Inequality and Prosperity

This programme was established in 2016 at the Department of Social Policy and Intervention and the Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School as part of the Oxford Martin School’s research partnership with Citi.

Over the period to 2021 the research team of Professor Brian Nolan, Tim Goedemé, Helen Kowalewska, Matteo Richiardi, Luis Valenzuela Rivera and David Weisstanner investigated the drivers of economic inequality, how inequality affects economic growth and living standards as well as intergenerational mobility and opportunity, the relationship between inequality in income and in wealth, the political implications of inequality, and policy responses including via the tax and transfer systems, family policy, and potential wealth endowments.  

The core themes of the programme were:  

Inequality and Rewarding Work 

  • investigating the complex relationships between the division of national income between labour and capital, personal income inequality, productivity and living standards.  

Inequality, Wealth and Opportunity 

  • probing the relationship between increasing income inequality, the concentration of wealth towards the top, and intergenerational opportunity.  

Inequality, Taxation and Social Transfers 

  • examining how market income inequality relates to inequality in incomes after taxes and transfers. 

Inequality and Broader Societal Wellbeing 

  • studying how inequality affects individuals’ social status and trust, their political preferences and behaviour. 

The research programme on related topics continued via the Towards a System of Distributional National Accounts programme supported by the ERC also directed by Brian Nolan. 

Other staff include: Dr. Tim Goedemé, Dr. Helen Kowalewska, Dr. Matteo Richiardi, Dr. Luis Valenzuela Rivera and Dr. David Weisstanner.

 

Goedemé, T., Paskov, M., Weisstanner, D. and Nolan, B (2021). Between-Class Earnings Inequality in 30 European Countries: A Regression-Based Decomposition’, Comparative Sociology. 20, 6, p. 741–778. 

Kowalewska, H. (2021). Bringing Women on Board? Family Policies, Quotas and Gender Diversity in Top  Jobs. Work, Employment & Society, 35, 4, 735–752.

Kowalewska, H. and Vitali, A. (2021). Breadwinning or on the Breadline? Female Breadwinners’ Economic Characteristics across 20 Welfare States. Journal of European Social Policy, 31, 2, 125-142. 

Marx, I. and B. Nolan (2021). ‘Wealth and Social Policy: Introduction to Special Issue’, Journal of European Social Policy, 31(5): 489–495.  

Nolan, B. and B. Maître (2021). ‘Does Household Worklessness Explain Ireland’s High Working-Age Market Income Inequality?’, The Economic and Social Review, 52 (4): 357-374. 

Morelli, S., B. Nolan, J.C. Palomino, and P. Van Kerm (2021). ‘Inheritance, Gifts and the Wealth Deficit of Low-Income Households, Journal of European Social Policy, 31(5): 533–548.  

Palomino, J.C., G. Marrero, B. Nolan and J.G. Rodriguez (2021). ‘Wealth inequality, intergenerational transfers and socioeconomic background’, Oxford Economic Papers, 1-28 https://doi.org/10.1093/oep/gpab052.  

Nolan, B., J.C. Palomino, P. Van Kerm and S. Morelli (2021). ‘Intergenerational wealth transfers and wealth inequality in rich countries: What do we learn from Gini decomposition?’, Economics Letters, 199.

Kowalewska, H. (2020). Bringing Women on Board: The Social Policy Implications of Gender Diversity in Top Jobs. Journal of Social Policy, 49, 4, 744–762. 

Nolan, B. and S. Thewissen (2020). ‘Inequality and Real Income Growth for Middle and Low-income Households Across Rich Countries in Recent Decades’, Research on Economic Inequality, 28, 1–28. 

Nolan, B. (2020). ‘The Median Versus Inequality-Adjusted GNI as Core Indicator of ‘Ordinary’ Household Living Standards in Rich Countries’, Social Indicators Research, 150, 569–585. 

Richiardi, M., B. Nolan and L. Kenworthy (2020). ‘What Happened to the ‘Great American Jobs Machine'?, International Journal of Microsimulation,13(1):19-51. 

Nolan, B. and D. Weisstanner (2020). ‘Has the middle secured its share of growth or been squeezed?’, West European Politics, 44 (2): 426-438. 

Buodi, E., M. Paskov and B. Nolan (2018). ‘Intergenerational class mobility in Europe:  A new account’, Social Forces.

Nolan, B. and L. Valenzuela (2019). ‘Inequality and its discontents, Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 35 (3), 396–430. 

Nolan, B., M. Richiardi and L. Valenzuela (2019). The Drivers of Economic Inequality in Rich Countries, Journal of Economic Surveys. 

Palomino, J., G.A. Marrero, J.G. Rodríguez (2019). ‘Channels of inequality of opportunity: The role of education and occupation in Europe’, Social Indicators Research 143 (3), 1045-1074. 

Savage, M., T. Callan, B. Nolan and B. Colgan (2019). ‘The Great Recession, Austerity and Inequality: Lessons from Ireland’, Review of Income and Wealth, 65(2), 312-336. 

Nolan, B., Rebhari, E., Richiardi, M., Valenzuela, L. and Nabarro, B. (2017),  Inequality and Prosperity in the Industrialized World: Addressing a Growing Challenge, Citi GPS: Global Perspectives & Solutions, October 2017.

Bukodi, E., M. Paskov and B. Nolan (2019). ‘Intergenerational class mobility in Europe:  A new account’, Social Forces, Forthcoming.