WIDER Annual Lecture 5 - Horizontal Inequality: A Neglected Dimension of Development

In recent years, increasing attention has been paid to the relationship between inequality and development. Although some attempts have been made to widen the dimensions in which this inequality is measured beyond monetary income to encompass other aspects of human well-being, inequality has continued to be assessed vertically, as between individuals and households. What will be termed horizontal inequality has been neglected. Yet inequality among groups in many dimensions - political and social as well as economic - has profound implications for social stability and the incidence of conflict, as well as for human well-being. The lecture will consider these implications, as well as ways of measuring horizontal inequality, some empirical evidence on its extent in different countries, and suggestions for policy and future data collection.

Frances Stewart is Professor of Development Economics and Director of the International Development Centre, Queen Elizabeth House, at the University of Oxford. She is a Fellow of Somerville College. A former Council

member of the United Nations University, she is currently a Board Member of the International Food Policy Research Institute and an Overseer of the Thomas Watson Institute for International Studies, Brown University. She has been special adviser to UNICEF on Adjustment (1985-6). She was one of the chief consultants for the Human Development Report from its inception.

Frances Stewart is a leading development economist. She has made major contributions to analysis of appropriate technology, basic needs, adjustment and poverty. Recently she has been working on the role of groups in development, and on economies in conflict. Publications include Technology and Underdevelopment, Adjustment with a Human Face (with Andrea Cornia and Richard Jolly), and War and Underdevelopment (with Valpy Fitzgerald and others).