The inauguration of President Ramaphosa in February 2018 has offered the country an opportunity to put the South African project of Nelson Mandela back on track. But this will require confronting, head-on, the lack of progress towards a more balanced distribution of opportunities and incomes and the difficult political and economic questions that this raises. Will the benefits of political change be limited to a narrow elite or is more broad-based equitable development possible? What kinds of social, economic or institutional change might contribute to more rapid  transformation of opportunities for the bottom half of the household income distribution? What kinds of constraints on power and privilege might contribute to fairer outcomes at the top tail of the distribution?

These difficult questions are of interest both in South Africa and internationally, and they are economic and institutional questions of considerable complexity. It is not just that a continued widening of inequality is unacceptable morally, it seems likely also that it threatens growth, social order and sustainability. Inequality reduction is under the spotlight in many countries and much work has been done internationally and in South Africa on understanding inequality.

This project is part of the first phase of the Research Facility on Inequalities, coordinated by AFD and funded by the European Commission's Directorate-General for International Partnerships over the 2017-2020 period. The first phase of the Facility has led to the conduct of 22 research projects and the publication of around 100 research papers and policy briefs.

This project will draw on and consolidate this evidence-base and then fill some important, policy-relevant gaps that remain. By design, the research programme outlined below seeks to address distributional issues in both the bottom half and the top of the distribution. The work programme recognises from the outset that there are several dimensions of human development and wellbeing, and progress in some measures might be accompanied by deterioration in others. It recognises that economic growth does not necessarily lead to equitable outcomes – both poverty and inequality have self-reinforcing characteristics that are hard to counter.

The project will be undertaken in formal partnership with South Africa’s national statistical office, Statistics South Africa. Also, as important steps in the proposed research programme, a series of dialogues will be held between the researchers and key stakeholders, including representatives of government, business, organised labour and civil society – to seek advice, test ideas and contribute to consensus on possible policy reforms.

The research project will be developed across three work streams:

1. The implementation of the inequality diagnostic under the form of a report summarizing existing knowledge on South African inequality trends and policies. It will further add to this knowledge using available data, explore the implications of this new work and then take stock of data needs in order to make further progress in framing policies to overcome inequality.
2. A paper on the role of earnings in the household inequality dynamics. It builds off preliminary evidence that a key aspect of the lack of support from the labour market into households is the volatility of employment and therefore earnings for the self-employed and other vulnerable workers.
3. A paper on the interlinkages between population dynamics and spatial inequality. This paper is responsive to an often-expressed opinion from the policy community that migration is being driven by differences across provinces and regions in the quality of schooling, health, and other services.

The diagnostic of inequality in South Africa, carried out by Statistics South Africa in partnership with the Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit (SALDRU), the African Centre of Excellence for Inequalities Research (ACEIR) in the EU-AFD Facility framework is available online: Inequality trends in South Africa: a multidimensional diagnosis of inequality.

This report was presented at a workshop involving all actors working to reduce inequality, held on 11 February 2020 in Philippi, Cape Town, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the release of Nelson Mandela. You will find here the synthesis of the workshop, including the presentations, discussions and debates held this day: Stakeholder engagement on inequality trends in South Africa.

Find the presentation of the research paper "Earnings Inequality over the Life-Course in South Africa" by Zocco Zizzamia (ACEIR, SALDRU-UCT, University of Oxford) during the second webinar of the Research Facility on Inequalities:

You may find the research papers here:

• Spatial inequality through the prism of a pandemic: Covid-19 in South Africa
• Earnings inequality over the life-course in South Africa

Contact:

• Anda David, Research Officer at AFD

Reducing poverty and income inequalities has been one of the priorities of Senegalese governments since the end of the 1990s. While progress has been made, 23% of households surveyed in 2011 still considered themselves as very poor. To reduce these inequalities and promote growth that is beneficial to the poorest, it is crucial to develop the agricultural sector. There are various possible trajectories for doing so. One is intensification of agroecology, which seems to be good choice for this development, in particular for environmental reasons. For example, several projects have shown that agroecological practices enable productivity comparable to conventional agriculture while at the same time being much more friendly to the environment and the climate. However, there are have been few studies that have quantified the impact of these practices on farmer income and especially on income inequalities, despite the fact that this is a fundamental parameter for achieving the goals of eliminating severe poverty.

