LIST OF WORKSHOPS

In recent decades, there have been growing concerns about inequality as a global phenomenon. Income and wealth inequalities are on the rise, universal access to basic goods and services has not been achieved, and the precarization of the labour force is permeating most societies. Moreover, the gap between men and women is widening and different types of inequalities reflecting class, gender, sex, race and ethnicity seem to be pervasive.

Existing studies on inequality draw mainly on sociological and economic perspectives that help us understand the multidimensional and complex dynamics of inequality, which vary according to regions and jurisdictions, and across societal groups.

Sociological studies concentrate on diverse inequalities at the intersections of individuals and social structures. Recent studies on occupational inequality examine the socioeconomic drivers that explain the rising occupational class stratification such as gender, education, unionization, and skill-biased technological change (Hook & Pettit, 2016; Torre, 2019; Zhou & Wodtke, 2019). Scholarship on race and ethnic inequalities demonstrates the diverse constrains within labour markets and services (Hall, Crowder, & Spring, 2015; Owens, 2018; Pfeffer & Killewald, 2019; Seamster & Charron-Chénier, 2017; Thomas, 2018). In the same vein, research on gender inequality emphasizes the wage gap, motherhood penalties in the labour market, and disparities between men and women regarding their work-family life balance (Moore, 2018; Pedulla & Thebaud, 2015; Thebaud & Pedulla, 2016).

Economic studies mainly focus on countries within the OECD and examine the dynamics, determinants, and consequences of wealth and income inequality. For instance, Piketty (2014) identifies two powerful forces that can push towards reducing inequality in industrialized countries: convergence and divergence. While the former reduce inequality through the diffusion of knowledge and investment in training and skills, the latter widen inequalities when economic growth is weak and the return of capital is high (see also Piketty and Saez 2014; Saez and Zucman 2016). Bengtsson and Waldenström (2018) and Tridico (2018) examine the different determinants of income inequality such as the split between capital shares and labour income, the level of labour flexibility, and the level of financialization of the economy, in addition to the decline of trade union density and public social spending. Moreover, other studies demonstrate how income and wealth inequalities produce a statistically significant negative effect on economic growth (Berumen, 2016; Cingano, 2014).

Piketty (2014) and Stiglitz (2015) claim that analyses of inequality should take into consideration the politics behind it. That is, the views, power, and collective choices of political, economic, and social actors that shape dominant paradigms in favour of reducing or increasing inequality (Piketty, 2014; Piketty & Saez, 2014).

There is a need to put the public policy discipline to the service of understanding inequality, just as sociologists and economists have done in the last two decades. This workshop expects to generate an in-depth understanding of the political and policy processes that shape different types of inequalities. Our research goal can be divided into three specific objectives:

· Determine how the characteristics of policy processes shape distributional outcomes.

· Identify how concepts from the public policy literature, including actors, agendas, coalitions and/or streams, can be viewed through the lens of inequality, and how the operation of these policy process variables is affected by socio-economic power differentials.

· Explore how policy processes interact with inequalities and the extent to which these dynamic interactions help to explain trends in inequality.

Papers at this workshop will be expected to address two research questions:

a) How do social inequalities shape policy processes?

b) How do policy processes shape inequality?

This workshop brings together scholars undertaking research on inequality and public policy processes in both the North and Global South. We invite researchers interested in the relationship between public policy processes and social inequalities to submit papers addressing the following questions: How do social inequalities shape policy processes? How do policy processes shape inequality?

Our workshop seeks to generate dialogue between policy and inequality research. We start from the observation that research that links public policy and inequality is scarce. Existing studies on inequality draw mainly on sociological and economic perspectives that help us understand the multidimensional and complex dynamics of inequality, which vary according to regions and jurisdictions, and across societal groups. Piketty (2014) and Stiglitz (2015) claim that analyses of inequality should take into consideration the politics behind it. Hacker and Pierson (2010) claim that most studies that interconnect policy and inequality research fail to provide convincing analysis about the outcomes of inequality in relation with the political and policy processes related to those outcomes.

We encourage authors to investigate how the characteristics of policy processes shape distributional outcomes. Do participatory, inclusive and localised policy processes reduce or exacerbate inequalities of outcomes, relative to centralised, top-down, rationalistic modes of policy making? Furthermore, we hope to identify how concepts from the public policy literature, including actors, agendas, coalitions and/or streams, can be viewed through the lens of inequality, and how the operation of these policy process variables is affected by socio-economic power differentials. Finally, we want participants to explore how policy processes interact with inequalities and the extent to which these dynamic interactions help to explain trends in inequality. The outcome will be a clearer understanding of the factors that shape policy making in an unequal world, and the institutional drivers of contemporary inequality.

Can research on inequality and public policy processes be brought into dialogue? In recent decades, there have been growing concerns about inequality as a global phenomenon. Income and wealth inequalities are on the rise, universal access to basic goods and services has not been achieved, and the precarization of the labour force is permeating most societies. Moreover, the gap between men and women is widening and different types of inequalities reflecting class, gender, sex, race and ethnicity seem to be pervasive.

Existing studies on inequality draw mainly on economic and sociological perspectives. To date, public policy scholarship has not systematically addressed inequality, even though policy processes can produce, reproduce, worsen and/or ameliorate socio-economic inequalities. While we have some evidence of the effects of specific policy initiatives on inequality, there is very little literature on how the policy making process itself is shaped by and shapes patterns of inequality.

As Thomas Piketty notes in his seminal work Capital in the Twenty-First Century, the history of inequality is shaped by the joint collective choices of economic, social, and political actors in societies. In this sense, public policy perspectives should provide analytical tools to broaden our understanding of the causes and consequences of this global phenomenon. We suggest that policy concepts such as frames, agendas, discourses, coalitions and streams can inform and be informed by research into socio-economic inequalities. To generate dialogue between policy and inequality research, this workshop brings together scholars working at the interface between policy making and inequality and addresses two questions: How do policy processes shape inequality, and how do inequalities shape policy processes? The outcome will be a clearer understanding of the factors that shape policy making in an unequal world, and the institutional drivers of contemporary inequality.

Dr Cosmo Howard, Panel Co-organiser, is a Senior Lecturer and Head of the Public Policy stream in the Centre for Governance and Public Policy at Griffith University, Australia. He has published extensively on public policy theory and social policy decision making and implementation. 

Diana Leon-Espinoza, Panel Co-organiser, is a PhD Candidate in the Centre for Governance and Public Policy at griffith University, Australia. Her PhD addresses policy processes surrounding care policy reforms in Latin America.

In addition, the following invited participants have already agreed to participate in our workshop: 

- Prof. Daniel Béland, McGill University, is an international authority on the politics of social policy

- Prof. Juliana Martinez Franzoni, University of Costa Rica is an expert on inequality and welfare regimes in Latin America

- Prof. Diego Sanchez-Ancochea, University of Oxford, who works on pro-equality policymaking in developing countries (tentative)