Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/211275 
Year of Publication: 
2019
Series/Report no.: 
WIDER Working Paper No. 2019/45
Publisher: 
The United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), Helsinki
Abstract: 
Understanding wealth inequality has unique significance in South Africa. The coexistence of extreme poverty and extreme wealth is starkly visible. Apartheid-era inequality has persisted despite more than 20 years of democracy. Much of the research on inequality has focused on inequality of income and of opportunities. There is a large gap in understanding wealth inequality-levels of wealth inequality, how wealth is held, and the mechanism through which wealth inequality is produced and reproduced. This gap requires a specific research agenda, which this paper suggests. Section 1 explores why studying wealth inequality is of fundamental importance. Section 2 reviews international data and methods used to research wealth inequality in other countries, before laying out a suggested approach to doing such studies in South Africa.
Subjects: 
administrative data
scoping
wealth inequality
JEL: 
C80
D31
D63
O55
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
ISBN: 
978-92-9256-679-1
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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