COVID-19 and Inequalities

The COVID-19 pandemic has evidently exposed people to different risks, increasing the chances of losing jobs and income, worsening well-being levels, as well as developing serious health problems or death. Low-income countries, where populations have unequal access to basic services, jobs, markets, and capital, have suffered more from this kind of risks, pushing inequality even higher when the COVID-19 crisis hit. This chapter, overviewing the existing literature on COVID and inequalities, inquires onto the single axis of inequalities, focusing on the connection between pandemic crisis not only with income and consumption expenditures but also with health\education and well-being disparities, gender and ethnic/racial disparities, and "functional" ones. Although more data are needed to validate the hypothesis, it is concluded that based on this preliminary evidence, the pandemic has significantly contributed to the inequality growth mainly in the countries\regions already characterized by increasing polarization and high degrees of social disparities. Considerations useful for the future choices of policymakers have been finally proposed.