Tony Atkinson and François Bourguignon on inequality

His new book Inequality: What Can Be Done?, is out mid-May but already available in some bookstores.  Here is an interview with Atkinson.  I thought this book did not take sufficient care with some very basic distinctions, such as the difference between a problem of poverty and a problem of inequality.   Nor does it put enough emphasis on wealth creation, or explain why Korean-Americans have done pretty well over the last thirty years, among other possible examples.

The book is dedicated to the NHS workers of Britain.  That’s fine, many of them are very good, but Atkinson doesn’t mention a few key points, namely that a) the British system ranks relatively poorly by European standards, b) the British system probably has too much governmental ownership and provision, and c) bureaucracies usually underpay their best workers and thus do not generate enough initial income inequality.

François Bourguignon has a very good and readable new book on the international dimension of inequality, The Globalization of Inequality.

Martin Wolf has an FT review of both books.

For the pointer to the Atkinson interview I thank Enrico Schaar.

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