The Department of Economics and Law at Sapienza University of Rome, with the support of the Italian Association for the Study of Comparative Economic Systems (AISSEC), has organised organizing a workshop on the topics of “Poverty, Inequality and Intergenerational Mobility: Measurement Issues, Empirical Evidence and Policies ”, that which will take place at the Faculty of Economics of Sapienza University of Rome on the 5th and 6th September 2024. The workshop is part of the project PRIN PNRR 2022 ‘Inequalities in Tertiary Education (Intedu)’, Prot. P2022C572P. The Research Units participating to the project are Bologna University (national coordinator, P.I. Giuseppe Pignataro), University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (P.I. Fabrizio Patriarca) and Sapienza University of Rome (P.I. Michele Raitano).
The 2-day workshop will be structured through two keynote speeches, held by Martin Nybom (Institute for Labor Market and Education Policy Evaluation, Uppsala, Sweden) and Zachary Parolin (Bocconi University, Milan, Italy) and a series of parallel sessions. The programme is available here.

Aims of the workshop
The last decades have been characterized by a widening interest in intergenerational mobility, inequality and poverty issues by economists, policymakers and government authorities/institutions. This is justified by the increasing relevance of these phenomena not only in developing countries but also in the developed world. Income inequality, for instance, as suggested by the Gini Index, has generally increased since the 1990s. Similar patterns characterized the diffusion of poverty. In addition, intergenerational inequality remains a challenge in Europe, despite the efforts to increase individuals’ educational attainments. Education might play a role against poverty and social exclusion. However, inequalities in educational achievements due to different socio-economic backgrounds determine persistence in disadvantaged conditions and prevent socio-economic mobility. Many determinants have been proposed in the literature to explain these trends, even if a univocal and shared explanation has not been found.
Despite the launch of initiatives to contrast such phenomena by international institutions, the goals of reducing poverty (and inequality) and raise intergenerational mobility substantially failed. More recently, the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukrainian conflict contributed to worsening inequalities and poverty, also because of the inflation surge.
In this context, understanding the forces that have driven the evolution of intergenerational mobility, poverty and inequality outcomes, as well as their consequences, is important for developing guidelines to design future policy actions. Investigating the dynamic aspects of the phenomena is crucial to single out mechanisms at work, identifying their duration, and insights into long-term consequences. Dynamic analysis may also help to detect how low income may determine the onset of disadvantaged conditions, such as poor health/disability and poor labour market outcomes, which, in turn, are usually associated with poverty and inequality, thus also highlighting the existence of a vicious circle that persistently marginalize individuals.

Organizing committee
Massimo Aprea (Sapienza University of Rome); Enrico Fabrizi (UCSC, Piacenza); Giovanni Gallo (UNIMORE, Modena); Marina Murat (UNIMORE, Modena); Chiara Mussida (UCSC, Piacenza); Flaviana Palmisano (Sapienza University of Rome); Giuseppe Pignataro (University of Bologna); Michele Raitano (Sapienza University of Rome); Dario Sciulli (UdA, Pescara).

Location of the conference
Faculty of Economics of Sapienza University of Rome, Via del Castro Laurenziano 9, 00161 Roma.
Welcome address and plenary sessions will be held on Aula Acquario (ground floor). Parallel sessions will be held in Aula Acquarietto (ground floor), Aula Steve (5th floor), Aula Marrama (6th floor) and Laboratorio Ecodir (6th floor).

Publication opportunity
A selection of papers will be considered for publication in Social Indicators Research. Guest Editors: Enrico Fabrizi, Chiara Mussida, Giuseppe Pignataro. Submission deadline: 31 March 2025. Additional information are available here .