New IZA DPs -- Inequality
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IZA Publications
Jan 24, 2026, 9:08:10 AMJan 24
to italo...@gmail.com
Dear Italo Gutierrez,
These new IZA Discussion Papers are now available online.
DP 18275 - Maré/Benison:
Ethnic Wage Differences in Aotearoa New Zealand
DP 18286 - Betti/Crescenzi/Dang/Molini/Mori:
Reconstructing Two Decades of Inequality in the Sahel Region
DP 18345 - Blau/Cohen/Comey/Kahn/Boboshko:
The Minimum Wage and Inequality Between Groups
DP 18350 - Mehrotra/Hassan:
The 'Despotic Leviathan' and Its Financial Architecture: How IMF Conditionalities Deepen Inequality
DP 18351 - Grebol/Machelett/Stuhler/Villanueva:
Assortative Mating, Inequality, and Rising Educational Mobility in Spain
Please find the abstracts and download links below.
You might also be interested in this World of Labor content:
Key topic: What is economic inequality?
IZA DP No. 18275
David C. Maré, Thomas Benison:
Ethnic Wage Differences in Aotearoa New Zealand
Abstract:
Ethnic wage gaps are a substantial and persistent issue in New Zealand. Understanding the drivers of such gaps is key to understanding the economic, social, and institutional factors that contribute to labour market inequality and to identifying measures to reduce gaps. Using household survey data from 2009 to 2023, this study implements a version of the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition method to examine the sources of ethnic wage gaps in New Zealand. Our results confirm the pattern of disadvantage previously documented for non-European ethnic groups. Differences in demographic, educational, and job characteristics account for substantial portions of the wage gaps for M?ori, Pacific, and European groups. After accounting for differences in mean characteristics, sizeable wage gaps remain, providing insight into the degree of ethnic labour market disadvantage that is due to unobservable characteristics or broader systemic factors.
https://docs.iza.org/dp18275.pdf
IZA DP No. 18286
Gianni Betti, Federico Crescenzi, Hai-Anh H Dang, Vasco Molini, Lorenzo Mori:
Reconstructing Two Decades of Inequality in the Sahel Region
Abstract:
Measuring inequality in West Africa is a challenging task that is constrained by the limited availability and irregular collection of household consumption data. To address this challenge, we reconstructed the evolution of inequality in the Sahel region using an innovative framework that combines Survey-to-Survey Imputation Techniques (SSITs) with Generalized Additive Models for Location, Scale and Shape (GAMLSS), based on labour force surveys conducted in eight countries between 2003 and 2021. The findings highlight pronounced regional disparities, persistent levels of inequality, and a clear association between inequality patterns and episodes of conflict or political instability. Our contribution is twofold: methodologically, we introduce a flexible SSIT-GAMLSS model that incorporates two levels of random effects; substantively, we provide new evidence of inequality trends in francophone West Africa, a region largely underrepresented in empirical research.
https://docs.iza.org/dp18286.pdf
IZA DP No. 18345
Francine D. Blau, Isaac Cohen, Matthew Comey, Lawrence M. Kahn, Nikolai Boboshko:
The Minimum Wage and Inequality Between Groups
Abstract:
Using 1979-2019 Current Population Survey data, we study the effect of state and federal minimum wage policies on gender, race, and ethnic inequality. We find that minimum wages substantially reduce intergroup wage inequality at least up to the 20th wage percentile, with no evidence of adverse employment effects. We conduct counterfactual simulations of between-group inequality due to minimum wage changes since 1979. Declines in the real minimum wage in the 1980s slowed progress in narrowing between-group inequality. Relatively small changes in minimum wages during 1989-1998 and 1998-2007 meant little role for the minimum wage over those time spans. Since 2007, several states have steeply raised their minimum wages, especially raising Hispanics’ relative wages, because they earn low wages and reside disproportionately in those states. Finally, we find that raising the federal minimum wage to $12/hour in 2020 dollars ($14.49 in 2025Q2 dollars) would reduce existing between-gr oup wage gaps below the 15th percentile by 25-50%.
