Science Explorer Interactive view Map

Income, Poverty, and Inequality

Income, Poverty, and Inequality is a research topic within Sociology and Political Science. Science Explorer counts 23k research works in it since 1950. 31.5% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the complex relationship between income inequality, poverty dynamics, and human development. It delves into various measurement approaches, including the capability approach, and examines the impact of economic growth, globalization, and social justice on wealth distribution. Additionally, it addresses multidimensional poverty and gender inequality.

  • Income Inequality
  • Poverty Measurement
  • Capability Approach
  • Human Development
  • Wealth Distribution
  • Globalization
  • Social Justice
  • Economic Growth
  • Multidimensional Poverty
  • Gender Inequality
Research works
23k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
7.2k
per year above
Top-10% rate
31.5%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+7%
the tick is no change

Which countries lead Income, Poverty, and Inequality research?

By volume, the United States and India publish the most (610 and 537 works in 2022–2025).

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 United States 610 works
  2. 2 India 537 works
  3. 3 China 278 works
  4. 4 Brazil 225 works
  5. 5 United Kingdom 223 works
  6. 6 Italy 194 works
  7. 7 Germany 122 works
  8. 8 Indonesia 112 works
  9. 9 Spain 97 works
  10. 10 Türkiye 96 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

United States: 24.5%India: 21.5%China: 11.1%Brazil: 9.0%6 others listed: 33.8%24%largest
United States610 · 24.5%India537 · 21.5%China278 · 11.1%Brazil225 · 9.0%6 others listed844 · 33.8%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Income, Poverty, and Inequality research?

By volume in 2022–2025, Sapienza University of Rome publishes the most Income, Poverty, and Inequality research, followed by London School of Economics and Political Science and University of Delhi.

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Sapienza University of RomeItaly 58 works
  2. 2 London School of Economics and Political ScienceUnited Kingdom 24 works
  3. 3 University of DelhiIndia 21 works
  4. 4 Tribhuvan UniversityNepal 18 works
  5. 5 University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 17 works
  6. 6 Cornell UniversityUnited States 14 works
  7. 7 University of BolognaItaly 14 works
  8. 8 University of JohannesburgSouth Africa 13 works
  9. 9 World BankUnited States 13 works
  10. 10 University of ManchesterUnited Kingdom 12 works

Who are the leading researchers in Income, Poverty, and Inequality?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Income, Poverty, and Inequality include Robert J. Barro, Joseph E. Stiglitz and Daron Acemoğlu.

  1. 1 Robert J. Barro United States 7.9k citations
  2. 2 Joseph E. Stiglitz United States 7.4k citations
  3. 3 Daron Acemoğlu United States 5.7k citations
  4. 4 Richard Blundell United Kingdom 5.2k citations
  5. 5 Amartya Sen United States 4.9k citations
  6. 6 Angus Deaton United States 3.4k citations
  7. 7 James J. Heckman United States 3.3k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

Where is Income, Poverty, and Inequality research done?

The largest centres of Income, Poverty, and Inequality research in 2022–2025 are Rome (Italy), Beijing (China), Washington D.C. (United States) and New Delhi (India). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Bonn and Kathmandu.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Rome Italy 86 works
  2. 2 Beijing China 80 works
  3. 3 Washington D.C. United States 76 works
  4. 4 New Delhi India 73 works
  5. 5 London United Kingdom 72 works
  6. 6 New York United States 50 works
  7. 7 Paris France 36 works
  8. 8 São Paulo Brazil 33 works
  9. 9 Moscow Russia 32 works
  10. 10 Bengaluru India 31 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. BonnDE · 21.0 works7.2×
  2. KathmanduNP · 22.7 works6.1×
← less than its size predictsmore →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Income, Poverty, and Inequality than the world average.

See Income, Poverty, and Inequality on the map

Where is the best place to study Income, Poverty, and Inequality?

Among universities, judged by research, London School of Economics and Political Science, Sapienza University of Rome and Jawaharlal Nehru University score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 24.2%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →London School of Economics and Political Science: 24, 34.1%Sapienza University of Rome: 58, 5.9%Jawaharlal Nehru University: 11, 32.5%Tribhuvan University: 18, 4.7%University of Johannesburg: 13, 43.7%University of Oxford: 17, 40.2%University of Delhi: 21, 9.0%Renmin University of China: 10, 31.3%Nanjing University of Finance and Economics: 8, 25.6%University of Bath: 9, 15.0%London School of Eco…Jawaharlal Nehru Uni…Sapienza University …Tribhuvan University
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the table below. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1 London School of Economics and Political ScienceUnited Kingdom 62.534.1%25.7×24 +20.3%
2 Sapienza University of RomeItaly 57.35.9%13.4×58 +119.7%
3 Jawaharlal Nehru UniversityIndia 56.632.5%14.1×11 +120.6%
4 Tribhuvan UniversityNepal 48.84.7%10.6×18 +305.0%
5 University of JohannesburgSouth Africa 48.643.7%5.4×13 +20.1%
6 University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 43.040.2%3.4×17 +6.5%
7 University of DelhiIndia 42.89.0%10.8×21 +30.9%
8 Renmin University of ChinaChina 40.431.3%8.1×10 -55.6%
9 Nanjing University of Finance and EconomicsChina 40.325.6%15.5×8 -24.1%
10 University of BathUnited Kingdom 39.315.0%10.0×9 -6.1%

Universities only. Score blends excellence (30%), specialisation (25%), size (20%), growth (15%) and international reach (10%), 2015–2022; growth compares 2010–14 with 2015–19.

Is Income, Poverty, and Inequality research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 7% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2024. The fastest-growing topics are Income, Poverty, and Inequality.

19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon — one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.