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Global Inequality: Beyond the Bottom Billion – A Rapid Review of Income Distribution in 141 Countries

Author

Listed:
  • Isabel Ortiz
  • Matthew Cummins

    (Division of Policy and Practice,UNICEF)

Abstract

This working paper: (i) provides an overview of global, regional and national income inequalities based on the latest distribution data from the World Bank, UNU-WIDER and Eurostat; (ii) discusses the negative implications of rising income inequality for development; (iii) calls for placing equity at the center of development in the context of the United Nations development agenda; (iv) describes the likelihood of inequalities being exacerbated during the global economic crisis; (v) advocates for urgent policy changes at national and international levels to ensure a “Recovery for All”; and, (vi) to serve as a general reference source, Annex 2 provides a summary of the most up-to-date income distribution and inequality data for 141 countries

Suggested Citation

  • Isabel Ortiz & Matthew Cummins, 2011. "Global Inequality: Beyond the Bottom Billion – A Rapid Review of Income Distribution in 141 Countries," Working papers 1102, UNICEF,Division of Policy and Strategy.
    • Handle: RePEc:uce:wpaper:1102
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    File URL: http://www.unicef.org/socialpolicy/files/Global_Inequality_REVISED_-_5_July.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sanjay Reddy & Camelia Minoiu, 2009. "Real Income Stagnation of Countries 1960-2001," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(1), pages 1-23.
    2. Isabel Ortiz & Jingqing Chai & Matthew Cummins, 2011. "Escalating Food Prices: The threat to poor households and policies to safeguard a Recovery for All," Working papers 1101, UNICEF,Division of Policy and Strategy.
    3. DAVIES, JAMES B & Shorrocks, Anthony & Sandstrom, Susanna & WOLFF, EDWARD N, 2007. "The World Distribution of Household Wealth," Center for Global, International and Regional Studies, Working Paper Series qt3jv048hx, Center for Global, International and Regional Studies, UC Santa Cruz.
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    5. Isabel Ortiz, 2007. "Social Policy," Policy Notes 6, United Nations, Department of Economics and Social Affairs.
    6. Giovanni Andrea Cornia, 2005. "Policy Reform and Income Distribution," Working Papers 3, United Nations, Department of Economics and Social Affairs.
    7. Aditya Bhattacharjea, 2003. "Book Review: Kicking away the Ladder: Development Strategy in Historical Perspective," Indian Economic Review, Department of Economics, Delhi School of Economics, vol. 38(1), pages 126-129, January.
    8. Giovanni Andrea Cornia, 2003. "The Impact of Liberalisation and Globalisation on Income Inequality in Developing and Transitional Economies," CESifo Working Paper Series 843, CESifo Group Munich.
    9. Andrew Mold, 2003. "Kicking away the ladder: development strategy in historical perspective by HA-JOON CHANG. (London: Anthem Press, 2002, pp. 187)," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 15(5), pages 668-670.
    10. Hulya Dagdeviren & Rolph van der Hoeven & John Weeks, 2000. "Redistribution Matters: Growth for Poverty Reduction," Working Papers 99, Department of Economics, SOAS, University of London, UK.
    11. Cornia, Giovanni Andrea, 2010. "Transition, Structural Divergence,and Performance: Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union over 2000-2007," WIDER Working Paper Series 032, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    12. Kanbur, Ravi & Lustig, Nora, 1999. "Why is Inequality Back on the Agenda?," Working Papers 127690, Cornell University, Department of Applied Economics and Management.
    13. Ronald Mendoza, 2009. "Aggregate Shocks, Poor Household and Children: Transmission Channels and Policy Responses," Working papers 0901, UNICEF,Division of Policy and Strategy.
    14. International Monetary Fund, 2002. "Financial Crises, Poverty, and Income Distribution," IMF Working Papers 02/4, International Monetary Fund.
    15. Steve Dowrick & Muhammad Akmal, 2005. "Contradictory Trends In Global Income Inequality: A Tale Of Two Biases," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 51(2), pages 201-229, June.
    16. Giovanni Andrea Cornia & Bruno Martorano, 2010. "Policies for Reducing Income Inequality: Latin America During the Last Decade," Working papers 1006, UNICEF,Division of Policy and Strategy.
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    Cited by:

