Changing inequalities and societal impacts in rich countries: thirty countries' experiences

This book addresses key questions about whether inequality in incomes, wealth, and education have been widening in a consistent fashion across 30 rich nations. It considers possible drivers of these developments, and it scrutinises scrutinizes whether this widening is exacerbating social problems and undermining the healthy functioning of democratic processes. It sets out to answer these questions by looking in depth at the experience of 30 countries over the past 30 years, examining what has actually been happening to these inequalities and investigating how this can be related to social and political outcomes such as poverty, family structures, health and health inequalities, crime, political participation, and attitudes and values. This brings out that although many countries have seen some increase in income inequality, country experiences have varied widely, that an immediate impact on average levels of social problems is difficult to see though there may be some interaction with political behaviours and changes to social gradients. What does stand out is that policies matter both in terms of ameliorating background inequality pressures and mitigating the extent to which inequalities in income spill over to other domains.