Hartmann, Dominik, et al. “Linking Economic Complexity, Institutions, and Income Inequality.” World Development, vol. 93, 2017, pp. 75–93, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2016.12.020.

This article is a focused and mathematical look at how the complexity of a country’s economy contributes to income inequality. This article talks about how the different industries and available jobs, coupled with the country’s educational institutions, significantly affect the level of income inequality. According to this article, there are a few main measurement systems used to determine the level of income inequality: ECI-GINI, GDP GINI and the Herfindahl–Hirschman Index; this article compares these as well. According to the authors, some of these are no longer accurate metrics and are based on facets of a country’s economy that, at first glance seem to be good indicators, but in reality cannot reliably be applied to other countries, or even the ones they appear relevant in. This article creates another variant of the GINI index called the “Product GINI Index”(PGI). PGI uses the correlation between the diversity of industry as well as products the country exports, and the level of income inequality of said industries and the importance of their various exports to the country’s economy.

There are many factors in the United States and other countries such as racism and sexism which can be prevalent and affect people’s lives in personal ways, however, they may not be the most powerful factor increasing income inequality. This article is highly technical and is definitely geared towards economists and people to whom economic math is relevant. There is calculus in this article. That being said, the authors clearly know what they are talking about and seem to be keen on having a new way of measuring income inequality noticed by their community. Although the point of this paper is mainly to talk about math and how they are proving that their new method is valid, they highlight some important areas. They talk about how a complex  industry that is beyond basic industrial and agricultural is important to a country, but how also over industrialization and advancement of the economy can sometimes lead to jobs being turned obsolete or work being outsourced to other countries. This definitely rings true in the United States and can be seen through the collapse of the auto industry and the shrinking of unions.

“First, the mix of products that an economy makes constrains the occupational choices, learning opportunities, and bargaining power of its workers and unions. Notably, in several emerging economies, technological catch-up and industrialization have provided new jobs and learning opportunities for workers, contributing to the rise of a new middle class (Milanovic, 2012). Conversely in several “industrialized” economies, de-industrialization, de-unionization, and rising global competition for the export of industrial goods have contributed to higher levels of income inequality. In the industrialized economies many industrial workers have become unemployed or were forced to work at low-paying jobs, and the ability of unions to compress wage inequality has decreased (Acemoglu et al., 2001, Gustafsson and Johansson, 1999).” (Hartmann et al. 77)