This book focuses on the role of growth and employment/unemployment developments in explaining recent income inequality trends in Brazil, China, India and South Africa, and discusses the roles played by labour market and social policies in both shaping and addressing these inequalities.

This book focuses on the role of growth and employment/unemployment developments in explaining recent income inequality trends in Brazil, China, India and South Africa, and discusses the roles played by labour market and social policies in both shaping and addressing these inequalities.

In the last decade or so, China and India have emerged on the global stage as two powerful free market economies. The tremendous economic growth in China and India has meant that they have been able to lift millions of people out of the poverty trap. This growth has not, however, been without problems. Apart from worrying levels of environmental pollution, a significant number of people are still struggling to live a decent life as they do not have adequate access to basic needs such as food, health services, education, water, and housing. The traditional old age support mechanism is collapsing amidst push for urbanisation and the practice of nuclear families, while the alternative social security system has not been put in place. Both China and India stress the importance of socio-economic rights, have ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and have in place a strong legal framework for the realisation of such rights. The constitutions of China and India accord significant importance to socio-economic rights and the both countries have numerous laws, regulations and policies that seek to implement various socio-economic rights. This book investigates how the gradual adoption of free market ideology has impacted on the realisation of socio-economic rights in both India and China and how the constitutional and legal frameworks have made necessary adjustments. Chapters in this volume, which are written by academics of international standing, explore how these two countries have tried to overcome certain common governance challenges in realising socio-economic rights. The role played by courts in India and China in the protection and realisation of socio-economic rights is considered along with the use and limitations of public interest litigation in achieving these rights. Finally, the effectiveness of measures in realising socio-economic rights are evaluated in relation to specific rights such as the rights to food, health, education, social security, and gender equality.

This book provides a comprehensive review of income inequality issues in the OECD in a cross-country setting. It presents a wealth of data and analysis on the formation of inequality and identifies groups of countries that share similar inequality patterns. It also reviews developments at the extremes of the income distribution, namely poverty, top incomes as well as the distribution of wealth. An important contribution of the book is the careful examination of the determinants of the income distribution, such as globalisation and technical progress as well as the effect of a wide range of economic policies that shape the distribution of income. These include in particular labour market regulations, household taxes and transfers as well as in-kind public services. It also sheds light on an under-researched issue: do policies aimed at boosting economic growth raise or reduce income inequality

Against the backdrop of South Africa’s achievements since the fall of apartheid, this Review evaluates measures to position economic development policy and to confront economic inequality in the Johannesburg/Pretoria region.

This book examines to which extent economic globalisation, skill-biased technological progress and institutional and regulatory reforms have had an impact on the distribution of earnings.

This review, which draws on data and comparative perspectives from OECD countries, highlights challenges that Brazil will need to tackle.