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Really interesting article and thread here. Like @ChrisGiles_ , @EdConwaySky thinks people are overegging the problem of inequality, because levels of inequality are not rising. I have four responses: (1/n)
1. The Gini is a single summary measure. In recent years, the bulk of the income distribution has been equalising, but this is not true at the tails. (2/n)
2. The usual statistics on the Gini are known to understate the incomes of the rich (top 1 to 2%). Other data shows that very top incomes have recovered from their 2008 hit and are back at historically-high levels. (3/n)
3. Although the Gini for wealth is not rising massively, the gap in £ between the bottom third (who basically have wealth of close to zero) and the top third is growing rapidly. Relative measures are not the whole story. (4/n)
4. Levels matter, not rate of change. The UK has a high level of inequality, and every year this persists is another year that (if you believe the research) worsens social mobility, causes deaths of despair, makes us less healthy, less trusting, etc. (5/n)
Then, as @EdConwaySky suggests in his tweet, maybe the Gini is not measuring the right sort of inequality. Maybe geographical inequalities are important. Maybe inequalities of life chances are much worse. Maybe inequalities of power are amplifying economic inequalities. (6/n)
Overall, Income and wealth inequality are getting worse only if we take a fairly long view (i.e. they are clearly much higher than they were 30-35 years ago; closer comparisons are more nuanced). But top income shares are rising again, and we are a high inequality country. (7/7)
