Poverty, Inequality & Inclusive Growth research group

We study the paradox of persistent poverty and inequality in emerging economies. We ask: what makes growth more equitable? How can poverty be ended? We consider the causes of poverty in emerging economies and the factors that prevent people from escaping it.

We also study the new and insecure middle classes, whose ascendance shows they have benefited from economic growth, but who remain vulnerable to economic slow-downs

Members

Gulsah Adam

PhD student

Enrique de la Rosa-Ramos

PhD student

Yundan Gong

Senior Lecturer in Development Economics

Juan Grigera

Lecturer in the Political Economy of Inclusive Development

Richard Itaman

Lecturer in Comparative Political Economy and Development

Kyunghoon Kim

PhD student

Sunil Mitra Kumar

Lecturer in Economics

Eduardo Ortiz Juarez

PhD student

Mitha Rahmitha

Phd student

Sanchari Roy

Senior Lecturer in Development Economics

Alfredo Saad-Filho

Professor of Political Economy and International Development

Diding Sakri

PhD student

Paul Segal

Senior Lecturer in Economics

Yangki Imade Suara

PhD student

Andy Sumner

Professor of International Development

Pierre-Louis Vezina

Senior Lecturer in Economics

The contradictions of economic growth

The present dominant political and economic paradigm sees sustained economic growth as crucial to development, yet this occludes the many tensions and contradictions that economic growth yields. Our research highlights that the majority of the world’s poor live in middle-income countries. In the ESRC-funded Global Poverty & Inequality Dynamics (GPID) Research Network, we have studied the relationship between economic development, inequality dynamics and inclusive growth in South-East Asia. The countries examined provide lessons for economic and social development, yet their model of growth is now threatened by the spectre of automation.

Challenging economic inequality

For this project, funded by the Leverhulme Trust, we scrutinise the growing global inequalities between wages and the real incomes of the wealthiest. We also ask who gets left behind by economic growth, and what does it look like in Mexico, where wages for low-skilled workers have barely increased over 200 years of independence.

Inclusive growth, politics and redistribution

The importance of revenue and redistribution is underlined in this project. Our work shows that the commodity boom of the 2000s enabled the ‘Pink Tide’ of left-wing politics in Latin America, and the prolonged availability of revenue from commodity exports during the boom years provided the resources needed to finance the expansion of social protection systems such as the rollout of cash transfers across the region. The collapse in commodity prices and the recent turn towards right-wing conservatism reminds us of the volatility of commodity-driven development and its accompanying political and economic systems.

Within-Country Poverty Convergence: Evidence from Mexico
Ortiz-Juarez, E., Lopez-Calva, L. F. & Rodríguez-Castelán, C., Aug 2020, (IZA Discussion Papers; no. 13577). Research output: Working paper
Precarity and the Pandemic. COVID-19 and Poverty Incidence, Intensity, and Severity in Developing Countries
Ortiz-Juarez, E., Sumner, A. & Hoy, C., Jun 2020, (WIDER Working Paper; no. 77/2020). Research output: Working paper. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.35188/UNU-WIDER/2020/834-4
A Proposal for a New Universal Development Commitment
Sumner, A., Gulrajani, N., Wickstead, M. & Glennie, J., 1 Sep 2020, In : Global Policy. 11, 4, p. 478-485 8 p. Research output: Contribution to journal - Article. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.12844
Inequality as Entitlements over Labor
Segal, P., 28 May 2020, (Accepted/In press) In : SOCIO-ECONOMIC REVIEW. Research output: Contribution to journal - Article
Inequality, Living Standards and Growth: Two Centuries of Economic Development in Mexico
Segal, P., Bleynat, I. & Challú, A., 4 Apr 2020, (Accepted/In press) In : ECONOMIC HISTORY REVIEW. Research output: Contribution to journal - Article
Top Management Gender Diversity and Performance: In Search of Threshold Effects
Gong, Y. & Girma, S., 13 Jul 2020, (Accepted/In press) In : CAMBRIDGE JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS. Research output: Contribution to journal - Article
Estimates of the impact of COVID-19 on global poverty
Ortiz-Juarez, E., Sumner, A. & Hoy, C., Apr 2020, (WIDER Working Paper 2020/43). Research output: Working paper. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.35188/UNU-WIDER/2020/800-9
The Nature of the PT Governments: A Variety of Neoliberalism? Part 2
Saad-Filho, A., Grigera, J. & Colombi, A. P., Mar 2020, In : LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES. 47, 2, p. 4-7 4 p. Research output: Contribution to journal - Editorial. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.1177/0094582X20906479
Outward Foreign Direct Investment and Home Country Sustainable Development
UNESCAP, Knoerich, J., Taylor-Strauss, H. & Gong, Y., 21 Apr 2020, Bangkok: United Nations Publications. 81 p. Research output: Book/Report - Book
The imperial roots of global trade
Gokmen, G., Vermeulen, W. N. & Vézina, P. L., 1 Mar 2020, In : JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC GROWTH. 25, 1, p. 87-145 59 p. Research output: Contribution to journal - Article. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10887-020-09174-7

View all publications

The Global Poverty and Inequality Dynamics (GPID) Strategic Research Network / Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) / Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Africa, Thailand / £151,623.00
Inequality, Wages and the Real Incomes of the Rich / Leverhulme Trust / Global / £49,974.00
Rebuilding Globalisation and Macroeconomics, from the Grassroots / Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) / Global / £43,200.00
How does outward foreign direct investment contribute to the economic development and firm performance in emerging home economies? / British Academy / China / £9,952.00

See here for the full list of awards