    1. Nathalie Chusseau & Joël Hellier, 2012. "Inequality in Emerging Countries," Working Papers hal-00993411, HAL.
    2. Joyeeta Gupta & Courtney Vegelin, 2016. "Sustainable development goals and inclusive development," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 433-448, June.
    3. OGREAN Claudia & HERCIU Mihaela, 2015. "Arguments For Csr-Based Sustainable Competitiveness Of Multinationals In Emerging Markets (Part Ii)," Studies in Business and Economics, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Faculty of Economic Sciences, vol. 10(1), pages 92-102, April.
    4. Ryan Higgitt, 2013. "Colonialism, Casteism and Development: South-South Cooperation as a ?New? Development Paradigm," Working Papers 112, International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth.
    5. Kaldewei, Cornelia & Weller, Jürgen, 2013. "Empleo, crecimiento sostenible e igualdad," Macroeconomía del Desarrollo 145, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).
    6. Sebastian Jauch & Sebastian Watzka, 2016. "Financial development and income inequality: a panel data approach," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 51(1), pages 291-314, August.
    7. Isaac Kalonda Kanyama, 2017. "Patterns and trends in horizontal inequality in the Democratic Republic of the Congo," WIDER Working Paper Series 151, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    8. Jan Vandemoortele, 2012. "Equity Begins with Children," Working papers 1201, UNICEF,Division of Policy and Strategy.
    9. -, 2014. "Inestabilidad y desigualdad: La vulnerabilidad del crecimiento en América Latina y el Caribe," Libros de la CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), number 128 edited by Cepal, May.
    10. Rémi Bazillier & Jérôme Héricourt, 2014. "The Circular Relationship between Inequality, Leverage, and Financial Crises: Intertwined Mechanisms and Competing Evidence," Working Papers 2014-22, CEPII research center.
    11. Ortiz, Isabel, & Cummins, Matthew. & Karunanethy, Kalaivani., 2015. "Fiscal space for social protection options to expand social investments in 187 countries," ILO Working Papers 994877663402676, International Labour Organization.
    12. Isabel Ortiz & Jingqing Chai & Matthew Cummins, 2011. "Identifying Fiscal Space:Options for Social and Economic Development for Children and Poor Households in 184 Countries," Working papers 1108, UNICEF,Division of Policy and Strategy.
    13. Sebastian Jauch & Sebastian Watzka, 2011. "Financial Development and Income Inequality: A Panel Data Approach," CESifo Working Paper Series 3687, CESifo Group Munich.
    14. Mohamed BEN AMAR & Nahed ZGHIDI, 2016. "The relationship between inclusive growth, inequality and poverty in Africa," Theoretical and Applied Economics, Asociatia Generala a Economistilor din Romania - AGER, vol. 0(2(607), S), pages 117-126, Summer.
    15. Mehmet Ferhat Özbek & Mohammad Asif Yoldash & Thomas Li-Ping Tang, 2016. "Theory of Justice, OCB, and Individualism: Kyrgyz Citizens," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 137(2), pages 365-382, August.
    16. Guillermo Cruces & Gary Fields & David Jaume & Mariana Viollaz, 2015. "The growth-employment-poverty nexus in Latin America in the 2000s: Cross-country analysis," WIDER Working Paper Series 110, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    17. Daniele, Vittorio & Malanima, Paolo, 2016. "Trends in Mediterranean Inequalities 1950-2015," MPRA Paper 78324, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Tilman Altenburg & Wilfried Lütkenhorst, 2015. "Industrial Policy in Developing Countries," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 14726.
    19. Ryan Higgitt, 2013. "South-South Cooperation and Inclusive Growth," One Pager 213, International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth.
    20. Lawrence Haddad, 2015. "Equity: Not Only for Idealists," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 33(1), pages 5-13, January.
    21. Pickett, Kate E. & Wilkinson, Richard G., 2015. "Income inequality and health: A causal review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 316-326.
    22. repec:spr:soinre:v:132:y:2017:i:3:d:10.1007_s11205-016-1325-2 is not listed on IDEAS

    More about this item

    Keywords

    income inequality; income distribution; quintiles; equity; crisis recovery; development policy;

    JEL classification:

    • D6 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • D3 - Microeconomics - - Distribution
    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • O1 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development
    • O2 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Development Planning and Policy

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