--- title: Inequality & Poverty description: This topic examines the causes, measurements, and consequences of economic disparity and poverty. Learners will understand how income distribution is measured, the systemic factors driving inequality, and the policy interventions used to alleviate poverty globally. category: finance-economics subcategory: economics-(social-lens) difficulty: beginner, intermediate, advanced url: /subject/inequality-and-poverty --- # Inequality & Poverty This topic examines the causes, measurements, and consequences of economic disparity and poverty. Learners will understand how income distribution is measured, the systemic factors driving inequality, and the policy interventions used to alleviate poverty globally. ## Available Resources 3 Books • 2 Courses • 2 Websites ## Websites ### 1. World Bank Poverty Overview The World Bank's landing page for its poverty work: current global and regional poverty estimates against the international poverty lines, links to the Poverty and Shared Prosperity report, and country-level data. A starting point for sourcing figures. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/poverty/overview **Tags:** poverty, global-development, economic-data, world-bank, inequality ### 2. inequality.org Inequality.org is a data-driven policy site from the Institute for Policy Studies that analyzes economic inequality, offering articles, dashboards, and briefs on wages, wealth concentration, taxes, and corporate power to inform policy solutions. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://inequality.org **Tags:** websites, humanities-social-sciences, economics ## Courses ### 1. Economics of Money and Banking **Author:** Perry Mehrling Columbia University course that analyses the monetary system through balance sheets: the hierarchy of money, payment clearing, repo and Eurodollar markets, dealer market making, central bank crisis operations, foreign exchange and swaps. Learners can read financial crises and central bank interventions as balance-sheet events. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.coursera.org/learn/money-banking **Tags:** money-and-banking, central-banking, money-markets, shadow-banking, monetary-economics ### 2. Inequality Utrecht University's six-module course on the tension between economic inequality and political equality, covering property, corporations, lobbying, campaign finance, tax avoidance, and alternative institutions. Finishing it, you can explain how concentrated wealth shapes democratic decision-making. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.coursera.org/learn/inequality-and-democracy **Tags:** courses, humanities-social-sciences, economics ## Podcasts ### 1. Indebted: Debt and Race in America **Author:** Maurice BP-Weeks Ten-part podcast series from Convergence magazine in which organizer Maurice BP-Weeks examines medical, student, payday, carceral and municipal debt. Listeners understand how these debt mechanisms work and why they fall hardest on Black households and widen the racial wealth gap. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** en-US | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://convergencemag.com/podcast-shows/indebted/ **Tags:** household-debt, racial-wealth-gap, economic-inequality, predatory-lending, student-debt ## Books ### 1. Capital in the Twenty-First Century **Author:** Thomas Piketty Piketty's analysis of wealth and income data spanning three centuries and twenty countries, arguing that returns on capital outpace growth. Readers come away understanding how concentrated wealth accumulates across generations and the historical evidence behind his central claim. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/067443000X?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** books, humanities-social-sciences, economics ### 2. The Spirit Level **Author:** Richard Wilkinson, Kate Pickett Wilkinson and Pickett correlate income inequality across rich countries with health and social outcomes: life expectancy, obesity, imprisonment, teenage births, trust. Readers gain a data-driven argument that relative inequality, not average income, drives these differences, plus grounds to weigh its criticisms. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/1846140390?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** books, humanities-social-sciences, economics ### 3. Evicted **Author:** Matthew Desmond Ethnographic account following eight Milwaukee families and their landlords through housing court and forced moves. Desmond shows how eviction functions as a cause of poverty rather than only a symptom, with the fieldwork and statistics supporting that claim. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0553447459?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** books, humanities-social-sciences, economics --- *This content is part of Dantes.io - Your Treasure Map to Knowledge* *Curated by humans at Dantes.io. 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