Statistics and Public Policy

A Major Issue of Our Time: Income and Wealth Inequality

In 2026, the nonprofit World Inequality Database reported that three-quarters of all wealth is owned by 10% of the global population. Fewer than 60,000 multi-millionaires control three times more wealth than half of humanity combined. In the United States, the top 10% of earners receive 47% of total income and 70% of the total wealth, while the bottom 50% account for 13% and 1% respectively. The trend in inequality poses a serious threat to democracies across the globe. A case in point, the 2024 U.S. federal elections where 100 billionaire families donated $2.6 billion to candidates, one out of every six dollars spent by all candidates, political parties, and political action committees. In 2025, the billionaire donors were rewarded with policies transferring tax dollars from the bottom to the top, paid for by diverting tax dollars away from policies that fund the social safety net and benefit the public good, for example, infrastructure, education, consumer and environmental protections, healthcare, and scientific research.

Reducing inequality is not only about fairness but is essential for democratic and economic stability and the viability of our planet, it is the major issue of our time.

As researchers, we can contribute to the fight against rising inequality by using data to inform evidence-based decision making. Income inequality is the result of the power imbalance tilted toward employers in capitalist economies, fair pay when defined by a living wage is only going to materialize when policies correct this imbalance. Researchers can provide empirical evidence regarding what constitutes a living wage using publicly available data to construct household budgets for every family composition within a census tract. These budgets can be used to inform policies that set benefit thresholds for a social safety net and universal basic income.

Researchers can also inform redistributive transfer and progressive taxation policies by documenting the inadequacies in the wealth and income distribution data sources used to set policy thresholds; evaluating the assumptions made; and measuring the policy impact. Researchers can help with the implementation of novel ideas such as “policies cocktails” which advocate for a multidimensional approach that weaves together wealth and inequality policies along with breaking the social network barriers that divide us.

This is an all hands-on-deck moment when researchers have an opportunity to effect change on the many dimensions of what is the most critical issue of our time, income and wealth inequality.

Topics of interests relate to how we use evidence-based decision making to mitigate rising income and wealth equality, they include but are not limited to:

• Living wage
• Minimum wage
• Household budget standards
• True cost of economic security
• Social safety net
• Labor standards and collective bargaining rights
• Wages as a policy choice
• Income and wealth inequality
• Progressive taxation
• Redistributive transfers
• Universal basic income
• Publicly financed elections
• Labour force participation and childcare
• Social capital
• Policy Cocktails

Keywords: Wealth, Income, Inequality, Evidence-based, Living wage

Manuscript Submissions:

Manuscript submission is open until 30th June 2027.

Please carefully review the journal scope and author submission instructions prior to submitting a manuscript as it will be rejected if it does not fall within the scope of the journal.

All manuscripts submitted to this Article Collection will undergo desk assessment and peer-review as part of our standard editorial process. Manuscripts which do not fall within the scope of the journal will be rejected.

We are able to offer a 10% Discount to all authors, and have a limited number of 20% Discount codes only available for early submissions. It should be noted that discount codes must be entered in at the point of submission as they cannot be applied retroactively, nor can these be combined as only the higher valued discount would be applicable.

To submit your papers to this Article Collection, please:

1. Check "Yes" for the question, "Are you submitting your paper for a specific special issue or article collection?"
2. Select the relevant Article Collection from the drop-down menu under the question, "A Major Issue of Our Time: Income and Wealth Inequality"
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Please contact Christopher Montgomery, Commissioning Editor regarding details on obtaining your discount codes, and with any other queries for this Article Collection.

Article Collection Guest Advisors

Dr. Vicki Lancaster was a Principal Scientist at the Social & Decision Analytics Division (SDAD) of the Biocomplexity Institute at the University of Virginia. Her areas of expertise are experimental design, visualizations, data analysis, and interpretation. In this position she led cooperative agreements with the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, the skilled technical workforce and visualization. She retired from the Biocomplexity Institute in 2023.

Her prior positions include Research Scientist at the Social and Decision Analytics Laboratory within the Biocomplexity Institute of Virginia Tech; Mathematical Statistician at the Food and Drug Administration; and Senior Scientist at the environmental consulting firm Neptune and Company, Inc. During her career she has worked with scientists at the EPA, DoD, and USDA on projects that include developing a classification model based on morphological characteristics used to identify Africanized and European honeybees; constructing the experimental designs and conducting the analyses that lead to the removal of Roxarsone in poultry feed, a source of arsenic contamination in poultry; developing a detection system for biological contaminants in our nation’s water supply; and simulation modelling to help researchers identify the location of unexploded ordnances (UXO) at formerly used defense sites.

Dr. Joseph Salvo was an Institute Fellow within the Biocomplexity Institute and Initiative at the University of Virginia. He has extensive experience in “all things census,” making presentations on demographic subjects to a wide range of groups, and the management of major demographic projects involving the analysis of large data sets for local applications related to policy formulation, needs assessments, and program planning and implementation. He retired from the Biocomplexity Institute in 2023.

Dr. Salvo was the Chief Demographer for New York City for more than 30 years, ushering the city through four decennial censuses and an Adjunct Associate Professor at Hunter College of the City University of New York. He has testified before Congress, been an advisor to the U.S. Census Bureau, served on multiple panels at the National Academy of Sciences, and worked as an expert in litigation related to the 2020 census. He has co-authored articles on settlement patterns of race/ethnic groups, census history and methods, and survey evaluation. He received M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Fordham University, is a recipient of the Sloan Public Service Award from the Fund for the City of New York, a recipient of the Population Association of America’s Public Service Award, and is a Fellow of the American Statistical Association and Elected Member of the International Statistical Institute.