Cover: Inequality: What Can Be Done?, from Harvard University PressCover: Inequality in HARDCOVER

Inequality

What Can Be Done?

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HARDCOVER

$34.00 • £29.95 • €30.95

ISBN 9780674504769

Publication Date: 05/11/2015

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400 pages

6-1/8 x 9-1/4 inches

40 graphs, 6 tables

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ISBN 9780674979789

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  • Acknowledgements
  • Introduction
  • I. Diagnosis
    • 1. Setting the Scene
    • 2. Learning from History
    • 3. The Economics of Inequality
    • A Summing-Up So Far
  • II. Proposals for Action
    • 4. Technological Change and Countervailing Power
    • 5. Employment and Pay in the Future
    • 6. Capital Shared
    • 7. Progressive Taxation
    • 8. Social Security for All
    • Proposals to Reduce the Extent of Inequality
  • III. Can It Be Done?
    • 9. Shrinking the Cake?
    • 10. Globalisation Prevents Action?
    • 11. Can We Afford It?
  • The Way Forward
  • Glossary
  • Notes
  • Contents in Detail
  • List of Tables and Figures*
  • Figure Sources
  • Index
  • * Tables and Figures:
    • Table 1.1: A brief postwar history of inequality in the UK and the US
    • Table 2.1: Mechanisms leading to change in inequality
    • Table 4.1: Major trade union legislation in the UK, 1980–1993
    • Table 8.1: Essential differences between forms of social security
    • Table 10.1: Social security legislation in the period of globalisation before the First World War
    • Table 11.1: Analysis of fifteen proposals for the UK
    • Figure 1.1: Inequality in the US, 1913–2013
    • Figure 1.2: Inequality in the UK, 1913–2013
    • Figure 1.3: Inequality in selected world countries, 2010
    • Figure 1.4: Poverty and top income shares in selected countries, c. 2010
    • Figure 1.5: Guide to household income
    • Figure 1.6: Global divergence then convergence: GDP per capita, 1820–2060
    • Figure 2.1: Inequality and the Second World War, selected world countries
    • Figure 2.2: Inequality in Scandinavia in the post–Second World War decades
    • Figure 2.3: Inequality in Continental Europe in the post–Second World War decades
    • Figure 2.4: Share of wages (ten-year averages), selected world countries, 1950s to 2000s
    • Figure 2.5: Earnings dispersion in US and Europe, 1954–1990
    • Figure 2.6: Recent declines in inequality and poverty in Latin America
    • Figure 2.7: Change in overall income inequality since 1980 in selected world countries
    • Figure 3.1: From national income to household income
    • Figure 3.2: Change in earnings in the UK since 1977
    • Figure 5.1: Unemployment in the UK, 1921–2013
    • Figure 5.2: Expenditure on direct job creation in UK and Europe, 2010
    • Figure 5.3: Proportion exiting poverty after taking up a job in EU countries, 2008–2009
    • Figure 5.4: Minimum wages in OECD countries, 2010
    • Figure 6.1A: Wealth of top 1% and bottom 99% in real terms, UK, 1923–2000
    • Figure 6.1B: Wealth of top 1% and bottom 99% compared to national income, UK, 1923–2000
    • Figure 6.2: Interest rates in the UK, 1996–2014
    • Figure 6.3: Public-sector net worth in the UK, 1957–2012
    • Figure 6.4: Sovereign wealth funds compared with GDP, worldwide, 2013
    • Figure 6.5: Public-sector net worth and hypothetical sovereign wealth fund, UK, 1957–2012
    • Figure 7.1: Income share and after-tax retention rate of top earners in the UK, 1913–2013
    • Figure 7.2: Change in top income shares and tax rates of top 1% in selected world countries, 1960s to 2000s
    • Figure 7.3: Property tax (Council Tax vs. proposed proportional) in the UK, 2014–2015
    • Figure 8.1: Composition of social security expenditure in the UK, 1963–2012
    • Figure 8.2: Child poverty rates in the US and UK, 1969–2014
    • Figure 8.3: Child poverty rates in selected countries, c. 2010
    • Figure 8.4: Unemployment benefit relative to average consumption expenditure in the UK, 1948–2013
    • Figure 8.5: Proportion of unemployed receiving benefit in selected countries, 1985, 1995, 2005
    • Figure 8.6: Development aid expenditures, UK, US, and OECD countries, 1960–2015
    • Figure 9.1: “The cake gets smaller” argument against redistribution
    • Figure 9.2: An alternative view of the impact of a minimum wage
    • Figure 9.3: Inequality (1990) and GDP growth (1990–2013) in selected countries
    • Figure 10.1: Public and private social expenditure in OECD countries, 2011
    • Figure 10.2: A brief history of EU social policy
    • Figure 11.1: Calculating who gains and who loses
    • Figure 11.2: Effects of proposed PI and SI programmes on income, by income level

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