This project is part of the first phase of the Research Facility on Inequalities, coordinated by AFD and funded by the European Commission's Directorate-General for International Partnerships over the 2017-2020 period. The first phase of the Facility has led to the conduct of 22 research projects and the publication of around 100 research papers and policy briefs.

The objectives of this research project are to:

• quantify the current income inequalities in rural areas in Senegal;
• analyze what impact different types of public policies that promote agroecology would have on these inequalities.

It is therefore a question of determining the type of grant for Senegal’s agricultural sector that is most likely to reduce inequalities. Different types of inequalities are studied: by gender, within a single community, and between two communities located in different agroecological zones.

This project uses a multidisciplinary approach which combines participatory workshops in rural areas and a stage of bio-economic modeling of outcomes during the workshops. To do so, outcomes, and models already used in international projects (e.g. AMMA-2050) are being expanded and improved. The analysis must also focus on a sector very largely neglected in the past: the combined systems of farming and or livestock raising. Two agroecological zones are being studied under two contrasting climates: one symbolizing the current climate and the other, defined by climatologists, representing the future climate. This will help assess the relevance of agroecology faced with climate change adaptation and to quantify its contribution to the resilience of vulnerable populations.

You may find the research papers here (in French) :

• Inégalités de revenu en milieu rural dans le bassin arachidier du Sénégal
• Impact de différentes politiques publiques sur l'intensification agroécologique et les inégalités de revenu dans le bassin arachidier du Sénégal

You may find the policy briefs here:

• Poverty and inequalities in the peanut basin of Senegal: implications and recommendations
• What policies should be implemented to promote agro-ecological intensification and reduce inequalities in the peanut basin of Senegal?

Contact:

Philippe Roudier, Research Officer, AFD

Moussa Sall, Research Officer, ISRA

According to the official Jordanian population census, there were an estimated 1.2 million Syrian refugees in the country as of November 2015. This figure corresponds to between 10% and 12% of the population. Approximately 660,000 of them are registered as “asylum seekers” by the UNHCR. But their number has been decreasing since 2015, probably because of migration, especially back to their home country.

The percentage of Syrian refugees who do not wish to live permanently in the three UN-run refugee camps in northern Jordan surpasses 90%. This is why they are settling in cities or the nearby rural areas, where they rent apartments and often live in unsuitable housing. Their main motivation for doing so is access to jobs.

This population influx to the cities has an impact on housing, services, activities, income, and the distribution of resources among urban residents. It can heighten the inequalities among the people living in Jordan, in particular between Jordanians and foreigners (1.7 million foreigners live in Jordan).

The first part of the study focuses on the dynamics of economic inequality between households in Amman and Irbid, using the 2010 and 2016 Jordan Labor Market Panel Survey (JLMPS) and the 2013 and 2016 Household Expenditure and Income Survey (HEIS).

The second part of the study examines housing inequality among residents of Amman and Irbid. This section looks at both housing as a cost (household expenditures) and housing as a source of income (renting, selling, etc.).

Many inequality indicators will be used: the Gini coefficient as well as the  Atkinson index and the P90/P10 ratio, for example.

The data will come from:

• studies from 2010 and 2016 on the Jordanian labor market (Jordan Labor Market Panel Surveys);
• 2004 and 2015 population censuses (Jordanian Department of Statistics);
• data on household incomes and expenditures (Household Expenditure and Income Surveys, HEIS), 2013 and 2016;
• UNDP data on socio-economic inequalities in Jordan; and
• UNHCR data.

