Income Inequality, Policies and Inclusive Growth

The overarching aim of this project is to analyse the link between income inequality, economic growth, and sectoral structure in order to shed light on the mechanisms that boost or hinder inclusiveness in the West Midlands area and more broadly.

Income Inequality is likely to have implications for how evenly economic growth is spread across society. Likewise, economic shocks (whether positive or negative) may impact on some individuals and households more than others, with implications for inclusivity.

Hence, the project will provide insights into micro and macro dimensions of income inequality and inclusive growth that can both inform inclusive growth policy interventions and assess their impacts.

WMREDI

Research Theme 5

Regional Society and  Communities

Objectives

  1. Review existing definitions of Income Inequality and Inclusive Growth and how it is measured. The review will encompass published reports and case studies, with a particular focus on the UK and its regions.
  2. Use data from the Annual Population Survey/Labour Force Survey, Business Register and Employment Survey, and Survey of Personal Income to examine the sectoral composition of employment (in terms of gender, age, qualification/skill, household structure, etc.), portray social profiles of people in different percentiles of income and map income inequality across areas of West Midlands in the context of other regions. This will provide us with insights into whether growth has been inclusive and/or which groups in which sectors have ‘lost out’.
  3. Analyse gender pay gaps across occupations aiming to define potential changes due to reduction of pay gaps and calibrate potential increase in economy due to reducing gender pay gaps.
  4. Undertake analyses using longitudinal micro data (from Annual Population Survey) to conduct econometric analyses to gain insights on how income inequality relates to economic growth, poverty, crimes and labour market indicators. This stage also aims to evaluate the impact of Inclusive Growth policies.

Blog

Research Team

Dr Maryna Ramchan (lead) - Maryna is a Data Analyst and her main area of interest is statistical analysis, data visualisations and applying quantitative research techniques to analyse economics and complex systems with a focus on Income Inequality, Gender Disparities, Inclusive Growth and labour market participation.

Dr Deniz Sevinc - Deniz is an applied economist and her main areas of research are income inequality, population and development economics with a focus on the development of multidimensional approaches to the measurement of poverty and its societal impacts including skills gap in regional labour markets, health inequalities and public participation methods.

Josh Swan - After working as a software specialist for Advanced Computer Software, Josh moved into Data Analysis in the Public Health Sector. His areas of interest include Business, Entrepreneurship, urban development, sustainable economic development, economic diversification and quantitative research methods.

Emerzon Somera - Emerzon recently finished a BSc undergrad in the field of business computing with some experience in predictive modelling, data visualisation and data management. He has strong interests in data analysis, modelling applications and desires to contribute and apply the theories learnt during University and the skills attained through his ongoing apprenticeship into practice.

Contact

Project lead contact details: 

Dr Maryna Ramchan

Project support contact details: 

Matthew Patterson, Administrative Assistant, City-REDI / WMREDI 

WMREDI is funded by Research England and the WMREDI partnership

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