What Do We Know and What Should We Do About Inequality?

"A brilliantly clear and concise guide. Highly recommended." – Ben Chu, Economics Editor, BBC Newsnight In this book, Professor Mike Brewer discusses "What We Know" about economic inequalities in the UK, presenting new analysis of the top 1% and 0.1% in the UK, and summarising the causes and consequences of high levels of inequality. Brewer presents the key trends in economic inequality in the UK and addresses the following issues: Why is curbing inequality now regarded as a global challenge? Why did the UK become more unequal during the 1980s? What has happened to incomes since the financial crash in 2008 and the government austerity that followed? and, how relevant is Thomas Piketty′s prediction that growing wealth inequalities will return us to levels of inequality last seen at the dawn of the twentieth century? The author then proposes "What We Should Do" to move the UK off its high-inequality path and towards a fairer society, including further taxation, promoting social mobility, wealth redistribution and welfare reform. Written by leading social scientists, the What Do We Know and What Should We Do About...? series offers concise, up-to-date overviews of issues often oversimplified, misrepresented or misunderstood and shows you how to enact change. "Short, sharp and compelling." - Alex Preston, The Observer "If you want to learn a lot about what matters most, in as short a time as possible, this is the series for you."- Danny Dorling, 1971 Professor of Geography, University of Oxford