There has been a remarkable upsurge of debate about increasing inequalities and their societal implications, reinforced by the economic crisis but bubbling to the surface before it. This has been seen in popular discourse, media coverage, political debate, and research in the social sciences. The central questions addressed by this book, and the major research project GINI on which it is based, are: Have inequalities in income, wealth and education increased over the past 30 years or so across the rich countries, and if so why? What are the social, cultural and political impacts of increasing inequalities in income, wealth and education? What are the implications for policy and for the future development of welfare states?In seeking to answer these questions, this book adopts an interdisciplinary approach that draws on economics, sociology, and political science, and applies a common analytical framework to the experience of 30 advanced countries, namely all the EU member states except Cyprus and Malta, together with the USA, Japan, Canada, Australia and South Korea. It presents a description and analysis of the experience of each of these countries over the past three decades, together with an introduction, anoverview of inequality trends, and a concluding chapter highlighting key findings and implications. These case-studies bring out the variety of country experiences and the importance of framing inequality trends in the institutional and policy context of each country if one is to adequately captureand understand the evolution of inequality and its impacts.

Laszlo Andor: Foreword; Brian Nolan, Wiemer Salverda, Daniele Checchi, Ive Marx, Abigail McKnight, Istvan Gyorgy Toth, and Herman van de Werfhorst: Preface; 1 Brian Nolan, Wiemer Salverda, Daniele Checchi, Ive Marx, Abigail McKnight, Istvan Gyorgy Toth, and Herman van de Werfhorst: Introduction; 2 Istvan Gyorgy Toth: Revisiting Grand Narratives of Growing Inequalities: Lessons From 30 Country Studies; 3 Peter Whiteford: Australia: Inequality and Prosperity and their Impacts in a Radical Welfare State; 4 Roland Verwiebe, Tobias Troger, Laura Wiesbock, Roland Teitzer, and Nina-Sophie Fritsch: Austria: The Bastion of Calm? Stability and Change in Inequalities in Times of Welfare State Reforms and Employment Flexibilization; 5 Jaan Masso, Kerly Espenberg, Anu Masso, Inta Mierina, and Kaia Philips: Between Economic Growth and Social Justice: Different Inequality Dynamics in the Baltic States; 6 Tim Van Rie and Ive Marx: Belgium: When Growing Background Inequalities Meet Resilient Institutions; 7 Vassil Tsanov, Petya Ivanova, Silvia Panteleeva, and Bogdan Bogdanov: Bulgaria: Rising Inequality in the Period of Transition and Restrictive Incomes Policy; 8 Robert Andersen and Mitch McIvor: Rising Inequality and Its Impact in Canada: The Role of National Debt; 9 Ioana Neamtu and Niels Westergaard-Nielsen: Sources and Impact of Rising Inequality in Denmark; 10 Jenni Blomgren, Heikki Hiilamo, Olli Kangas, and Mikko Niemela: Finland: Growing Inequality with contested consequences; 11 Nicolas Fremeaux and Thomas Piketty: France: How Taxation Can Increase Inequality; 12 Giacomo Corneo, Sonja Zmerli, and Reinhard Pollak: Germany: Rising Inequality and the Transformation of Rhine Capitalism; 13 Margarita Katsimi, Thomas Moutos, George Pagoulatos, and Dimitri Sotiropoulos: Greece: The (Eventual) Social Hardship of Soft Budget Constraints; 14 Zoltan Fabian, Andras Gabos, Marianna Kopasz, Marton Medgyesi, Peter Szivos, and Istvan Gyorgy Toth: Hungary: A Country Caught in its Own Trap; 15 Brian Nolan, Emma Calvert, Tony Fahey, Deirdre Healy, Aogan Mulcahy, Bertrand Maitre, Michelle Norris, Ian O'Donnell, Nessa Winston, and Christopher T. Whelan: Ireland: Inequality and its Impacts in Boom and Bust; 16 Gabriele Ballarino, Michela Braga, Massimiliano Bratti, Daniele Checchi, Antonio Filippin, Carlo Fiorio, Marco Leonardi, Elena Meschi, and Francesco Scervini: Italy: How Labour Market Policies Can Foster Earnings Inequality; 17 Miki Kohara and Fumio Ohtake: Rising Inequality in Japan: A Challenge Caused by Population Aging and Drastic Changes in Employment; 18 Byung You Cheon, Jiyeun Chang, Gyu Seong Hwang, Jin Wook Shin, Shin Wook Kang, Byung Hee Lee, and Hyun Joo Kim: Korea: The Great U-Turn in Inequality and the Need for Social Security Provisions; 19 Alessio Fusco, Philippe Van Kerm, Aigul Alieva, Luna Bellani, Fanny Etienne-Robert, Anne-Catherine Guio, Iryna Kyzyma, Kristell Leduc, Philippe Liegeois, Maria Noel Pi Alperin, Anne Reinstadler, Eva Sierminska, Denisa Sologon, Patrick Thill, Marie Valentova, and Bogdan Voicu: Luxembourg: Has Inequality Grown Enough to Matter?; 20 Wiemer Salverda, Marloes de Graaf-Zijl, Christina Haas, Bram Lancee, and Natascha Notten: The Netherlands: Policy-Enhanced Inequalities Tempered by Household Formation; 21 Natalia Letki, MichaT Brzezinski, and Barbara Jancewicz: The Rise of Inequalities in Poland and their Impacts: When Politicians Don't Care but Citizens Do; 22 Carlos Farinha Rodrigues and Isabel Andrade: Portugal: There and Back Again, An Inequality's Tale; 23 Iuliana Precupetu and Marius Precupetu: Romania: High Rising Inequality over Two Decades of Post Communist Transformation; 24 Martin Kahanec, Martin Guzi, Monika Martiskova, and Zuzana Siebertova: Slovakia and the Czech Republic: Inequalities and Convergences after the Velvet Divorce; 25 Masa Filipovic Hrast and Miroljub Ignjatovic: Slovenia: An Equal Society Despite the Transition; 26 Ada Ferrer-i-Carbonell, Xavier Ramos, and Monica Oviedo: Spain: What Can We Learn From Past Decreasing Inequalities?; 27 Johan Fritzell, Jennie Bacchus Hertzman, Olof Backman, Ida Borg, Tommy Ferrarini, and Kenneth Nelson: Sweden: Increasing Income Inequalities and Changing Social Relations; 28 Abigail McKnight and Tiffany Tsang: Divided We Fall? The Wider Consequences of High and Unrelenting Inequality in the UK; 29 Lane Kenworthy and Timothy Smeeding: The United States: High and Rapidly-Rising Inequality; 30 Brian Nolan, Wiemer Salverda, Daniele Checchi, Ive Marx, Abigail McKnight, Istvan Gyorgy Toth, and Herman van de Werfhorst: Learning from Diversity about Increasing Inequality, its Impacts, and Responses?