SG - Origins and Patterns of Economic Inequality

About lecture series ‘Economic Inequality’

Discussions on economic inequality have increasingly been gaining traction over the past years. Time to take a dive into this much-discussed theme, and to gain a deeper understanding of its complexities as well as the debates surrounding it.

What are we talking about, and how can we understand the rising attention for economic inequality? Why can people mean different things when they talk about it? And (why) should we care about it? Explore the nature, backgrounds and ramifications of economic inequality, and discuss different perspectives on its (un)acceptability and ways to deal with it.

Origins and Patterns of Economic Inequality

Economic inequality has risen high on the public agenda. What’s actually going on? How do we measure economic inequality, and to what extent has it been growing? How can we understand global economic inequality and its rise? Where does it come from, what factors explain it? And what does it look like? What are the societal and economic implications of this inequality?

Tonight, we will explore the origins, nature, patterns and developments of inequality, thereby setting the scene for the next sessions. Drawing from their extensive expertise in this area, economists Erwin Bulte and Ewout Frankema will put the topic of economic inequality in historical and international perspective. Discover how inequality has manifested itself in different time frames, and how it is expressed at different scales. We will go back two centuries in time and move forward, and discuss the different faces of inequality as observed between countries, within countries, and even within local communities.

About the speakers

Erwin Bulte is professor and chair of Development Economics at Wageningen University & Research (WUR). In addition, he is professor of Institutions and Development at Utrecht University, and fellow of the Department of Land Economy (University of Cambridge) and The Oxford Center for the Analysis of Resource Rich Economies (OxCarre, Oxford University). In his research, he studies the relationship between institutions and economic growth in African and Asian regions.

Ewout Frankema is professor and chair of Rural and Environmental History at Wageningen University & Research (WUR) and research fellow of the UK Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR). His research agenda focuses on a deeper understanding of the long-term comparative economic development of developing regions (Africa, Latin America, Asia) and the historical origins and nature of present-day global inequality.