Tackling inequality

Journal title SOCIOLOGIA DEL LAVORO
Author/s Anthony Barnes Atkinson
Publishing Year 2016 Issue 2016/144 Language English
Pages 11 P. 19-29 File size 93 KB
DOI 10.3280/SL2016-144002
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Economic inequality is high on the political agenda, being held responsible for the rise of protest movements and for rejection of the political status quo. Yet we lack concrete proposals for reducing inequality. There is widespread gloom that little can be done. In this article, I put forward a set of measures for tackling inequality. If we want to reduce inequality, then there are steps that can be taken. They are not necessarily easy and they have costs. We would have to discard economic and political orthodoxies. If our leaders are serious about tackling inequality, then they have to move outside their comfort zone and to consider a wider agenda. The proposals need to be tailored to the context of each country, but are based on an analysis of the common causes of higher inequality, including the role of technology and robotisation, how the labour market is changing so that we can no longer focus on "jobs", and the shifting relation between the ownership of wealth and the control of capital.

Keywords: Economic inequality, role of technology, capital control

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Anthony Barnes Atkinson, Tackling inequality in "SOCIOLOGIA DEL LAVORO " 144/2016, pp 19-29, DOI: 10.3280/SL2016-144002