The Oxford Handbook of Economic Inequality

by Salverda, Wiemer; Nolan, Brian; Smeeding, Timothy M.

• ISBN13: 9780199231379
• ISBN10: 0199231370
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-04-26
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The Oxford Handbook of Economic Inequality presents a new and challenging analysis of economic inequality, focusing primarily on economic inequality in highly developed countries. Bringing together the world's top scholars this comprehensive and authoritative volume contains an impressive array of original research on topics ranging from gender to happiness, from poverty to top incomes, and from employers to the welfare state. The authors give their view on the state-of-the-art of scientific research in their fields of expertise and add their own stimulating visions on future research. Ideal as an overview of the latest, cutting-edge research on economic inequality, this is a must have reference for students and researchers alike. The volume also links to a website full of further reading and methodological annexes to assist with further research in the field.

Author Biography

Wiemer Salverda initiated the LoWER network in 1995 to bring together Europe's leading scholars on low pay and earnings inequality. With the help of the European Community's research funding, the network has been a prolific organizer of meetings and a fertile producer of publications. Moving from the University of Groningen's Economics Faculty he joined the Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies of the University of Amsterdam in 2000, where he helped build an extensive portfolio of international research and research cooperation. He provides expert advice on low pay, wage inequality, the minimum wage, youth labour, older workers, employment policy, and labour market reform to the EU, OECD, ILO and the British Low Pay Commission. He chairs the Supervisory Board of the international WageIndicator which offers internet surveying of pay in many countries. Brian Nolan is Professor of Public Policy in the School of Applied Social Science, UCD, Dublin. His research focuses on poverty, income inequality, the economics of social policy, and health economics, and recent publications include studies on social inclusion in the EU, equity in health service use, long-term trends in top incomes, child poverty, deprivation and multiple disadvantage, tax/welfare reform, and the minimum wage.
Timothy M. Smeeding is Distinguished Professor of Economics and Public Administration at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University where he is also the founding director of the Center for Policy Research. He the Founder and Director Emeritus of the Luxembourg Income Study Project , which he began in 1983. His primary research focuses on national and cross-national comparisons of income and wealth inequality, social mobility, and poverty among vulnerable groups, including low-wage workers, children, the aged, and the disabled. He is spending the 2007-2008 academic year as a Visiting Fellow in residence at the Russell Sage Foundation in New York where he is examining cross-national paterns of economic mobility.

Table of Contents

Inequality: Overview, Concepts and Measurement

Introduction: The scope and worries of economic inequality

Concepts and theories of inequality

The measurement of economic inequality

The Extent of Inequality

Income inequality

Functional and personal distribution

Wealth and economic inequality

High incomes and inequality

Earnings inequality

Inequality and earnings distribution

Inequality and the labour market: employers

Inequality and the labour market: unions

Low pay

Gender and economic inequality

Dimensions of inequality

Inequality, poverty and exclusion

Inequality, consumption and time use

Inequality and happiness

Health and economic inequalities

Inequality and education

The Dynamics of Inequality

Demographic transformation and economic inequality

Migration, ethnicity and economic inequality

Intergenerational economic inequality

Intragenerational inequality and intertemporal mobility

Global perspectives on inequality

Inequality, growth and sectoral change

Trade, skills and globalization

Poverty and Inequality: The Global Context

Can inequalities be changed?

Economic inequality and the welfare state

Inequality and policy making

Prospects for achieving equality in market economies

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.