The effects of pandemics on income inequality: Visualizing a theoretical analysis

This paper provides theoretical insights into the effect of the pandemic on income inequality, employing simple optimization and epidemic models. The effects of the pandemic are elucidated through visual aids such as figures and animations. The findings suggest that shifts in labor opportunities, which affected wage income, have worsened income inequality. The pandemic led to an enormous decrease in income for high-income households, with an even more severe rate of decrease for low-income households. The pandemic increased the share of income and net worth held by capitalists, while greatly reducing the share held by workers, thereby intensifying economic inequality and wealth disparities. Income inequality may still persist after the pandemic, continuing to worsen rather than returning to its previous state. Furthermore, heightened substitutability between capital and labor intensifies the pandemic’s impact, indicating a more pronounced impact on income inequality in the present with significant capital substitution compared to the past.