Time: Thursday, 17th Dec 2020, 16: 00-17: 00pm (Beijing Time)
Language: English (No interpretation)

Lecturer: Danny Quah
Dean and Li Ka Shing Professor in Economics at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, NUS.
Moderator: Zhu Xufeng
Associate Dean and Professor of SPPM, Tsinghua University
Commentator: Zhou Shaojie

All around the world, a battle cry has sounded on inequality. Some have described income inequality as the source of all society's ills. Others think of it as the defining challenge of our time, putting at risk the basic bargain for the middle class in every nation in the world. Appropriate public policy, however, the poor and on social mobility.

This paper describes two empirical regularities. First, an increase in inequality typically does not coincide with immiserisation of the poor and lower middle class. Second, for political upheaval, individual well-being and expectations on its trajectory matter more than inequality. When these causal factors diverge, the role of inequality is, thus, diminished Public policy needs to counter misinterpretation and misinformation on equality with rigorous analysis and empirical evidence.