Changing Inequalities in Rich Countries
There has been a remarkable upsurge of debate about increasing inequalities and their
societal implications, reinforced by the economic crisis but bubbling to the surface
before it. This has been seen in popular discourse, media coverage, political debate, and
research in the social sciences. The central questions addressed by this book, and the
major research project GINI on which it is based, are: - Have inequalities in income,
wealth and education increased over the past 30 years or so across the rich countries, and
if so why? - What are the social, cultural and political impacts of increasing
inequalities in income, wealth and education? - What are the implications for policy and
for the future development of welfare states? In seeking to answer these questions, this
book adopts an interdisciplinary approach that draws on economics, sociology, and
political science, and applies this approach to learning from the experiences over the
last three decades of European countries together with the USA, Japan, Canada, Australia,
and South Korea. It combines comparative research with lessons from specific country
experiences, and highlights the challenges in seeking to adequately assess the factors
underpinning increasing inequalities and in identify the channels through which these may
impact on key social and political outcomes, as well as the importance of framing
inequality trends and impacts in the institutional and policy context of the country in
question.
Preface
1. Introduction
2. Increasing Economic Inequalities?
3. Earnings, Employment, and Income Inequality
4. Wealth Inequality and the Accumulation of Debt
5. Increasing Educational Inequalities?
6. The Social Impact of Income Inequality: Poverty, Deprivation, and Social Cohesion
7. Social Impacts: Health, Housing, and Inter-generational Mobility
8. Rising Inequalities: Will Electorates Go for Higher Redistribution?
9. Inequality, Legitimacy, and the Political System
10. The Policy Response to Inequality: Redistributing Income
11. The Policy Response: Employment and Services
12. The Policy Response to Educational Inequalities
13. Conclusions
432 pages, Hardcover