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It is a political choice to allow the spread of insecure employment conditions, for example by deregulating the relationship between employers and employees. It is also a political choice to reverse this trend, but one that requires a broader unde...

The shift from wages to profits has led to an increase in inequality over the last three decades.

While the long-term benefits of freer trade for the domestic labour market seem indisputable, it is politically contestable over the short- and medium-run.

In response to Seth Kaplan: Elites that are in the position to use the tools presented effectively, will advance their own agenda.

The EADI conference has closed its doors. What the conference has shown us is that the debate on inequality and the rise of the middle class in developing countries opens many windows of opportunity to reframe development and development policy as...

Can global citizenship flourish in an era of increased competition between the middle classes in the North and the South?

The Broker had the pleasure of interviewing Nancy Birdsall, president of the Centre for Global Development, at the EADI conference. She has often asked herself  who you call middle class? And what does the rise of the middle class mean for de...

The bright picture of Africa’s economy is that it is growing and that inequality is declining. However, as Stefano Prato of the Society for International Development (SID) said at the beginning of a panel session at the EADI conference, not all Af...

A social contract may offer a sound basis for responsible development. Power relations are crucial.

The field of Development Studies needs to revitalize its identity and set clear boundaries for what it should and should not do.

During the EADI conference, The Broker had an exclusive interview with Branko Milanovic, Professor at the City University New York and economist for the World Bank specialized in inequality.

Apart from being a media partner at the EADI conference The Broker also took part, presenting a panel on inequality and the post-2015 agenda. During a session of almost two hours the panel provided an update on global inequality trends, based on t...

Using Ostrom’s work on managing the commons, and more recent interest-based and discursive institutionalism, this paper seeks to reveal the interests behind and fallacy of the discourse used by the state, with support from segments of capital, to...

The Dudley Seers lecture at the EADI General Conference was given by French economist Francois Bourguignon of the Paris School of Economics. Bourguignon analysed 50 years of development economics, characterized by a shift from a pure growth strate...

Social protection is an important element of responsible development, but establishing adequate programmes is complex, as discussions at the EADI conference in Bonn, Germany, once more highlighted.

In the opening lecture of the 14th General Conference of the European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), Professor of International Development at the UK’s Open University Raphael Kaplinsky addressed the challenges...

Follow The Broker at the EADI general conference “Responsible Development in a Polycentric World: Inequality, Citizenship and the Middle Classes”.

The adverse effects of increased economic integration on job quality can be mitigated by flexicurity policies.

Income inequality features prominently in the debate on the design of the post-2015 development agenda. Yet, so far, states have confined themselves to window-dressing, failing to come up with far-reaching proposals to deal with the issue.

Piketty largely ignores what the concentration of wealth means for decision-making on economic development. We should focus on distributing wealth, for example by making employees shareholders of their own companies.

The central theme of The Broker Day 2014 on 14 April was employment and inequality, and the structural macroeconomic problems underlying them. The main speaker was Minister of Social Affairs and Employment and deputy prime minister Lodewijk Assche...

The following proposal is aimed at employment creation in the light of the alarming indices of labour market exclusion from which different parts of the world suffer.

Recognizing employment as a fundamental human right is the most important policy to promote full employment.

Employment is a critical path to women’s economic empowerment, but it is by no means a simple relationship.

In many countries the share of labour in national income has declined over the last three decades. As a result, the low and middle-income groups of people who depend the most on wages for their income are crumbling. Meanwhile, the rich elites who...

After far-reaching cutbacks and a major shift in the mandate in favour of the Netherlands’ economic interests, Dutch development aid seems to be on its last legs. The relief troops have lost their way and are unable to mount a forceful counter-att...

The post-MDG agenda should be based on an alternative theory of development, leading to a simple framework of only three complementary goals: reducing global inequalities, abandoning growth, and enhancing trust.

Inequality indicators play an important role in the process of choosing the post-2015 goals. Related to this issue is the question of what level of inequality is acceptable – a certain amount of inequality can stimulate economic growth, but too mu...

Inequality is the result of political choices. It is now a growing worldwide problem that causes social problems, financial instability and hinders economic growth. These were some of the key messages from The Broker’s panel at the recent Developm...

Inequality rates continue to soar all over the world despite falling poverty rates and global GDP growth. The world’s richest 1% own 40% of global wealth, while the bottom half own only 1%. To improve our understanding of inequality and to identif...

Developing countries should go for regional trading agreements until they raise the overall skill levels of their populations.

African governments must implement a series of policies to make sure that natural resource wealth brings more inclusive and equitable growth.

