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Micro-businesses contribute to economic development by improving individual welfare. Women are the primary drivers and owners of such businesses in urban Ethiopia. The purpose of this study is to investigate the poverty status and determinants among women-owned micro-businesses.

The basic study units were women who owned micro-businesses. A sample of 384 women-owned micro-business was chosen using a stratified and systematic random sampling technique. Thirty-six participants were purposely chosen for in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. Questionnaires, in-depth interviews and focus group discussions were used to collect data. The poverty head count, poverty gap and poverty severity indices were computed to estimate poverty status. The major determinants of women’s poverty were investigated using a logistic regression model.

The overall poverty incidence, gap and severity were estimated to be 24.27%, 3.85%, and 1.11% respectively, among the women who owned micro-businesses. Eight of the 14 poverty determinants, including age, dependents, savings, remittance and the number of days and hours women work in their businesses, were found to have a significant effect on women’s poverty. The results suggest that local governments, technical and vocational training institutions should work together to reduce the impact of poverty-aggravating factors on women and increase the contribution of women-owned micro-businesses to poverty reduction.

This study addressed the poverty status of women who run micro-businesses, which is a crucial issue in Ethiopia’s urban context. It adds new knowledge to the issue of gendered economic participation, poverty reduction and poverty determinants in the Ethiopian context.

This study aims to examine the impact of fiscal space and governance quality on inclusive growth in African countries.

In total, 28 African countries were analyzed from 2000 to 2020 using the generalized method of moment regression method. An inclusive growth index was developed using the principal component analysis (PCA) method. The PCA-derived index incorporates factors such as poverty, income inequality, economic participation and per capita income.

The main findings suggest that fiscal space availability (de facto fiscal space and fiscal balance) promotes inclusive growth. The study also showed that lagged inclusive growth, digitalization and governance indicators positively influence inclusive growth. The study concludes that fiscal space availability fosters inclusive growth, but this effect is mediated by governance quality in Africa.

Several studies examined the role of fiscal policy on inclusive growth. However, it is crucial to assess the fiscal space, that is, the financial capacity of the government to implement its fiscal policy without harming its financial stability. This paper, therefore, contributes to the existing literature by using de facto fiscal space indicator to comprehend fiscal dynamics contributing to inclusive growth. In addition, the paper uniquely constructs an inclusive growth index by including poverty severity, which considers both the incidence and depth of poverty and inequality in society.

This study aims to examine whether social inclusion policies promote financial inclusion. Three social inclusion policies were analyzed: gender equality policies, environmental sustainability policies and social protection (SP) policies.

The study used the panel fixed effect regression methodology to analyze data from 48 low- and medium-income countries.

The results show that social inclusion policies do not have a significant effect on financial inclusion. Also, the older population is less likely to own an account at a formal financial institution in low- and medium-income countries that have strong environmental sustainability policies and institutions. The implication of the finding is that the policies and institutions established to promote environmental sustainability can discourage the older population from keeping the population's wealth in formal financial institutions in the country.

Policy makers should consider how social and environmental policies and programs can be designed to promote financial inclusion for older individuals in the individuals' countries.

The financial inclusion literature has not considered the role of social inclusion policies in promoting financial inclusion for individuals, businesses and the excluded groups in a country.

Social determinants of stressful events (SE) play an important role in justifying the cause of inequality in the experience of SE. The purpose of this study is to investigate the determinants that impact on inequality in the experience of SE.

The statistical population of this study includes all residents of Tehran. The statistical sample was 5,895 people who were selected by multistage cluster method and were proportional to the population size. The research tool is a researcher-made questionnaire designed to measure SE in Tehran, which includes 11 psychological stressors. The Oaxaca–Blinder decomposing method was used to analyze data.

In a total of 11 psychological SE, in 6 of those events, there was significant inequality in the experience of SE. Concentration Index (CI) of political SE is (CI = −0.27, 95% CI: −0.47, −0.07) and in favor of the rich (pro-rich). Education (OR = 1.60) in poor group and region development in poor and rich (respectively in all of the following) (OR = 0.42–0.73) are the main determinants of inequality in this stressor. CI of neighborhood underdevelopment SE is (CI = −0.47, 95% CI: 0.66, −0.28) and pro-rich. Education (OR = 1.26–1.27) and region development (OR = 1.18–2.24) are the main determinants of inequality in this stressor. CI of livelihood problems SE is (CI = −0.58, 95% CI: 0.68, −0.32) and pro-rich. Education (OR = 1.40) and health status (OR = 1.63) in poor group are the main determinants of inequality in this stressor. CI of future uncertainty SE is (CI = −0.12, 95% CI: 0.34, −0.08) and pro-rich. Gender (OR = 1.22) in poor group and region development (OR = 0.24–0.58) are the main determinants of inequality in this stressor. CI of education problems (CI = 0.19, 95% CI: 0.05, 0.32) and pro-poor. Age (OR = 0.32–0.34) and education (OR = 3.65–3.30) are the main determinants of inequality in this stressor. CI of housing problems is (CI = −0.29, 95% CI: −0.49, −0.08) and pro-rich. Education (OR = 1.31) and region development (OR = 1.64) in poor group are the main determinants of inequality in this stressor.

