As a new report from the Institute of Economic Affairs explains this week, the tale we are told about inequality in … Continue reading “Is envy of the super-rich by the rest of the rich driving the inequality debate?”

On 11 November, the UBS European Conference 2015 hosted a panel discussion entitled ‘Income Inequality: Consequences and Solutions’. The IEA’s … Continue reading “Did inequality cause the Visigoth invasion of Rome?”

Five years ago, in May 2010, I published The Spirit Level Delusion in response to Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett’s … Continue reading “The Spirit Level revisited”

‘The rich keep getting richer’. If you’ve been watching Channel 4 over recent weeks, you will likely have been subjected … Continue reading “The financial crisis saw the UK become more equal. That was nothing to celebrate”

On Sunday, the Observer reported that ‘Inequality costs Britain £39bn a year’. This is based on the belief that ‘a … Continue reading “The Spirit Level and the imaginary £39 billion (part 1)”

Earlier this month, the OECD published some research on all-round education excellence. Specifically, this is the proportion of people who … Continue reading “An all-round failure to understand education research”

Many have expressed the opinion that the very simple correlations shown in The Spirit Level alone can never show meaningful … Continue reading “Is The Spirit Level right about inequality and obesity?”

The New Economics Foundation (NEF) has earned itself a reputation as the sworn enemy of economic growth and consumption. In … Continue reading “Egalitarianism reloaded: the NEF discovers the Spirit Level”

One of our recent guest speakers criticised the IEA for misrepresenting the message of the influential book The Spirit Level. … Continue reading “Spirit-levelling the poor”