Plain-language explanation.
Inequality economics studies how income and wealth are distributed across society, what drives rising or falling inequality, and what redistribution can achieve.
Core concepts and standard treatment.
Core inequality economics covers measuring inequality (Gini coefficient — Lorenz curve; Palma ratio; Atkinson index — inequality aversion parameter; UK wealth Gini ~0.63 vs income Gini ~0.36 — ONS Wealth and Assets Survey; elephant curve — Lakner and Milanovic 1988-2008 — global middle class gains; WID.world — Chancel, Piketty et al), Piketty's capital theory (Capital in the Twenty-First Century 2013 — r>g — wealth concentration tendency; beta = wealth/income ratio; historical top income shares — France, US, UK; Capital and Ideology 2019 — participatory socialism), and social mobility (Chetty Opportunity Atlas — US county-level mobility; Great Gatsby curve — Miles Corak — higher inequality means lower intergenerational mobility; UK Social Mobility Commission; IFS education returns by subject and institution).
Deeper theory, debates and edge cases.
Advanced inequality economics covers political economy of redistribution (Meltzer-Richard median voter model; Alesina and Glaeser — racial heterogeneity and welfare state; Lupu and Pontusson — middle class alignment; Acemoglu and Robinson — democratisation and redistribution; insider-outsider theory — Lindbeck and Snower), predistribution (Hacker — market income distribution before tax; rising executive compensation — superstar economics — Rosen; automation and polarisation — Autor Dorn Hanson; monopsony and wage suppression; audit studies for racial and gender pay gaps), and global wealth taxation (Zucman — $8.7 trillion offshore — FATCA — Common Reporting Standard; Wealth Tax Commission UK 2020 — annual vs one-off — illiquid assets; OECD Pillar 2 — 15% GMT — QDMTT; Gates Foundation philanthropy critique — Giridharadas Winners Take All).
How it is applied in practice.
At the inequality researcher and social policy adviser level, practitioners contribute to Journal of Economic Inequality; lead inequality research (Resolution Foundation; IFS Deaton Review; LSE CASE; Joseph Rowntree Foundation; Social Mobility Commission state of the nation report; CPAG); advise on redistribution policy (DWP benefit uprating — triple lock; UC design — work allowance — taper rate — marginal effective tax rates; HMT distributional analysis — HMRC microsimulation; Equality Act 2010 socioeconomic duty — section 1 — not commenced in England; Scotland Fairer Scotland Duty); contribute to social mobility measurement (Sutton Trust; POLAR4 participation index; OECD Education at a Glance; PISA SES gradient); and advise on wealth taxation (Wealth Tax Commission; Council Tax revaluation IFS proposals; CGT reform — OTS review; IHT reliefs — APR and BPR — IFS critique).