Inequality: What’s in a word?

Ten years have passed since the global financial crisis first struck. But its shockwaves remain with us, from depressed wages and persistent debt burdens to charged protest movements, divisive politics, and renewed nationalisms – especially, but not only, in the rich global North. Moreover, the broader economic discourse has radically changed, with worldwide implications. Researchers and the (sustainable) development community, in particular, both echo and shape this changing global discourse. Today, inequality is on everyone’s lips. This policy brief examines inequality, and how its perspective on poverty and wealth can enhance research and policy. Above all, use of an inequality lens fosters vital systems thinking about how wealth is created, who captures it, who loses it – or bears the ecological costs – and how to achieve fairer outcomes