Increasing Inequality within and among Nations: Causes, Effects, and Prospective Action

The project addresses the question: To what extent does increasing economic inequality in the national and international context undermine democracy (where it exists), destabilize society, block employment potentials, and limit individual and social development opportunities? This question will be answered by mapping the extent and dynamics of economic inequality (1) and by an analysis of its causes and effects (2) based on a review of existing research and secondary literature available via the Global Labour University network. The main tasks of the project will be to conceptualize and develop countermeasures (3), outline implementation strategies, and identify relevant stakeholders for the achievement of more inclusive societies (4). There has been relatively little research on the remedies for inequality to date and an integrated, interdisciplinary approach to develop alternatives is particularly long overdue. Through workshops, project partners will contribute perspectives and ideas from their respective countries. The main question of the project will be addressed with a concentration in the following four key areas in which economic inequality is produced: labor markets, financial markets, government distribution policy, and macroeconomic governance. The chosen perspective considers issues specific to Southern partners and is explicitly global: differentiated by level of economic development on the one hand, and based on global economic governance on the other.