The research team is made up of two economists, one geographer, and one sociologist on the Jordanian side, and one economist and one urban planner on the AFD side.

• Irène Salenson, Research Officer, AFD
• Abdel Baset Athamneh, Head, Department of Economics, Yarmouk University

Since the end of apartheid, the successive South African governments have put emphasis on a very proactive public-housing policy, notably by having built 2.7 million housing units for the disadvantaged classes. However, various sources estimate that another 2 million affordable housing units are still needed (which would concern 12 million people, or one-fourth of the population of South Africa). Furthermore, construction of the 2.7 million housing units has not eliminated slums, which continue to spread in the major South African cities. Finally, most of the public housing has been established in the outer peripheries of cities: this hinders access by the beneficiaries to the areas offering jobs and services and contributes to continued racial and social segregation.

The most recent trends have seen the private sector encouraged to participate in the construction or renovation of affordable housing.

This project is part of the first phase of the Research Facility on Inequalities, coordinated by AFD and funded by the European Commission's Directorate-General for International Partnerships over the 2017-2020 period. The first phase of the Facility has led to the conduct of 22 research projects and the publication of around 100 research papers and policy briefs.

The objective of this research project is to understand the impact of projects such as the “Integrated Housing Developments” or so-called “social” housing in the major South African cities (Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Durban). Other tools furthering social inclusion are also studied, such as the regulations and tax incentives that encourage production of affordable housing by the private sector, etc.

As part of this study, we cover both the question of reducing economic inequalities and the question of the scale at which inequalities should be examined: by neighborhood, by district, or citywide.

The study also defines the determinants and obstacles with regard to the production of public and affordable housing. These include the economic model, support from the public sector, private investment, regulatory framework, difficulties in implementation, and others.

The research project makes a case study of several projects involving the production of subsidized housing in three major South African cities (Cape Town, Johannesburg, and Durban). Several socio-economic indicators are used to evaluate inequalities.Series of data on housing supply and demand have been gathered, from the 2000s to 2018. The study looks for the most disaggregated data possible, in order to identify tendencies within cities regarding segregation, inclusion, and exclusion.

The role of different sources of income is analyzed, in particular the incomes and expenditures related to housing, by cross-analyzing them with the Gini index on inequalities.

The study also has a qualitative component dealing with the forms of production and regulation of affordable housing in South Africa.

You may find the research papers here:

• Social housing and upward mobility in South Africa
• The role of social housing in reducing inequality in South African cities

You may find the policy briefs here:

• Social Housing and Spatial Inequality in South African Cities
• Social Housing and Upward Mobility in South African Cities

Contacts:

Irène Salenson, Research Officer, AFD

Ivan Turok, Executive Director in the Economic Performance and Development Unit of the Human Science Research Council

Reduction of inequality is one of the core Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). One of the targets of SDG 10 is for income growth of a country’s poorest 40% to be higher than the national average. Reaching this objective requires setting up economic policies on public expenditures and taxes that will benefit the poorest people. At the same time, mobilizing tax revenue can play a key role in financing the SDGs, but it is important to understand under what conditions this higher level of tax revenue collection is reconcilable with the goal of reducing inequalities.

This project is part of the first phase of the Research Facility on Inequalities, coordinated by AFD and funded by the European Commission's Directorate-General for International Partnerships over the 2017-2020 period. The first phase of the Facility has led to the conduct of 22 research projects and the publication of around 100 research papers and policy briefs.

This research project seeks to improve understanding of the relationship between income inequality and budget policies in developing countries. The study is divided into three parts:

•  Investigation into the redistributive impact of taxes, transfers, and public expenditure in three countries of West Africa (Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, and Senegal). The analysis will try to answer the following questions:
  • Who pays taxes, and who benefits from the transfers and public expenditures?

  • What is the overall impact of the tax and transfer systems on inequalities?

