| Publication |
2014.
|
| Summary/Abstract |
Is 'predistribution' as championed by Ed Miliband, or old fashioned 'redistribution' as adopted, if stealthily, by Labour from 1997, the best way to create greater equality? Some critics have argued that a strategy of predistribution-aimed at closing the income gap before the application of taxes and benefits-would not work and that it will be necessary to rely mainly on redistribution. This article examines the potential impact of weak and more radical predistribution-style measures on one of the key drivers of inequality-'wage compression'. It examines the potential of a mix of policies for raising the wage floor. It argues that reliance on traditional redistribution would face its own set of constraints and that creating a more equal distribution of the cake, before taxes and benefits, is a necessary condition for lowering the risk of continuing economic crisis.
|