The Predistribution Agenda: Tackling Inequality and Supporting Sustainable Growth
My new book (co-edited with Patrick Diamond) is out now. It is published by I.B. Tauris and can be ordered here.
Inequality has been increasing in most major economies, undermining long-term growth prospects and restraining short-term growth by depressing demand. The typical approach to tackling inequality has been redistributive tax-and-transfer fiscal policies. While this remains important, it does not fully address the socio-economic challenges of contemporary society. Arguably, there is a better way to tackle inequality and support sustainable growth: combining predistribution with social investment.
The predistribution agenda puts in place reforms that promote strong, inclusive growth that by its nature reduces inequality and the need for redistribution in the first place. The key pillars are financial system reform, corporate governance reform, labour market reform, market redesign and tackling inherited concentrations of wealth among the privileged.
The book will be launched at a public event in London on 9 December 2015, with Peter A. Hall, Angela Eagle, Polly Toynbee, Phil Collins, Gavin Kelly and Anthony Painter. Details here.
Contents:
Preface by Ernst Stetter
Foreword: The promise of predistribution by Jacob Hacker
Introduction
Predistribution: A new governing prospectus for the centre-left by Patrick Diamond and Claudia Chwalisz
Welfare states after the crisis by Andrew Gamble
Future changes in welfare societies
1 Public opinion, predistribution and progressive taxation: Distributional politics and voter preferences after the financial crisis by Lucy Barnes
2 Progressive policies for intergenerational justice in ageing societies: Demography is not destiny by Pieter Vanhuysse
Welfare states after the crisis: A pre-distribution agenda?
3 Predistribution and redistribution: Alternative or complementary policies? by Evelyne Huber and John D. Stephens
4 The potential and limits of predistribution in the UK: Tackling inequality and poverty by Paul Gregg
Predistributive labour market policies
5 Fostering equitable labour market outcomes: A focus on raising employment by Paul de Beer
6 Labour market flexibility and income security in old age: The policy and political challenges of pension reform by Karen Anderson
7 Technology, the labour market and inequality: Ensuring the benefits of new technology are widely shared by Alan Manning
8 Labour market institutions as pillars of predistribution: Focusing on pre-tax income distribution to tackle inequality by Rémi Bazillier
9 Predistribution and labour market actors: Looking at the trade union movement by Dimitris Tsarouhas
Predistribution and the social investment state
10 Social investment, skills and inequality: The importance of institutional design by Marius Busemeyer
11 Looking to the Nordics? The Swedish social investment model in view of 2030 by Ingrid Esser
12 The demography of predistribution: Families, economic inequalities and social policies by Sophie Moullin
13 A ‘family-friendly’ welfare state: Addressing the gender equality paradox by Anke Hassel
The politics of predistribution
14 The political economy of the service transition: New political coalitions for predistributive strategies by Anne Wren
15 Welfare futures: Changing needs, risks and tools: Innovation and the new welfare state by Geoff Mulgan
16 Moving towards welfare societies: An inclusive approach to growth by Alfred Gusenbauer and Ania Skrzypek
Conclusion
Postscript: The future of the welfare state by Peter A. Hall
