Inequality and Inclusive Growth in Rich Countries ― Shared Challenges and Contrasting Fortunes

Rising inequality in income and wealth across the OECD has been widely recognised and identified as a major concern; Inequality and Inclusive Growth in Rich Countries links this phenomenon with stagnation in wages and incomes for ordinary working households in order to address the challenge of promoting growth and prosperity.

The concentration of wealth at the top of society is now seen as a threat to social and political stability. Inequality and Inclusive Growth in Rich Countries aims to identify what structures and policies are associated with success or failure in limiting the rise in inequality and promoting income growth for those in the middle and lower reaches of the income distribution. It analyses the varying experiences of ten rich countries over recent decades in depth, revealing that there are indeed responses that governments and societies can adopt, and that stagnation and rising inequality do not have to be accepted, but can be combatted given the political will and capacity.

Brian Nolan is Director of the Employment, Equity and Growth Programme at the Institute for New Economic Thinking, Oxford Martin School, Professor of Social Policy at the Department of Social Policy and Intervention, and Senior Research Fellow at Nuffield College Oxford. His main areas of research are income inequality, poverty, and the economics of social policy, on which he has published widely.