Overview

The decades since 1980 have seen sharply rising income and wealth inequality in a number of developed countries, notably the US and UK. The rise is particularly marked at the top of the income distribution. Many countries have also experienced a stagnation in middle class income growth and declines in social mobility. INET Oxford researchers are playing a leading role collecting and analysing data on income and wealth inequality from around the world and analysing the causes of this shift. Our scholars are also investigating the links between trends in inequality and different modes of economic growth, technology, globalisation, labour market arrangements, the financial system, and public policies. INET Oxford scholars are also examining the role that wealth and inheritance play in the economy, issues of gender in patterns of inequality, and the broad economic and social impacts of unemployment.

INET Oxford scholars are also actively working on policies to address issues of economic justice and fairness, including active labor market policies, private sector practices, and institutional reforms.

Related Projects


Recent Publications

Feb 2026
Chapter
Data-Driven Economic Agent-Based Models
Marco Pangallo ,  R. Maria del Rio-Chanona
Feb 2026
INET Working Paper
No. 2026-04 - New technologies and the rise of wage inequality
Raquel Sebastián ,  Pedro Salas-Rojo ,  Juan C. Palomino ,  Juan Gabriel Rodríguez
Feb 2026
INET Working Paper
Jan 2026
INET Working Paper
Jan 2026
Journal
The urgent need for African research collaboration on medicine quality
in Nature Communications
Fanqi Zeng ,  Simon Mariwah ,  Gerry Mshana ,  Daniel Amoako-Sakyi ,  Heather Hamill
Dec 2025
Policy Briefing
Complexity economics insights for the Seventh Carbon Budget
Tom Youngman ,  Peter Barbrook-Johnson ,  Emilien Ravigné ,  Brendon Tankwa ,  J. Doyne Farmer
Dec 2025
Journal
Low-pay persistence in the early stage of the career in Italy
in Applied Economics Letters
Michele Bavaro
Nov 2025
Press Release
Oxford academics comment on the UK Budget 2025
Michael McMahon ,  John Muellbauer ,  Mary Daly
Nov 2025
Working Paper
Spatial Selection and the Multiscale Dynamics of Urban Change
Jordan Kemp ,  Laura Fürsich ,  Luis M A Bettencourt
Oct 2025
Journal
Insurance against risk? Cost and compensation of job loss in different welfare states
in Socio-Economic Review
Selçuk Bedük ,  Anette Eva Fasang ,  Susan Harkness ,  Stefan B Andrade ,  Zafer Buyukkececi ,  Satu Helske ,  Aleksi Karhula
Oct 2025
INET Working Paper
No. 2025-23 - The Effects of Minimum Wage Increases on Poverty and Food Hardship
Lukas Lehner ,  Hannah Massenbauer ,  Zachary Parolin ,  Rafael Pintro Schmitt
Oct 2025
INET Working Paper
No. 2025-22 - The Earned Income Tax Credit and the Intergenerational Persistence of Poverty
Zachary Parolin ,  Benjamin Glasner ,  Ronald Mincy ,  Christopher Wimer
Sept 2025
Working Paper
Decoding the city: multiscale spatial information of urban income
Luís M. A. Bettencourt ,  Ivanna Rodriguez ,  Jordan Kemp ,  José Lobo
View All Related Publications

Who's Involved