With only a quarter of the world’s population having access to social protection, the case for expanding it is gaining ground in international discussions. The debate focuses on how best to design social protection, whether it should be universal...

In the last week of September, world leaders gathered in New York for the general debate marking the opening of the 68th UN General Assembly (GA). This was an important moment for the post-2015 process, as several events were organized on the glob...

In spite of the ongoing euro crisis, which does not leave much space for an ambitious global agenda, the EU remains a major global development actor.

Although the MDGs are arguably the most politically important pact ever made for international development, they harbor several lessons for their successor framework.

Global goals need global policies. Governments have more to win than lose if they join forces and agree upon a single post-2015 agenda.

The High-level Panel (HLP) report has failed to transform the post-2015 debate, because it has missed the opportunity to correct the misinterpretations, misconceptions and misappropriations of the MDGs.

Only through focusing on equity can poverty reduction and a sustainable environment be achieved in the post-2015 development framework.

As a ‘post-Busan’ donor, Spain could act as a strategic channel, providing know-how for collaboration with MICs in development.

In Brazil, as elsewhere, the state has no qualms about using brutal force in defence of economic projects in the interest of capital

The protest movement in Brazil has been likened to an awakening giant, that is now suddenly out of control. 

To achieve inclusive development the European Union (EU) needs to reframe its economic policy and reconsider politically sensitive issues.

Economic growth should go hand in hand with an improvement in wage share and vice versa. However, current economic policy does not.

If China is the world’s factory, then Qingyang town represents the forefront of production.

Turkey needs to address human rights and inequality to be a role model for emerging powers.

Food price hikes, natural disasters, environmental degradation, and financial crises share at least two things in common: They’re on the rise, and they unequally burden the poor. 

The failure of effective direct taxation is the central explanation for much higher final income inequality. Therefore Cobham and Sumner argue in favour of more fairness in tax systems through metrics.

Economic policy should focus on poverty reduction rather than on growth and should start in rural areas. First of two blog posts by David Woodward.

Policies to improve inclusiveness should rethink the model of financial globalization in the same way as industrialization was embedded in national welfare states.

Inequality of opportunity provides a helpful way of framing the debate, particularly so as it shows the agreement that circumstances should not prohibit the fulfillment of talent. For children, early inequalities in learning or nutrition have seri...

‘Spurring economic transition’ is the follow-up to The Broker’s debate on inequality. What are the most important conclusions of the inequality debate that it needs to address?

The problems experienced by microfinance are a good example of what is needed to achieve an inclusive economy. For example, it tends to be blind to social and psychological costs.

There is a common tendency to view growth and equity as competing goals, including by many of those who have strong concerns about the latter. This is unfortunate since it is likely to lead to bad policy and horrible politics.

The debate on a post-2015 inequality target is missing a fundamental point: what inequality would we like to eliminate?

How can we create a more inclusive economy and what obstacles lie in the way? This debate seeks answers.

In its post-2015 dossier, The Broker guides you through the many discussions about development after the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) expire in 2015. The aim of the post-2015 dossier is to provide an overview of the debate, t...

Halving extreme poverty and hunger is the aim of Millennium Development Goal one. Although this goal is in reach, feeding a growing world population with good quality food remains a major challenge. Especially if you take into account climate chan...

Social exclusion and inequality have been neglected in the Millennium Development Goal framework and their structural causes need to be addressed in a systematic way. That is the main conclusion from the UN Development Programme’s consultation on...

The global development framework for the coming years cannot ignore global inequality if it should constitute a relevant and legitimate set of development goals in a globalised world.

For a national policy maker it is possible to think about raising the income levels of the bottom 10% or 20% toward the middle of the distribution. The poorest can be brought nearer the poverty line through measures like cash transfers.

To achieve maximum impact on food and nutrition security, knowledge and research policy should focus on local agriculture and food sectors. This means including small-scale farmers in regional food chains as well as making investments in the food...

Given the over-sensitivity of the Gini to the middle of the distribution, and the insensitivity of the Palma, policymakers could consider a choice between the two: which aspect of the distribution are you more concerned with?

On why the post-2015 agenda should include a goal to limit the negative characteristics of inequality and how indicators of income concentration are better suited for this. One proposal that could be used is the Palma index.

The last few months have been a busy time for inequality. And over the last few days the poor thing got busier still. Inequality is now dancing on two stages. It must be really quite dizzy.

Economics follows politics, not the other way around. Until we have a genuine political commitment to resolve global inequality, we will not get the economics we need. 