The first limitation is related to the level of data analysis, and the second limitation is the lack of comprehensive data on social determinants.

Social determinants affecting the formation of inequality in the experience of SE. Some social determinants, such as the level of education and development of the region, play a more prominent role in justifying inequality in the experience of stress between rich and poor groups.

Inequality in the experience of SE is a serious threat to mental and social health. One of the ways to reduce the experience of psychological and social stress is to pay attention to social determinants that play a role in the formation of stress.

This original paper was conducted by examining the effect of social determinants on the formation of inequality in the experience of stress, which draws the serious attention of policymakers.

This paper aims to investigate the effects of financial access, financial depth, financial efficiency and financial stability pillars on income inequality and poverty among a panel of sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries.

This paper captures cross-sectional dependence among the income groups through the dynamic common correlated effect approach for a data set of 28 selected SSA countries from 2000 to 2017.

This study reveals that the financial development pillars exert positive and significant impacts on income inequality across the income groups. The results show that the effects of the financial development metrics on poverty are different across the income groups. The results also indicate that the pillars improve poverty reduction for low- and lower-middle-income countries. However, there is a minimal effect on poverty reduction in upper-middle-income countries. The differences among these income categories suggest the need for policymakers to account for income levels when prescribing policies that could engender financial development and poverty reduction in the region.

This paper examines the effects of financial development on both income inequality and poverty by using the newly developed World Bank financial development strategic metrics. It captures cross-sectional dependence in the full sample of selected SSA countries and their income categories.

The purpose of this study is to examine the socio-economic inequalities that exist in the use of unhygienic menstrual practices in India and its states, as well as to identify the contribution of various socio-economic factors that leads to these inequalities.

Data from the National Family Health Survey-5 (2019–21) for 240,285 menstruating women aged 15–24 years is used to examine the above objectives. The concentration index for unhygienic menstrual practices is calculated to measure the socio-economic inequalities, which are then decomposed into their determining factors.

The state of Punjab experiencing the highest level of economic inequality, followed by Telangana and Haryana. The results from decomposition analysis suggest that rural residence (13%), illiteracy (7%), poor economic status (53%), not reading newspaper (12%) and not watching TV (14%) contribute 99% to the total socio-economic inequality in using unhygienic menstrual practices in India. The contribution of economic status to total inequalities is more in all the states except for Kerala and Mizoram, where caste and residence play an important role.

This paper signifies the role of economic inequality in the use of unhygienic menstrual practices in India as well as the contribution of various socio-economic factors contributing towards these inequalities. The results from decomposition analysis suggest the need for unique health intervention strategies for different states following the evidence of major contributions to total inequalities in the use of unhygienic menstrual practices.

The purpose of this examine the impact of income inequality and shadow economy on environmental degradation given the growing income inequality, shadow economy and ecological degradation in developing countries. Thus, this study is motivated to offer empirical insight into how income inequality and shadow economy influence the environment in African countries.

Data from 29 countries in Africa between 2000 and 2017 were used, while the novel method of moments quantile regression of Machado and Silva (2019) and Dumitrescu and Hurlin (D-H) (2012) granger causality is used as the estimation techniques.

The results established the presence of cross-sectional dependence and slope heterogeneity in the panel, while Westerlund panel cointegration confirmed the long-run cointegration among the variables. The results from the quantile regression suggest that income inequality increases environmental degradation from the 5th to the 30th quantiles, while from the 70th quantiles, income inequality reduces ecological degradation. The shadow economy negatively influences environmental degradation across the quantiles, strengthening environmental quality. Per capita income (economic growth) and financial development positively impact environmental degradation throughout the quantiles. However, urbanization reduces environmental degradation from 60th to 95th quantiles. The D-H causality established a two-way relationship between income inequality and environmental degradation, while one-way from shadow economy, per capita income and urbanization to environmental degradation were established.

This study provides fresh insights into the nexus between shadow economy and environmental quality in the presence of higher levels of income inequality for the case of African region. The study applies quantile analysis via moment proposed by Machado and Silva (2019). This technique shows that the impact of income inequality and shadow economy on environmental degradation is heterogeneous across the quantiles of ecological footprints in Africa.

This paper explores the effect of tourism (national and international) indicators on income inequality in a sample of 21 Asia Pacific economies.

This study uses panel data set from 1995 to 2020 and employs panel autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) method for the empirical investigation.

The empirical findings from the panel ARDL models suggest that all of the considered tourism indicators have significant negative impacts on income inequalities. The results remain consistent with alternative indicators and methods.

The findings of this study will be critical for the policymakers to take effective measures to reduce the income inequality. Such measures could include promoting tourism in general, focusing on attracting international tourists or domestic tourists, and putting more weight on developing leisure or business tourism, which will boost the overall economic performance and alleviates inequalities in the society.

This is the first study to consider various forms of tourism indicators to see their impact on income inequality in the Asia–Pacific region, and offers important implications for the policy actions.