https://docs.iza.org/dp18345.pdf
IZA DP No. 18350
Santosh Mehrotra, Shady Hassan:
The 'Despotic Leviathan' and Its Financial Architecture: How IMF Conditionalities Deepen Inequality
Abstract:
This paper examines how IMF policies contribute to the inequality in MENA, and to a Middle-Income Trap (MIT). Developing a theory expanding Acemoglu and Robinson’s “Narrow Corridor” framework, it shows how IMF conditions align domestic elite incentives with creditor interests through a principal-agent lens. Using 2020-2025 data, its analysis reveals IMF monetary policies create rent-seeking structures that institutionalize inequality and suppress growth. The paper identifies an “engineered r>g dynamic” as a quantifiable signature of this extraction, empirically verified in Egypt. It establishes a causal link between financial/monetary policy (interest rates, debt compounding) and the “Despotic Leviathan” state formation.
https://docs.iza.org/dp18350.pdf
IZA DP No. 18351
Ricard Grebol, Margarita Machelett, Jan Stuhler, Ernesto Villanueva:
Assortative Mating, Inequality, and Rising Educational Mobility in Spain
Abstract:
We study the evolution of intergenerational educational mobility and related distributional statistics in Spain. Over recent decades, mobility has risen by one-third, coinciding with pronounced declines in inequality and assortative mating among the same cohorts. To explore these patterns, we examine regional correlates of mobility, using split-sample techniques. A key finding from both national and regional analyses is the close association between mobility and assortative mating: spousal sorting accounts for nearly half of the regional variation in intergenerational correlations and also appears to be a key mediator of the negative relationship between inequality and mobility documented in recent studies.
https://docs.iza.org/dp18351.pdf
Please click here to change your subscription status.
If you have trouble downloading the papers, or for any other questions regarding the IZA Discussion Paper Series, contact public...@iza.org.
These new IZA Discussion Papers are now available online.
DP 18275 - Maré/Benison:
Ethnic Wage Differences in Aotearoa New Zealand
DP 18286 - Betti/Crescenzi/Dang/Molini/Mori:
Reconstructing Two Decades of Inequality in the Sahel Region
DP 18345 - Blau/Cohen/Comey/Kahn/Boboshko:
The Minimum Wage and Inequality Between Groups
DP 18350 - Mehrotra/Hassan:
The 'Despotic Leviathan' and Its Financial Architecture: How IMF Conditionalities Deepen Inequality
DP 18351 - Grebol/Machelett/Stuhler/Villanueva:
Assortative Mating, Inequality, and Rising Educational Mobility in Spain
Please find the abstracts and download links below.
You might also be interested in this World of Labor content:
Key topic: What is economic inequality?
IZA DP No. 18275
David C. Maré, Thomas Benison:
Ethnic Wage Differences in Aotearoa New Zealand
Abstract:
Ethnic wage gaps are a substantial and persistent issue in New Zealand. Understanding the drivers of such gaps is key to understanding the economic, social, and institutional factors that contribute to labour market inequality and to identifying measures to reduce gaps. Using household survey data from 2009 to 2023, this study implements a version of the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition method to examine the sources of ethnic wage gaps in New Zealand. Our results confirm the pattern of disadvantage previously documented for non-European ethnic groups. Differences in demographic, educational, and job characteristics account for substantial portions of the wage gaps for M?ori, Pacific, and European groups. After accounting for differences in mean characteristics, sizeable wage gaps remain, providing insight into the degree of ethnic labour market disadvantage that is due to unobservable characteristics or broader systemic factors.
