Research on inequality at GRAPE starts at measurement. Many of our projects consist of gathering and harmonizing raw earnings and incomes data so that our understanding of inequality patterns could be well informed. We then move to analyzing the mechanics behind the origins of inequality: driven by technology, embedded in gender in the labor market, in academia, in social norms. We also develop tools to analyzing inequality via the macroeconomic lens.
We explore the multiple dimensions of inequality. As such we analyze differences in terms of access to labor markets, earnings, and occupational segregation. Our analysis strives to understand what stands behind the different forms of inequality: whether it is driven by technological progress, embedded in the labor market institutions, special segments of some labor markets (such as academia), or in social norms.
We put a lot of emphasis on comparative studies. Many of our studies would not be possible with the data sources used in previous literature: we dig from underground individual data from many countries and harmonize them. This way we can provide novel results about the phenomena that were presumably thoroughly researched before. For example, this new collection of data sources permitted to inquire the nature of earnings inequality nearly three decades of transition, as well emergence gender employment gaps these countries.
We also develop tools to analyzing inequality via the macroeconomic lens.