The 2026 “Global Inequality Research Award” awarded on June 5, 2026 to Jean Drèze was awarded the Global Inequality Research Award (GiRA) during the World Inequality Conference organised at Paris School of Economics, in recognition of his outstanding work on poverty and inequality measurement in India, as well as his advocacy for the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) and the National Food Security Act (NFSA).
Upon receiving the award, Jean Drèze said: “This recognition is not something I achieved on my own. All the work I do is in collaboration with people and collectives working for change. I live and work in India, which was rightly described as a ‘museum of inequality’ by Dr B. R. Ambedkar.
India has all possible varieties of inequality—not only astronomical economic inequality, but also the caste system, huge gender disparities, massive disparities in access to education, and so forth. The silver lining is that India also has a rich history of resistance to inequality. I’ve been very fortunate to be associated with some of these movements.
My contribution consists mainly of research for public action. I’m very pleased to be associated through this award with the World Inequality Lab, a like-minded team striving in the same direction.”
In recent decades, the study of global inequalities has experienced a remarkable boom: economic, social and environmental inequalities have been the subject of a growing body of theoretical and empirical work, visible and influential throughout the world.
The World Inequality Lab (WIL) and Sciences Po’s Centre for Research on Social Inequalities (CRIS) have joined forces to establish a Global Inequality Research Award (or GiRA), which aims to recognize every two years researchers from all disciplines who have made a significant contribution to the understanding of global inequalities.
Six years ago, on April 19, 2020 at the height of the Covid-19 Pandemic, we had a conversation with Drèze that bears a listen and watch today:
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