Inequality in the 21st Century

The London School of Economics & Political Science

London, UK

July 02 - 04, 2015

Efforts by global markets to engage with workers and consumers at the bottom of the pyramid (BoP) in developing countries have been hailed as a means of addressing growing problems of economic exclusion and inequality.  Inclusive business models claim to enhance job creation, service delivery and economic empowerment in poor communities.  This panel examines the impact on poverty and inequality of inclusive market strategies to connect with poor workers, consumers and entrepreneurs. New corporate business models and development discourses have embraced a range of inclusive initiatives including corporate efforts to generate employment by tapping into informal labour markets, financial inclusion of the poor via micro-credit and micro-insurance, co-production of public services with the informal economy, and the use of taxation and basic social protection to integrate the informal economy into a new ‘social contract’.  This session seeks to explore some of the ways in which inclusive linkages with informal workers and consumers are reformatting markets and regulatory systems, and transforming economic opportunity, social identities and political agency at the bottom of the pyramid.  How do linkages with global corporations reconfigure production, employment, and service provision arrangements in BoP communities?  Does state engagement in inclusive market arrangements strengthen or weaken the economic and political rights of the poor?  How do inclusive market linkages redistribute benefits and risks between formal and informal actors?   Do inclusive economies unleash new struggles among the poor, creating new dynamics of inequality and violence within or between poor communities?  How do efforts to include the poor in markets reshape the politics at the BoP?  These papers will explore how inequality is being reshaped by inclusive market initiatives and popular responses at the BoP.