What works to mitigate and reduce relative (and absolute) inequality? A systematic review

Abstract

Over the past two decades, research on the impacts of a diverse range of public policies and income inequality has seen rapid growth. Despite the large number of publications to date, there remain important lacunae in our understanding of how policy interventions might help to reduce income inequality. This paper aims to fill this void by providing a systematic literature review of 270 publications that examine four key policy areas: (1) tax policy, (2) social benefits, (3) labour market interventions, and (4) education policy. We describe patterns of empirical findings and implications drawn from the reviewed publications. The strengths and weaknesses of the existing literature are also discussed, along with potential future research avenues.

The impact of affirmative action in India and the United States: A systematic literature review

“…Thus, HIs are not the result of individual choices or efforts, and they therefore have important implications for sentiments of social justice and stability (Stewart 2000). Nonetheless, the literature has offered relatively little guidance about what policies are best suited to address HIs-and under what circumstances (see inter alia Gulzar et al 2020;Jorda and Alonso Alonso 2020;Ravallion 2020).…”