  • What tax instrument can mobilize revenues while reducing poverty and inequality?

• Study of the effect on inequalities from applying different types of taxes in the developing countries. Is the increase in tax revenues (measured by the ratio between revenue and GDP) linked to a reduction or an increase in inequalities? The relationship between the type of taxes levied and the change in inequalities within a country and between different countries will be studied in order to identify which taxes are progressive or regressive.
• Analysis of tax compliance behaviors in Africa, by identifying how the level of inequalities affects citizens’ attitude towards taxes.

This research project will use econometric quantitative studies based on household survey data and macro-economic data available on a large number of countries (Parts 2 and 3). Microsimulation tools will also be used (Part 1).

You may find the research papers and the policy briefs here :

Research papers:

• Fiscal consolidation and health inequality: Evidence from infant mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa
• Collect more, spend better? Assessing the incidence of fiscal systems and public spending in three francophone West African countries
• Inequality in the public good provision and attitude towards taxation: sub-national evidence from Africa

Policy briefs:

• Collect more, spend better? Enhancing fiscal redistribution in West Africa
• Fiscal consolidation in Sub-Saharan Africa: Unequal effects on children’s health
• Building fiscal capacity in Sub-Saharan Africa: The role of local inequality
• Measuring local inequality: Insights from data on night lights

Find also the presentation of the research paper "Inequality in the public good provision and attitude towards taxation: sub-national evidence from Africa" by Marin Ferry, Senior Lecturer at Gustave Eiffel University / Associate Researcher IRD-DIAL during the fourth webinar of the Research Facility on Inequalities:

Contact: Hélène Ehrhart, Economist, AFD

Economic, social, and regional inequalities represent a major concern in Tunisia and around the world—for both ethical and political reasons. Growing gaps in equality threaten stability and social peace. They also discourage private initiative, curb investment, and reduce productivity.

This project is part of the first phase of the Research Facility on Inequalities, coordinated by AFD and funded by the European Commission's Directorate-General for International Partnerships over the 2017-2020 period. The first phase of the Facility has led to the conduct of 22 research projects and the publication of around 100 research papers and policy briefs.

This research project has two components.

• The first consists of an in-depth review of the state of inequalities in Tunisia, including the geographical dimension. It should help take stock of the knowledge about this issue in Tunisia, by highlighting the territorial aspects of the various dimensions of inequalities.
• The second component involves analysis of the determinants of inequalities. In a context of territorial comparison, the analysis focuses on social characteristics, training, and evolution of social capital. It also takes into account the importance of heritage in skills and knowledge, i.e. the inherited human capital that supplements the human capital acquired through the formal education system.

The two components of this research program are complementary and must be carried out in a parallel fashion. The objective? To give a broader perspective of the geographical aspects that characterize inequalities in Tunisia.

Two articles, available in the "Results" section below, have been produced from the research:

• The first one that takes stock of the inequalities;
• The second one on their determinants and on the role of human and social capital in the emergence (or formation) of inequalities.

• A review of national and international literature will be conducted, especially on the conceptual and theoretical aspects. This will make it possible to fine-tune the analytical framework for measurement and analysis of inequalities and their determinants.
• A quantitative analysis on the state and evolution of inequalities will be carried out, based on available data.
• A survey will be carried out, with the main objective of gathering data on human capital and on social capital, through the diverse geographical areas of Tunisia where quite homogeneous communities are identified. This survey will make it possible to propose a measurement of human and social capital, which will be used to analyze the determinants of inequalities.

You may find the research papers and the policy brief below.

Research papers:

• Les inégalités en Tunisie (in French)
• Les inégalités en Tunisie : quels rôles pour le capital humain hérité et le capital social ? (in French)

Policy brief:

• Inequalities in Tunisia: what role for inherited human capital and social capital?

Contact:

• Cecilia Poggi, Research Officer, AFD