Promoting Equality. an Interregional Perspective
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Promoting equality An interregional perspective Project Documents Promoting equality An interregional perspective This report is a joint effort by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), in the framework of the interregional project “Promoting Equality: Strengthening the capacity of selected developing countries to design and implement equality-oriented public policies and programmes”, financed through the United Nations Development Account. The report was coordinated by Simone Cecchini and Raúl Holz, who also prepared chapters I, III and VI. Chapter II was prepared by Adrian Gauci with support from Tumaini Bulere, Vanessa Simen Tchamyou and Kalkidan Assefa, under the overall guidance of Saurabh Sinha. Chapter IV was prepared by Patrik Andersson, Imogen Howells, Predrag Savić, Ermina Sokou and Yichun Wang. Chapter V was prepared by Oussama Safa and Angela Samara. Valuable comments were received from Vivian Milosavljevic, Beatriz Morales, Claudia Robles, Heidi Ullman and Andres Vikat. The opinions expressed in this document, which has not undergone formal editorial review, are the exclusive responsibility of the authors and may not represent those of the Organization. United Nations publication LC/TS.2018/50/Rev.1 Distribution: Limited Copyright © United Nations, July 2018. All rights reserved Printed at United Nations, Santiago S.18-00635 Applications for authorization to reproduce this work in whole or in part should be sent to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Publications and Web Services Division, [email protected]. Member States and their governmental institutions may reproduce this work without prior authorization, but are requested to mention the source and to inform ECLAC of such reproduction. ECLAC Promoting equality: an interregional perspective Contents Foreword ....................................................................................................................................... 9 Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 11 Bibliography ......................................................................................................................... 16 I. Setting the stage: inequality and poverty in world regions ................................................... 17 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 17 A. Equality-oriented public policies: beyond the equality-efficiency trade off .................... 18 B. Income inequality ......................................................................................................... 19 C. Income and multidimensional poverty .......................................................................... 21 Bibliography ......................................................................................................................... 24 Annex I.A1 ........................................................................................................................... 25 II. Regional view: inequality in Africa ........................................................................................ 39 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 39 A. Socioeconomic inequality ............................................................................................. 40 1. Income inequality: a snapshot .............................................................................. 40 2. Drivers of inequality .............................................................................................. 43 B. Factors contributing to the decline in inequality of some countries ............................... 52 1. Growth and poverty gap........................................................................................ 53 2. Pro-poor investments ............................................................................................ 53 3. Labour markets ..................................................................................................... 54 4. Gender .................................................................................................................. 55 5. Spatial inequalities ................................................................................................ 56 6. Financial inclusion ................................................................................................ 56 C. Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 57 1. Public policy .......................................................................................................... 57 2. Policy considerations ............................................................................................ 58 Bibliography ......................................................................................................................... 58 III. Latin America and the Caribbean: social protection policies to address inequality .............. 61 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 61 A. Public policies that address socio-economic stratification ............................................ 64 1. Minimum wage policies ......................................................................................... 64 2. Policies for labour and productive inclusion .......................................................... 65 B. Public policies that address gender inequality .............................................................. 66 3 ECLAC Promoting equality: an interregional perspective 1. Care policies ........................................................................................................... 67 2. Women’s labour and productive inclusion .............................................................. 68 3. Pensions ................................................................................................................. 69 C. Public policies that reduce life cycle inequalities ........................................................... 70 1. Childhood and adolescence ................................................................................... 71 2. Youth ...................................................................................................................... 72 3. Old age ................................................................................................................... 72 D. Public policies that reduce race and ethnic inequalities ................................................. 73 1. Indigenous peoples ................................................................................................ 74 2. Afrodescendants ..................................................................................................... 75 E. Public policies that reduce territorial inequalities ........................................................... 76 1. The urban-rural divide ............................................................................................ 77 2. Reducing segregation in cities................................................................................ 78 F. Concluding remarks ....................................................................................................... 78 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................... 79 IV. Promoting Equality: a regional view from Asia and the Pacific .............................................. 83 A. Major socioeconomic inequalities, their trends and key drivers ..................................... 83 1. Inequality of outcome: income ................................................................................ 83 2. Inequality of outcome: wealth ................................................................................. 87 3. Inequality and decent work ..................................................................................... 88 4. Inequality of opportunity: access to basic services ................................................ 90 B. Public policies to tackle inequalities ............................................................................... 94 1. Social protection ..................................................................................................... 94 2. Health ..................................................................................................................... 96 3. Education ................................................................................................................ 97 4. Employment ............................................................................................................ 98 5. Fiscal policies ......................................................................................................... 99 C. Moving forward ............................................................................................................. 100 1. Harness the potential of economic growth to create decent jobs.