Panel:
Inequality and Policies for Inclusive Growth
(Poverty and Income Policy)
Tuesday, June 14, 2016: 11:30 AM-1:00 PM
Clement House, 2nd Floor, Room 05 (London School of Economics)
*Names in bold indicate Presenter
Discussants: Bea Cantillon, University of Antwerp
Panel Chairs: Bea Cantillon, University of Antwerp
Panel Organizers: Brian Nolan, University of Oxford, Institute for New Economic Thinking and Michael Forster, OECD, COPE
The proposed panel would draw on the recent work of INET Oxford’s Employment, Equity and Growth Programme and the OECD Centre for Opportunity and Equality (COPE), together with contributions from Janet Gornick (CUNY/LIS) and Matt Whittaker (Resolution Foundation). The recent focus in research and political debate on inequality in income and wealth, and on increasing concentration at the very top in particular, goes together with growing concerns about stagnating living standards for those in the middle and lower parts of the distribution. The contributions to the panel aim first to highlight the key features of recent inequality trends and drivers and the extent of variation across OECD countries in that respect, and probe their relationship to trends in real incomes around and below the middle. They will also address the policy implications by discussing how inequality can be tackled in ways that enhance growth and support prosperity for ordinary families, with examples framed in US, UK, European and OECD contexts. This panel aligns directly with the overall theme of the conference on Inequalities: Addressing the Growing Challenge for Policymakers Worldwide, focusing as it does directly on the core inequalities in economic resources in terms of income and wealth and on both the nature of the challenges these pose and the ways in which policy can respond. It links these themes to the broader and very widespread international concern about inclusive growth, manifesting itself in a variety of national settings and multilateral organisations. In drawing together contributions from universities, multilateral organisations and think-tanks it responds to APPAM’s encouragement of contributions from across those engaged with policy from across a variety of institutional settings; the contributions will also draw on a range of disciplines - economics, sociology and social policy - and highlight national as well as comparative perspectives.
