Consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic for economic inequality

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to increase various forms of economic inequality in wealth and income. This is because the income of the poor was adversely affected more, both because of the already present technology driven trends in unskilled labour substitution, but also because the types of employment that the world’s poor engage in was most severely disrupted by COVID-19, and the subsequent public health response. This is in contrast to medieval pandemics, which tended to increase the wage-rental ratio. Certain countervailing income and job protection schemes can help, but it is mainly a short-term palliative. Population weighted international inequality has also increased. Unless checked, further increases in inequality will strengthen recent trends in illiberal, populist, governance.