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Measuring wealth inequality in South Africa: An agenda

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  • Aroop Chatterjee

Abstract

Understanding wealth inequality has unique significance in South Africa. The co-existence of extreme poverty and extreme wealth is starkly visible. Apartheid-era inequality has persisted despite more than 20 years of democracy. Much of the research on inequality has focused on inequality of income and of opportunities. There is a large gap in understanding wealth inequality—levels of wealth inequality, how wealth is held, and the mechanism through which wealth inequality is produced and reproduced. This gap requires a specific research agenda, which this paper suggests.

Suggested Citation

  • Aroop Chatterjee, 2019. "Measuring wealth inequality in South Africa: An agenda," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2019-45, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    • Handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2019-45
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. South Africa needs to mitigate the worst of its inequalities in tackling coronavirus
      by ? in PreventionWeb News & Announcements on 2020-04-04 23:00:00

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    Keywords

    Administrative data; Wealth inequality;

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