Labour’s failure on inequality
Gary Duncan has a really important and useful article in The Times today on the issue of persistent and deep-rooted relative poverty in the UK - something which transcends the political posturing of recent days and weeks over the furore about the abolition of the 10% starting rate of income tax.
“The stark truth is that after a decade of Labour Government, Britain is a nation of greater income inequality, in which the plight of the very poor has worsened. True, Labour has succeeded in lifting half a million children out of poverty since 1998. Yet the Government’s figures are based on a poverty line drawn at 60 per cent of average incomes. If it is placed, instead, at 40 per cent - officially defined as “severe poverty” - the picture looks much bleaker, with the numbers of children in such dire straits no lower than in 1997.”
This is a superb article to read for those students revising for exam questions on income and wealth inequality. A BBC news article from March highlighted the widening wealth gap and here is a reminder that inequality is not solely a question of disposable income.
The rest of Gary Duncan’s article can be found here
Aspects of labour market failure
I have been researching some video clips for a presentation on labour market failure at the Tutor2u revision workshops - here are a couple of good ones. This BBC report looks into exploitation of migrant workers by a gangmaster business which has had its licence revolked. And Hugh Pym reports on the rising level of relative poverty in the UK despite sixteen years of economic growth. Finally this clip comes a series of progammes from BBC South East on ‘Breadline Britain’.
Revision: Labour Market Failure
Markets fail when they do not reach an efficient and/or equitable outcome from society’s point of view. At AS level, you will have studied many examples of possible market failure ranging from the provision of public and merit goods through to externalities and the welfare consequences of monopoly power in markets. At A2 level, you are asked to explore some issues relating to labour market failure. This revision note flags up a few of them:
Revision note:
Revision_Labour_Market_Failure.pdf
Revision: Income Inequality
In this revision note we recap some of the causes of income inequality in the economy and look at what has happened to income inequality / relative poverty in Great Britain in recent years. Aimed at AS and A2 students.
Revision note:
Revision_Income_Inequality.pdf