https://docs.iza.org/dp18275.pdf
IZA DP No. 18286
Gianni Betti, Federico Crescenzi, Hai-Anh H Dang, Vasco Molini, Lorenzo Mori:
Reconstructing Two Decades of Inequality in the Sahel Region
Abstract:
Measuring inequality in West Africa is a challenging task that is constrained by the limited availability and irregular collection of household consumption data. To address this challenge, we reconstructed the evolution of inequality in the Sahel region using an innovative framework that combines Survey-to-Survey Imputation Techniques (SSITs) with Generalized Additive Models for Location, Scale and Shape (GAMLSS), based on labour force surveys conducted in eight countries between 2003 and 2021. The findings highlight pronounced regional disparities, persistent levels of inequality, and a clear association between inequality patterns and episodes of conflict or political instability. Our contribution is twofold: methodologically, we introduce a flexible SSIT-GAMLSS model that incorporates two levels of random effects; substantively, we provide new evidence of inequality trends in francophone West Africa, a region largely underrepresented in empirical research.
https://docs.iza.org/dp18286.pdf
IZA DP No. 18345
Francine D. Blau, Isaac Cohen, Matthew Comey, Lawrence M. Kahn, Nikolai Boboshko:
The Minimum Wage and Inequality Between Groups
Abstract:
Using 1979-2019 Current Population Survey data, we study the effect of state and federal minimum wage policies on gender, race, and ethnic inequality. We find that minimum wages substantially reduce intergroup wage inequality at least up to the 20th wage percentile, with no evidence of adverse employment effects. We conduct counterfactual simulations of between-group inequality due to minimum wage changes since 1979. Declines in the real minimum wage in the 1980s slowed progress in narrowing between-group inequality. Relatively small changes in minimum wages during 1989-1998 and 1998-2007 meant little role for the minimum wage over those time spans. Since 2007, several states have steeply raised their minimum wages, especially raising Hispanics’ relative wages, because they earn low wages and reside disproportionately in those states. Finally, we find that raising the federal minimum wage to $12/hour in 2020 dollars ($14.49 in 2025Q2 dollars) would reduce existing between-gr oup wage gaps below the 15th percentile by 25-50%.
https://docs.iza.org/dp18345.pdf
IZA DP No. 18350
Santosh Mehrotra, Shady Hassan:
The 'Despotic Leviathan' and Its Financial Architecture: How IMF Conditionalities Deepen Inequality
Abstract:
This paper examines how IMF policies contribute to the inequality in MENA, and to a Middle-Income Trap (MIT). Developing a theory expanding Acemoglu and Robinson’s “Narrow Corridor” framework, it shows how IMF conditions align domestic elite incentives with creditor interests through a principal-agent lens. Using 2020-2025 data, its analysis reveals IMF monetary policies create rent-seeking structures that institutionalize inequality and suppress growth. The paper identifies an “engineered r>g dynamic” as a quantifiable signature of this extraction, empirically verified in Egypt. It establishes a causal link between financial/monetary policy (interest rates, debt compounding) and the “Despotic Leviathan” state formation.
https://docs.iza.org/dp18350.pdf
IZA DP No. 18351
Ricard Grebol, Margarita Machelett, Jan Stuhler, Ernesto Villanueva:
Assortative Mating, Inequality, and Rising Educational Mobility in Spain
Abstract:
We study the evolution of intergenerational educational mobility and related distributional statistics in Spain. Over recent decades, mobility has risen by one-third, coinciding with pronounced declines in inequality and assortative mating among the same cohorts. To explore these patterns, we examine regional correlates of mobility, using split-sample techniques. A key finding from both national and regional analyses is the close association between mobility and assortative mating: spousal sorting accounts for nearly half of the regional variation in intergenerational correlations and also appears to be a key mediator of the negative relationship between inequality and mobility documented in recent studies.
https://docs.iza.org/dp18351.pdf
Please click here to change your subscription status.
If you have trouble downloading the papers, or for any other questions regarding the IZA Discussion Paper Series, contact public...@iza.org.
IZA Publications
Jan 24, 2026, 9:11:51 AMJan 24
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