About the talk
82% of the increase in wealth over the last year went to the richest 1% in the world. The poorest 50% of the world’s population saw no increase in their wealth. Part 1 of this seminar will unpack this statistic and others that measure economic inequality, both in terms of the calculations behind it and what it tells us about the way that the global economy is distributing value and rewards. Part 2 of this seminar will discuss the signification, quality and coverage of the data that we use to determine whether governments are designing policies that either exacerbate or tackle inequality. This is based on the data behind the Commitment to Reducing Inequality Index, which Oxfam published last year. This index scores and ranks more than 150 countries around the world on the extent to which their tax, spending and labour market policies are progressive.
About the speaker
Deborah Hardoon is the Deputy Head of Research at Oxfam Great Britain. She has been the lead author of a series of reports which have examined the global distribution of income and wealth, she provides advice and quality control on national and thematic policy reports on inequality as well as being responsible for the quality of quantitative research across the confederation. Previously, Deborah was the Research Manager at Transparency International, responsible for the flagship global corruption measurement tools, including the Corruption Perceptions Index. She has also worked for the government in the UK and Lesotho and as a commercial analyst at BP. She has a Masters in Economics from the University of British Columbia.
About the seminar series
The Data and Inequality seminar series features leading scholars and development industry practitioners working in the nexus of data and inequality. They reflect on the influence of the ever-increasing presence of data on processes of data and inequality. The speaker presentations will be followed by a discussion amongst the seminar participants and will conclude with a networking reception.
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