freedom, economic opportunity, health, education and social outcomes. It gives three sets of policy recommendations for different populations: (i) policies to improve the conditions among the poor, the vulnerable and the socially excluded; (ii) policies geared towards supporting the growth and sustainability of a strong middle class; and (iii) policies that seek to curb concentration of income and wealth at the top (121). Some of these policy recommendations are quite consistent with what has often been proposed for the past three decades, which is that redistributive policies or welfare at the bottom should benefit the least well-off and address inequality.

Type
Review Symposium on the Report of the International Panel on Social Progress 2018
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

The opinions expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the ILO.

References

REFERENCES

Berg, J. (ed.). 2015. Labour Markets, Institutions and Inequality: Building Just Societies in the 21st Century. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, and Geneva: ILO.Google Scholar
Cimoli, M., Dosi, G. and Stiglitz, J.E. (eds). 2009. Industrial Policy and Development: The Political Economy of Capabilities Accumulation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Fuest, C., Niehues, J. and Peichl, A.. 2010. The redistributive effects of tax benefit systems in the enlarged EU. Public Finance Review 38 (4): 473500.Google Scholar
Förster, M. and Tóth, I.. 2015. Cross-country evidence of the multiple causes of inequality in the OECD area. In Handbook of Income Distribution, ed. Bourguignon, F. and Atkinson, A.B.. New York, NY: Elsevier.Google Scholar
International Labour Organisation (ILO). 2015. World Employment and Social Outlook: The Changing Nature of Jobs. Geneva: ILO.Google Scholar
International Labour Organisation (ILO). 2016. Global Wage Report 2016/2017: Wage Inequality in the Workplace. Geneva: ILO.Google Scholar
International Labour Organisation (ILO). 2017. World Social Protection Report 2017–19: Universal Social Protection to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Geneva: ILO.Google Scholar
OECD. 2015. In It Together: Why Less Inequality Benefits All. Paris: OECD Publishing.Google Scholar
Rani, U. and Furrer, M.. 2016. Decomposing Income Inequality into Factor Income Components: Evidence from Selected G20 Countries. ILO Research Paper No. 15. Geneva: ILO.Google Scholar
Salazar-Xirinachs, J. M., Nübler, I. and Kozul-Wright, R.. 2014. Transforming Economies: Making Industrial Policies for Growth, Jobs and Development. Geneva: ILO.Google Scholar
Zacharias, A. 2017. How Time Deficits and Hidden Poverty Undermine the Sustainable Development Goals. Policy Note 2017/4. Annandale-on-Hudson, NY: Levy Economics Institute of Bard College.Google Scholar