Inequality and the State

• Based on the latest authoritative research from the LSE group, the book presents hard evidence on a high profile and controversial area of government policy.
• Covers key issues in the debate about domestic policy and politics in the UK, focusing on some of the most important contemporary social issues
• Accessible to a wide range of readers.
• Extensive graphs and tables provide a comprehensive source of information on inequality, poverty, government spending, and taxation, and on public attitudes towards the issues covered.
• Each chapter concludes with a summary and a guide to further reading and information sources.

Readership: Academics, researchers, and students of social and public policy, sociology, and economics. Policy-makers in central government, and serious lay readers.

John Hills, STICERD, London School of Economics

1: Introduction
Part 1: Income inequality and poverty in Britain
2: Income inequality in the UK: extent and trends
3: Poverty, deprivation, and exclusion
4: Why has the income distribution changed?
5: Income dynamics and social mobility
Part 2: The impact of policy
6: Social spending and the boundaries between public and private sectors
7: Tax and welfare
8: Distribution and redistribution
Part 3: Where do we go from here?
9: New Labour, welfare, and distribution
10: Constraints and pressures
11: Conclusions: The spending pit or the tax pendulum?