research groups

LACEA NIP Inequality & Poverty

The research group on inequality promotes the study of economic, demographic, and policy changes that affect the distribution of income, consumption and wealth. We prioritize research that is based on theoretical and empirical state of art methods and, at the same time, has the objective of drawing lessons for shaping economic policy both in Latin America and the rest of the world.

The group fosters research on a wide range of topics from labor, public and human capital policies to the role of market equilibrium in changing the levels of inequality, to more descriptive analysis that documents new empirical facts (e.g. measuring changes at the top of the distribution or in factor shares). We also encourage the development of new tools to measure and better quantify poverty and inequality. Some specific topics covered in recent years: minimum wage policies; conditional cash transfers; gender issues from glass ceiling to wage gaps; education and health policies; causes and distributional consequences of changes in returns to skills and to experience; labor informality; political economy implications of raising inequality.

Research Directors

Matias Busso

Nora Lusting

Werner Hernani-Limarino