The notion of sovereign equality as the foundation of the international legal order is showing creaks and squeaks.

For purposes of setting post-2015 goals for development, inequalities should not only involve income and wealth, but also the power to decide on the uses to which resources are, or are not, put.

Inequalities within countries are largely ignored in the UN climate negotiations. This must change, but the global poor should be spared.

In the international post-2015 discussion, inequality remains a sensitive issue. However, it should be addressed as a political issue that requires strong political will to tackle it.

The assumption that each extra dollar provides the same increase in well-being at all levels of income makes no sense. Yet it is fundamental to economics.

It is a big mistake to separate analyses of growth and income distribution. A rising tide is critical to lifting all boats. 

The EU biofuels policy has missed it change to mitigate global inequality. Instead, it has negative impacts on food security, poverty eradication and the climate.

Income inequality in Canada has increased over the past 20 years, mainly due to market forces and institutional forces.

Income inequality in Canada has increased over the past 20 years. While Canada reduced income inequality in the 1980s, it rose sharply in the 1990s and remained at that relatively high level in the 2000s.

The economic crisis is being handled in a way that benefits a small and wealthy group of technocratic European politicians, investors and entrepreneurs. It therefore appears to serve as an instrument to cut down on democracy and to increase inequa...

Well-designed transformative social policy in developing countries is particularly needed since it increases individual and social capability to take advantage of initial conditions for catching-up and is one of the most effective measures to stre...

The poverty reduction goal already embodies inequality. Even if we agree that it under-values things, it is far from obvious that adding an overall inequality measure is the best corrective. We need to think clearly about what is missing and how b...

Given the increase of income inequality over the past decades, legitimizing the global market on the basis of the proliferation of free trade is questionable. Reducing wage inequality would however challenge the very foundations of free trade theory.

Farmers need to organize and operate as a business unit, to receive knowledge on value chains prices more equally. 

A more integrative approach to understanding the myriad causes and consequences of inequality is needed, as well as more defined framework of which actors must be involved in tackling inequality.

The inequality debate should try to find answers to two questions: the issue of definition and measurement, and the means by which to reduce inequality.

The post-2015 agenda needs to be adapted to address the inequalities, social exclusion and root causes of poverty that people are facing. If the principles of social equity, equality and human rights are not included, we will again fail to ac...

Tackling inequality in Uganda entails a comprehensive development framework that puts people’s participation in the economic growth process at the centre. People must be viewed as agents of economic growth and transformation and not passive recipi...

On 31 January, as a follow-up to the Inequality Dossier and the subsequent online inequality debate, the Broker organized its first The Broker Day. A room full of experts discussed the policy steps that the international community - and the Nether...

Interview with Ted Schrecker: 'There is widespread recognition that the dynamics of the global economy work in the direction of increased inequality. And there is very little reason to expect that to change over the short term.'

For conflict abating strategies two policies are important. The first is addressing enduring inequalities in asset ownership, education and health. The second policy issue is promoting growth with redistribution, truly pro-poor growth.

The MDGs tend to disregard processes of change and the transformative power of that change. However, it is precisely that transformative power that is at the core of development issues, the primary goal of most development cooperation and the diff...

The specification of a new international income inequality goal will certainly be difficult. However, if rich-country fears of “the rise of the rest” can be replaced with a common commitment to a new economic and ecological convergence, global equ...

There is an inevitable trade-off between global growth and climate change. Unless there is a direct causal link from faster economic growth to the development of carbon-reducing technologies, and this is strong enough to reduce the carbon intensit...

Your Majesty, Your Royal Highness, dear Chairholders of the Prince Claus Chair, ladies and gentlemen,

There are two critical issues in this inequality debate: there is no global benchmark for inequality and no global goals in absolute terms; and the instruments for tackling inequality lie outside traditional aid intervention models.

Like all contributors to the debate so far, I am convinced that inequality should be an important theme on anyone’s development agenda. But the label ‘post-2015 development agenda’ has a very specific referent, and opinions differ if inequality sh...

The focus of the inequality debate seems to be more and more on economic growth without acknowledging that human development is a prerequisite for poverty reduction. Also, human development is a basic human right.

In the on-going discussion on inequality, “new” seems to be the magic word. Unfortunately we still have the old problem, being that 1,3 billion people have to live on less than a dollar a day.

Bringing work and workplaces to the center of attention restores citizens to their rightful position as the agents of a democratic way of life.  In work-centered democracy attention to inequality of agency everywhere – not simply formal polit...

There is a need for new values for wealth and national economic growth figures. GNP and GNI are outdated.