Inequality – the tour so far

Now that the first major leg of the Inequality book tour is done and dusted, I estimate I’ve spoken directly to over 1,000 people, including all the events during the last few months. Much of that has happened outside the main centres, and it’s been good to hear what’s on people’s minds across the country….

The key graph for understanding the Rich List

          This graph, compiled by Geoff Bertram from Victoria University, emphasises how the NBR Rich List’s wealth has increased dramatically since the mid-1980s. It also shows two things. First, the sharp rise in income inequality in the mid-80s to mid-90s has resulted in a large and lasting increase in wealth concentration. Even…

Inequality ‘a chronic illness’ for New Zealand

Income and wealth gaps have a profound – and negative – effect on New Zealand, researchers have claimed. Speaking to a conference on inequality organised by the Institute for Governance and Policy Studies, education researcher Cathy Wylie said inequality was “a chronic illness – and it’s getting worse”. A poorer area like Porirua lost a…

Top 1% has got one-fifth of recent growth, says OECD

Large income gaps pose one of the most severe challenges that New Zealand faces, according to speakers at a conference organised by the Institute for Governance and Policy Studies. The conference, entitled ‘Increasing Inequality: Causes, Consequences and Responses’, heard first from the OECD’s Michael Forster. From 1980 to 2008, New Zealand’s top 1% captured 20%…

How to escape from a low-wage trap

On Q+A this morning, there was much discussion about inequality, and in particular New Zealand’s very low wages, which leave so many reliant on a Working for Families top-up. The question is, how to get out of that low-wage trap? At this point, classical economics isn’t very helpful, because it tends to focus on comparative…

Robert Wade packs them out

On Monday night we had the first of the talks by Professor Robert Wade about rising inequality around the world. As you can see, it was a full house, with people standing in the aisles and at the back so as to be able to hear Robert talk about the way that the current system…

Do high salaries really encourage harder work?

People often claim that high salaries are needed to create incentives for harder work – and so inequality is justified. But this short animated talk, about what motivates us, rather suggests otherwise. In it, author Dan Pink talks about how a lot of research shows that incentive-based payments don’t result in people working harder or…