On growing inequalities in Italy: a commentary on the most recent empirical evidence

Abstract

Although the recent pandemic has seriously accentuated economic inequalities, attracting also the media attention, their increase follows a trend that comes from afar. This work has the main objective of providing preparatory elements for understanding this trend, through a preliminary examination of some controversial aspects regarding statistical indicators that are broadly used to measure it. Disparities, by their nature, always involve variegated and multidimensional socioeconomic categories, so it is certainly a risky choice to claim to summarize them in a single indicator, however refined in its construction. With this premise and referring to the specialized literature, some principal characteristics of the growing inequalities at World and Italian level are presented. Finally, to interpret these evidences, it is proposed a key to reading with robuster epistemological foundations that significantly deviates from the mainstream arguments.