Inequality, poverty, and social identity

Globally, concerns about rising and common wealth and equality have intensified in recent years. This discourse has sort of transcended academic and political circles and featuring thankfully now in mainstream media reports. So the consequences of inequality, you know they are well documented. What that means is that the income of the top 10% is nearly 10 times higher than that of the bottom 10%. In Sub-Saharan Africa, that figure is even more alarming. The top 10% captures 55% of the region's aggregate national income. So, you can easily draw a straight line unfortunately between poverty and inequality. In other words, poverty and inequality are inextricably linked. Growing inequality drives slower economic growth, macroeconomic instability, and by that I mean when societies endure systematic shocks disproportionately, these shocks tend to destabilize households with fewer resources more so than others. Also, inequality tends to weaken social, civic, and political institutions.

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