Researching Inequality

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

Inequality is at the forefront of the public debate in much of the world. It has become a growing concern for policymakers, particularly because of its implications for social and economic development, public finance, and governance. The goal of this course is to familiarize students with different concepts of economic inequality, spanning from income and wealth inequality, to inequality of opportunity, relative deprivation, and poverty. For each topic, the course will analyze the relevant theoretical framework, measurement issues, empirical evidence, and available policy instruments. At the end of the course, students will have acquired the skills to conduct basic distributional analyses using real household survey data and to critically discuss recent case studies from developed and developing countries.