Inequality and the Politics of Redistribution

Can social protection address both poverty and inequality in principle and practice?

“…Focused as it is on structures that cause exclusion, it is not enough to facilitate an ex-post redistribution of economic resources, but the approach also requires attention to the ex-ante situation of providing fair opportunities and outcomes. The type of perceivable interventions can be wide and potentially controversial, such as rights to land and affirmative action (Bangura, 2011). 3.…”

“…The hypothesis that income inequality would first increase and then subsequently decrease with economic progress (the U-curve theory) was drawn on to justify a complacent attitude to state intervention (Hall and Midgley, 2004; Krozer, 2015). Thus, there has been an ‘unfortunate divorce of poverty and inequality’ as inequality has only been treated ‘marginally’ (Bangura, 2011: 531). However, it is now more commonly argued that ‘poverty and inequality are inextricably linked’ (Lang and Lingnau, 2015: 404).…”

“…However, where inequality and its supporting policies directly limit social mobility, undermine meritocracy and de-link talent from effort, inequalities may be regarded as inappropriate (Zacher, 2013). Despite a growing mandate for redistribution of opportunities and outcomes, moral arguments regarding inequality remain more equivocal than those framing poverty, and current expressions may only concede the need for active state responses in cases of extreme inequality (Bangura, 2011).…”

“…Piketty (2014) broadens the scope for inequality reduction by showing how unrestrained market freedom leads to an increase in overall levels of prosperity, but that without government intervention this wealth is concentrated in the hands of a small elite. Thus, without challenging the essence of inequality per se, guidelines may be promoted to limit the damaging effects of extreme (one-dimensional) inequality without curtailing its legitimacy (Bangura, 2011). Yet, comprehensive economic arguments for addressing multi-dimensional inequality are typically absent from debates, revealing the complexity of defining, measuring and monitoring multiple interlocking inequalities.…”

Combating poverty and inequality through social policies: Reflections on the UNRISD report

“…Despite the renewed focus on poverty – reflected for example in the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) of the IMF and World Bank, as well as the MDGs – progress towards its reduction has been highly uneven and subject to reversals. Moreover, inequality has remained a neglected policy issue: for much of this period, growth was deemed sufficient to alleviate poverty; addressing inequality, it was argued, would compromise growth; what happened at the top end of the distribution was not therefore an issue of policy concern (Bangura, 2011). Interventions instead focused on tackling the extremes of poverty, with little, if any, concern for rising inequalities either within or between countries.…”