Open research questions in Income, Poverty, and Inequality
505 unresolved questions extracted from the limitations and future-work sections of 5,677 Income, Poverty, and Inequality papers in our library. Each links back to the study that raised it.
What the literature leaves open
Subjective well-being rankings are increasingly used to target social protection programs, yet their ability to capture relative welfare and wealth remains debated.
Perceived need and measured well-being: How well do subjective rankings capture relative poverty? · 2026 · DOIPrevious studies on poverty have largely relied on unidimensional measures, providing limited evidence on multidimensional poverty (MP).
Prevalence and associated factors of multidimensional poverty among rural households in East Gojjam zone, Northern Ethiopia: a community-based cross-sectional study · 2025 · DOIEmpirical analysis of poverty data for 100 emerging and developing countries over four decades reveals that such a goal is likely to remain elusive.
However, to date, there remains insufficient research on the specific impact of agricultural green development on poverty.
How Does Developing Green Agriculture Affect Poverty? Evidence from China’s Prefecture-Level Cities · 2024 · DOIThe complexity of poverty and its various operationalizations. The lack of empirical evidence on the impact of poverty operationalizations on research results. The need for explicit measurement justification and routine sensitivity analyses in poverty research.
There is limited empirical evidence on how analytical conclusions depend on the selected poverty conceptualization and measurement. The study aims to address this gap through a systematic review and meta-analytic models.
Vague definition of economic reforms. Limited methodological detail. Insufficient explanation of integration between quantitative and qualitative methods. Possible omitted variable bias and weak theoretical and political economy framing.
Household Consumption and Welfare in India: Evaluating the Distributional Effects of Economic Reforms · 2026 · DOIThe gap in understanding the distributional consequences of economic reforms on household consumption and welfare in India. The lack of integration of qualitative dimensions of welfare into empirical frameworks.
Household Consumption and Welfare in India: Evaluating the Distributional Effects of Economic Reforms · 2026 · DOIThe need for a regional instrument that preserves thresholds more appropriate to Latin American realities. The limitation of income measures and acute-poverty global indices in capturing non-monetary deprivations.
Reframing poverty measurement in Latin America: methodological architecture, regional patterns, and analytical implications of the Latin America multidimensional poverty index · 2026 · DOIThe existing literature focuses on aggregate education spending, but the allocation of resources across education levels is critical. There is a need to investigate the relationship between public education expenditure and income inequality through educational quality. The study aims to fill this gap by employing a simultaneous equation framework and using panel data for OECD countries.
Education Expenditure Composition, Educational Quality, and Income Inequality: Evidence from 13 OECD Countries · 2026 · DOIThe study identifies a gap in the understanding of the causes of poverty in South Africa. The paper highlights the need for further research on the impact of poverty on communities in South Africa.
Government commitment and role to support the poor Governments remain the key role players in the alleviation of poverty. They must alleviate the scourge through policies and responsive programmes such as social security. According to Prenovitz (2021), social security programmes are vital to assist the poor financially. They utilise the money to take care of themselves and avoid extreme poverty. Various scholars such as Guo et al., (2023) have indicated that poverty-related policies and programmes must be able to assist the poor to afford or have access to public housing, improve and determine the minimum wages and salaries, increase child support, address food insecurity especially for children, ensure quality education to improve the skills required for development, as well as improve health and infrastructural needs. Heshmati and Tsionas (2023) concurred that the government’s poverty-related policies and programmes assist to tackle poverty, and to reduce inequality. In managing these programmes and policies, the government must be dedicated and promote good governance. A lack of these aspects automatically impedes the success of the initial plans and objectives.
There is a lack of rigorous evidence on the effects of minimum wages at the household level. There is a lack of cross-national evidence on the effect of minimum wages on household inequality, especially in middle- and low-income economies.
The paper identifies a gap in the understanding of the impact of education on poverty and economic inequality in Indonesia. The study highlights the need for a comprehensive approach to addressing education and poverty issues.
It should be recognised that the time span of the data used in this study is limited from 2018 to 2024. This limitation reduces the breadth of analysis of the dynamics over the long term, and makes the conclusions obtained context-bound. Nonetheless, this period still has relevance for illustrating education policy responses in the short term. Therefore, further research with a longer time duration and longitudinal approach is highly recommended to understand the effect of education on poverty and inequality more thoroughly. In addition, this period shows significant changes in the social and economic context at the national level, including after the COVID-19 pandemic, thus still contributing to an up-to-date empirical understanding. To strengthen these findings, further research with a wider range of data and considering other factors such as the quality of education, demographic changes, and policies in various sectors is highly recommended. Longitudinal studies with a longer time horizon can provide a more in-depth view of the effect of education on inequality and poverty over a long period of time.
Social vulnerability is a complex and multidimensional phenomenon. The existing methodologies may not be suitable for Moldova’s socioeconomic realities. The study faces challenges in terms of data quality and limited disaggregation.
