Inequality: What can be done?
John Lewis reviews a stimulating new book by Anthony Atkinson
Professor Anthony Atkinson is the author of a hefty new volume called Inequality: What can be done? The book is well known to many politicians and many more economists throughout Europe and America. I suspect that it is already an irritant to a certain class of politician. It is interesting to note that Anthony Atkinson has donated some of the royalties of his book to the Quaker Housing Trust.
Anthony Atkinson must have been a daunting student. He gained a first class degree at Cambridge, which is something his classmates and future cabinet ministers, Douglas Hurd and Vince Cable, failed to achieve. Already an outstanding economist, he came to the University of Essex in 1971 and I like to dream that his young social conscience received some direction from our local Friends Meeting house at Colchester. His whole career and, indeed, his life have been spent in the study of inequality – its causes, how to measure it, why inequality matters and how it may be reduced.
Anthony Atkinson now advises governments, and Friends may wish that he were able to guide our current government and help it reduce the harsher effects of policies that have brought Great Britain to be the most unequal society in Europe.
Inequality: What can be done? is aimed at an audience of non-economists who are interested in money and how it has changed our society. The book is not intended solely for experts. Sadly, the mere mention of money often reduces a Local Business Meeting to icy silence or a rush to switch on the tea urn, even by those Friends who are perfectly well able to understand the issues.
Friends may safely ignore the first 100 pages of this book. They mostly deal with how we measure inequality and define it. The book is aspirational and addresses how something can be done about inequality. In the latter part of the book politics is mentioned but not analysed. It is ‘the elephant in the room’.
Inequality: What can be done? contains very detailed and specific proposals for the reduction of inequality. It is understood, but not said, that while the author may make a proposal, explain the good and bad consequences of it, how much it costs and whether we can afford it – we all know that prejudice or entrenched political attitudes may make the proposal irrelevant.
Anthony Atkinson writes: ‘I have written this book in a positive spirit… If we are willing to use today’s great wealth… and accept that resources should be shared… there are grounds for optimism.’ Fifteen positive proposals are presented in the book. Some are very simple, such as the suggestion that income tax should be raised for those on higher incomes to sixty-five per cent. This proposal will not be surprising to many. Similarly, proposal nine is that earned income be taxed at a lower rate than investment income. I like the idea that everyone, on reaching majority, receives a share of the state’s assets in the form of a grant. The consequences of each proposal are carefully quantified. A detailed chapter also examines how all this social engineering could be paid for. Anthony Atkinson is used to dealing with civil servants and governments, so he knows well that no bright idea is worth anything without absolute proof that it will work and how much it will cost.
We owe it, I believe, to Anthony Atkinson, who supports a Quaker concern with sound arguments and with his own money, to read his book. Most Friends, skipping those first 100 pages, will be inspired by arguments they can understand. He even asks what we can do about it. Arm yourself with the arguments, get his facts straight and then talk to your MP.
Inequality: What can be done? by Anthony Atkinson, Harvard University Press. ISBN: 9780674504769, £19.95.
Comments
Tony Atkinson was mentor to Thomas Piketty, author of ‘Capital’ and helped him derive his data series on UK inequality. Though I have yet to read “Inequality: What can be Done?”, this is a fine recommendation. I am delighted at his connections to Colchester Friends.
By ivanhutnik on 28th August 2015 - 14:43
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