| Title | Is there a ‘new consensus’ on inequality? |
|---|---|
| Contributor | Francisco H. G. Ferreira (author) |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.31389/lsepress.tlc.j |
| Landing page | https://doi.org/10.31389/lsepress.tlc.j |
| License | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ |
| Publisher | LSE Press |
| Published on | 2025-10-16 |
| Short abstract | Thirty years after the Washington Consensus, is there a new policy consensus that addresses the problem of inequality? There is widespread acceptance that multiple, interrelated, and mutually reinforcing inequalities exist – in income, wealth, education, health, power, and recognition – and that these inequalities are generally ‘too high’. There has also been a significant shift towards a shared view that these inequalities matter, both intrinsically and because of their detrimental effects on economic efficiency and political institutions. There is much less consensus, perhaps surprisingly, on what the actual levels of income inequality are, and there are common misperceptions about their trends. In policy terms, there is something approaching a consensus regarding the desirability of various ‘pre-distribution’ policies, ranging from early childhood development to investment in better teaching. In certain quarters, there is also agreement that sharper antitrust regulation, freer labour unions, and more progressive taxation is needed in most countries. But much less is known about how to provide the poor with genuine opportunities to break the cycle of intergenerational transmission of disadvantage in a durable way. This chapter includes responses to Francisco H. G. Ferreira by Ravi Kanbur and Nora Lustig. |
| Long abstract | Thirty years after the Washington Consensus, is there a new policy consensus that addresses the problem of inequality? There is widespread acceptance that multiple, interrelated, and mutually reinforcing inequalities exist – in income, wealth, education, health, power, and recognition – and that these inequalities are generally ‘too high’. There has also been a significant shift towards a shared view that these inequalities matter, both intrinsically and because of their detrimental effects on economic efficiency and political institutions. There is much less consensus, perhaps surprisingly, on what the actual levels of income inequality are, and there are common misperceptions about their trends. In policy terms, there is something approaching a consensus regarding the desirability of various ‘pre-distribution’ policies, ranging from early childhood development to investment in better teaching. In certain quarters, there is also agreement that sharper antitrust regulation, freer labour unions, and more progressive taxation is needed in most countries. But much less is known about how to provide the poor with genuine opportunities to break the cycle of intergenerational transmission of disadvantage in a durable way. This chapter includes responses to Francisco H. G. Ferreira by Ravi Kanbur and Nora Lustig. |
| Language | English (Original) |
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Francisco H. G. Ferreira is the Amartya Sen Professor of Inequality Studies and Director of the International Inequalities Institute at LSE. Francisco works on the measurement, causes, and consequences of inequality and poverty in developing countries. His work has been published widely and awarded various prizes. He is a Research Fellow of the IZA; an Affiliated Scholar with the Stone Center at City University of New York; a former President of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association and a former editorin-chief of the Journal of Economic Inequality. Prior to joining the faculty at LSE, he had a long career at the World Bank but also taught at Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio) and at the Paris School of Economics. He was born in São Paulo, Brazil, and holds a PhD in Economics from LSE.
Ravi Kanbur researches and teaches in development economics, public economics and economic theory at Cornell University. He has served on the senior staff of the World Bank including as Chief Economist for Africa. He has also published in leading economics journals. He has served as Co-Chair of the Food System Economics Commission, Chair of the Board of United Nations University-World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), is a member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development High Level Expert Group on the Measurement of Economic Performance, President of the Human Development and Capability Association, President of the Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, member of the High Level Advisory Council of the Climate Justice Dialogue, Co-Chair of the Scientific Council of the International Panel on Social Progress, and member of the Core Group of the Commission on Global Poverty.
Nora Lustig is Samuel Z. Stone Professor of Latin American Economics and the founding Director of the Commitment to Equity Institute at Tulane University. She is also a Non-resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, Georgetown University Americas Institute, the Center for Global Development, the Inter-American Dialogue, and the Paris School of Economics. Lustig’s research is on economic development, inequality, and social policies with emphasis on Latin America. Her recent publication Commitment to Equity Handbook: Estimating the Impact of Fiscal Policy on Inequality and Poverty is a step-by-step guide to assessing the impact of taxation and social spending on inequality and poverty in developing countries. Lustig is the President of the Society for the Study of Economic Inequality and President Emeritus of the LACEA. She serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Economic Inequality. In November 2021, she was recognised with the Tulane University Innovation Award. She received her doctorate in Economics from UC, Berkeley.