Poverty and Inequality in East Asia

Foreword by Timothy M. (Tim) Smeeding, Founding Director of the Luxembourg Income Study and Lee Rainwater Distinguished Professor of Public Affairs and Economics, University of Wisconsin, US

This insightful book addresses the urgent need for robust evidence on recent trends and factors contributing to poverty and inequality in East Asia.

Using data from international projects, including the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS), as well as national data, expert contributors monitor trends in poverty and inequality within and between countries, while also identifying the factors that are driving them, both nationally and regionally. Chapters explore labour market and demographic developments, changes in family and household structures and roles, and changes in policy settings. Investigating how these factors act both independently and interactively to generate nationally and regionally unique features of poverty and inequality, the book highlights how inequality has been rising on a global scale and suggests how welfare states should respond.

Poverty and Inequality in East Asia will be a valuable resource for researchers and students studying Asian development and social policy, comparative social policy, labour policy and family policy. Drawing on state of the art data to compare experiences in selected Western economies against those in East Asia, the book will also be a useful resource for policy makers.