Measuring Social Vulnerability among Low-Income Households in the Republic of Moldova: A Methodological Perspective · 2026 · DOIThe IBVI does not fully capture multidimensional aspects of vulnerability, such as health, housing quality, or social capital. The weighting coefficients are based on theoretical considerations rather than empirical calibration, introducing a degree of subjectivity. The robustness of the index depends on the quality of administrative and survey data, which may be subject to reporting errors and limited disaggregation. The study highlights the need for expanded indicators and empirical validation.
Measuring Social Vulnerability among Low-Income Households in the Republic of Moldova: A Methodological Perspective · 2026 · DOIPoverty is a persistent social challenge in Hungary. There are significant regional disparities in poverty rates. There is a lack of understanding of the relationship between poverty status and key sociodemographic variables.
Socioeconomic determinants and spatial patterns of poverty in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County, Hungary · 2026 · DOIThere is a lack of understanding of the relationship between poverty status and key sociodemographic variables in disadvantaged regions. There is a need for targeted policy interventions to address poverty in these regions.
Socioeconomic determinants and spatial patterns of poverty in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County, Hungary · 2026 · DOIThe conventional EKC framework overlooks the role of top income concentration in shaping carbon emissions. Prior research has primarily focused on the relationship between average income and environmental degradation, overlooking the role of income distribution.
Top income concentration and the environmental Kuznets Curve: evidence from panel quantile regression analysis · 2026 · DOILimited access to formal credit and income institutions. Low levels of education. Household restrictions on women's decision-making and control over resources. Lack of spousal support.
ASSESSING THE PREVALENCE AND DETERMINANTS OF INCOME POVERTY AMONG RURAL WOMEN IN MINJIBIR LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF KANO STATE · 2026 · DOIFuture research should investigate the impact of increased investment in women's education on income poverty among rural women. Future research should examine the effectiveness of microcredit programs in providing rural women with the financial resources needed to participate in productive economic activities.
ASSESSING THE PREVALENCE AND DETERMINANTS OF INCOME POVERTY AMONG RURAL WOMEN IN MINJIBIR LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF KANO STATE · 2026 · DOIThe need to analyze the relationship between welfare, inequality, and persistent inflation in Latin America. The lack of a comprehensive model for quantifying the effects of inflation and inequality on social welfare.
Welfare Economics and Social Inequality in Contexts of Persistent Inflation in Latin America · 2026 · DOIFuture research can explore the relationship between economic indicators and human development in more detail. Further studies can investigate the impact of institutional quality on human development outcomes.
THE EFFECTS OF ECONOMIC INDICATORS AND INSTITUTIONS ON HUMAN DEVELOPMENT: A CLUSTERING ANALYSIS · 2026 · DOIThere is a gap in understanding the relationship between economic indicators and human development. Income-based metrics are insufficient for measuring human development.
THE EFFECTS OF ECONOMIC INDICATORS AND INSTITUTIONS ON HUMAN DEVELOPMENT: A CLUSTERING ANALYSIS · 2026 · DOI
Most-cited papers in Income, Poverty, and Inequality
- Constructing socio-economic status indices: how to use principal components analysis · Health Policy and Planning · 2006 · 2,524 citations
- Counting and multidimensional poverty measurement · Journal of Public Economics · 2010 · 2,333 citations
- Will raising the incomes of all increase the happiness of all? · Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization · 1995 · 1,939 citations
- Income inequality and health: A causal review · Social Science & Medicine · 2014 · 1,522 citations
- Deprivation · Journal of Social Policy · 1987 · 1,212 citations
- Measurement of Inequality of Incomes · The Economic Journal · 1921 · 1,173 citations
- Wealth Inequality in the United States since 1913: Evidence from Capitalized Income Tax Data * · The Quarterly Journal of Economics · 2016 · 1,071 citations
- A Reassessment of the Relationship Between Inequality and Growth · American Economic Review · 2000 · 1,046 citations
- How Much Does Childhood Poverty Affect the Life Chances of Children? · American Sociological Review · 1998 · 997 citations
- The Economic Lives of the Poor · The Journal of Economic Perspectives · 2007 · 994 citations
Most recent work
- Stochastic Fuzzy Indices: A Probabilistic-Measure-Theoretic Framework for the Imprecision and Randomness of Poverty · Social Indicators Research · 2026
- Analysing Food Poverty in Vulnerable Italian Households: a Partially Ordered Set Approach · Social Indicators Research · 2026
- Inclusive economic growth in Africa: insights from inclusiveness matrix, social mobility curve, and spatial approach · Social Responsibility Journal · 2026
- Measuring Multidimensional Poverty: A Rigorously Documented Global Data Gap · Social Indicators Research · 2026
- Digitalisation, governance, and income inequality in African countries · Discover Sustainability · 2026
- Minimum wages, household inequality, and predistributive patterns in Latin America · The Economic and Labour Relations Review · 2026
- Intra‐Couple Wealth Inequality in South Africa · South African Journal of Economics · 2026
- Can Education Reduce Inequality? Unraveling Indonesia’s Human Development Paradox · Ikonomičeski izsledvaniâ · 2026
- The Need and Capacity for Resilience in European Labour Markets: An Inequalities in Resilience Framework · Social Policy and Administration · 2026
- A possible definition of the elite in a ranked population · Scientometrics · 2026
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