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Economies
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Income Inequality, Poverty and Economic Growth
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Income Inequality, Poverty and Economic Growth

A special issue of Economies (ISSN 2227-7099). This special issue belongs to the section "Labour and Education".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 January 2027 | Viewed by 2009

Editor

Dr. Manuela F. Magalhães

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Economic Theory and Economic History, Universidad de Málaga, Malaga, Spain
Interests: macroeconomics; international economics; economic growth and income inequality

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The literature on global inequality documents extreme wealth concentration, showing that the top of the global wealth distribution holds multiple times the wealth of the bottom half of humanity. It also demonstrates that growth-centric development models are failing to fulfil their promises of reducing poverty. In order to understand the links between growth, inequality, and poverty, we must examine several interconnected channels. These include how wealth and capital, rapid technological change, ongoing climate change challenges, the distributional consequences of financial shocks, labour market dynamics, and fiscal policy design jointly determine the evolving relationship between growth, inequality, and poverty. This Special Issue on “Income Inequality, Poverty and Economic Growth” invites researchers to submit theoretical or empirical papers that investigate the contribution of technological and climate changes, labour market dynamics, and financial and fiscal policies to the evolving relationship between growth, inequality, and poverty in the 21st century. The aim of this Special Issue is to bring together the latest research on why established growth and development models are failing to achieve their poverty and inequality reduction and sustainable growth targets.

Dr. Manuela F. Magalhães
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Economies is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • inequality
  • economic growth
  • poverty
  • wealth
  • financial markets
  • market power
  • fiscal policy
  • labor markets
  • technological change
  • climate change

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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19 pages, 289 KB  
Article
Education Expenditure Composition, Educational Quality, and Income Inequality: Evidence from 13 OECD Countries
by Brang San, Paravee Maneejuk and Woraphon Yamaka
Economies 2026, 14(6), 206; https://doi.org/10.3390/economies14060206 - 4 Jun 2026
Viewed by 381
Abstract
This study examines how the composition of public education expenditure is associated with income inequality through educational quality and skill formation. While the existing literature largely focuses on aggregate education spending, this study argues that the allocation of resources across education levels plays [...] Read more.
This study examines how the composition of public education expenditure is associated with income inequality through educational quality and skill formation. While the existing literature largely focuses on aggregate education spending, this study argues that the allocation of resources across education levels plays a critical role in shaping educational outcomes and their distributional consequences. Using panel data for OECD countries over the period 2000–2022, we employ a simultaneous equation framework estimated using Three-Stage Least Squares (3SLS), complemented by a lag-structured empirical design and an instrumental-variable approach based on lagged expenditure to mitigate endogeneity concerns. The results reveal substantial heterogeneity across education levels. Tertiary education expenditure is positively associated with educational quality. Although its direct association with income inequality is not statistically significant, it exhibits a significant negative indirect association through the educational-quality channel. In contrast, spending at pre-primary, primary, and secondary levels exhibits weak or negative associations with measured learning outcomes and, in some cases, positive associations with income inequality. These patterns warrant cautious interpretation and may reflect diminishing marginal returns and endogenous policy responses in mature education systems. Further analysis suggests that educational quality serves as an important transmission mechanism linking education spending to income distribution, although no significant relationship is found with short-run economic growth, consistent with the long-term nature of human capital accumulation. Overall, the findings highlight the importance of improving the allocation and effectiveness of education spending rather than simply expanding aggregate budgets. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Income Inequality, Poverty and Economic Growth)
36 pages, 2071 KB  
Article
Towards Common Prosperity: The Impact of Targeted Poverty Alleviation Policy on Multidimensional Income Disparities Among Rural Poor Households
by Xuyang Shao, Shengyuan Gao, Liyuan Yu and Dan He
Economies 2026, 14(4), 114; https://doi.org/10.3390/economies14040114 - 2 Apr 2026
Viewed by 1086
Abstract
The issues of income inequality and poverty are intrinsically linked and represent persistent global governance challenges. China faced significant hurdles, including absolute rural poverty and a widening urban–rural development gap. The “Targeted Poverty Alleviation” policy (TPA), implemented from 2014 onward, employed comprehensive measures, [...] Read more.
The issues of income inequality and poverty are intrinsically linked and represent persistent global governance challenges. China faced significant hurdles, including absolute rural poverty and a widening urban–rural development gap. The “Targeted Poverty Alleviation” policy (TPA), implemented from 2014 onward, employed comprehensive measures, including household registration, industrial support, and skills training. By the end of 2020, this policy successfully eradicated absolute rural poverty under the prevailing standard, contributing a Chinese solution to global poverty reduction. Beyond addressing absolute deprivation, whether this policy has impacted relative rural poverty and urban–rural inequality remains a subject of debate in existing literature. Utilizing microdata from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) from 2014 to 2020, this study employs the Kakwani measure to measure relative deprivation levels, thereby identifying income disparities both within rural areas and between urban and rural regions. Combining empirical tools, including a Difference-in-Differences (DID) framework, Propensity Score Matching (PSM), and Entropy Balancing method, the analysis finds that the Targeted Poverty Alleviation policy significantly curbs income inequality both within rural areas and across the urban–rural divide. Further investigation reveals that this effect operates through three primary mechanisms: promoting diversified rural livelihoods, improving incomes for impoverished households, and bridging knowledge and information gaps. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that the inequality-reducing effect of the policy is more pronounced in non-major grain-producing regions, low-income provinces, and among vulnerable groups such as the elderly, low-income individuals, and women. This study addresses the lack of detailed micro-level measurement, deepens the explanatory analysis of mechanisms and heterogeneity, and provides a basis for formulating differentiated policies in line with the vision of common prosperity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Income Inequality, Poverty and Economic Growth)
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Review

