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Intergenerational equity - older voters are richer than ever

Geoff Riley

9th December 2019

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Phillip Inman highlights what I think is one of the major structural issues facing the UK economy. Inter-generational equity.

He illustrates the extent to which elderly members of the population have benefited from government policy in the last 30 years, seeing a more than 100% increase in their incomes, compared to a 35% increase in the average disposable income of working households.

Similarly, any attempt to cut any of the benefits given to the elderly have proved difficult to enact - notably the abolition of free television licenses most recently. Factor in the prospect of a looming social care crisis, and you should be able to see why the grey vote will prove so significant this week.

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Geoff Riley

Geoff Riley FRSA has been teaching Economics for nearly forty years. He has over twenty years experience as Head of Economics at leading schools. He writes extensively and is a contributor and presenter on CPD and Revision conferences in the UK and overseas.