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25 pages, 3420 KB  
Review
Exploring the Research Landscape of Inflation and Household Poverty: A Bibliometric Review
by Mesfin Melese, Seid Muhammed, Dora Kolta and Prihoda Emese
Economies 2026, 14(7), 262; https://doi.org/10.3390/economies14070262 - 6 Jul 2026
Viewed by 201
Abstract
Inflation has become a major global economic issue, affecting household welfare and poverty reduction efforts, especially in developing countries. Despite growing scholarly attention, understanding of its conceptual foundations, emerging themes, and future research directions remains limited. This review analyzes international studies on inflation [...] Read more.
Inflation has become a major global economic issue, affecting household welfare and poverty reduction efforts, especially in developing countries. Despite growing scholarly attention, understanding of its conceptual foundations, emerging themes, and future research directions remains limited. This review analyzes international studies on inflation and household poverty from 2015 to 2025. Following PRISMA 2020 guidelines, 147 peer-reviewed English-language articles were selected from an initial pool of 659 records in the Scopus database and analyzed using the Biblioshiny package in R for performance metrics and science mapping. The findings reveal a rapidly growing and diverse research area, with an average annual growth rate of 20.77%, involving 362 authors across 147 journals. Most research focuses on high-income nations such as the United States, China, and the UK, while regions heavily affected by inflation-driven poverty, such as Sub-Saharan Africa and Central Asia, are less represented. Thematic analysis identifies five key areas: macroeconomic instability and inequality; household well-being and food security; energy poverty and commodity prices; COVID-19 and external economic threats; and multidimensional poverty combined with social policies. Around 30% of the publications feature international collaboration, reflecting increased global cooperation. Life-cycle analysis indicates the field is in a growth phase and may reach maturity around 2036. Overall, this review provides a detailed overview of the development and structure of research on inflation and household poverty, highlights notable geographic and thematic gaps, and offers valuable insights for future studies and policies aimed at reducing inflation’s adverse effects on vulnerable economies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Income Inequality, Poverty and Economic Growth)
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