Dear Colleagues
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has commissioned me to carry out an independent assessment of the evidence on the impact of inequality on various socio-economic outcomes. I am writing to you see if you have any thoughts on this that you would like to contribute to the debate.
The most recent and widely cited publication in this field is: Wilkinson, R and Pickett, K (2009) The Spirit Level, Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better , Allen Lane. There have also been some recent critiques of this work, notably by: Snowdon, C (2010) The Spirit Level Delusion: Fact-checking the Left's New Theory of Everything, Little Dice; and Saunders, P (2010) Beware False Prophets: Equality, the Good Society and The Spirit Level, Policy Exchange. The aim of the JRF work is to:
• Summarise the main points from the existing work on the impact of income inequality, focusing particularly on The Spirit Level book.
• Provide an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the evidence, in terms of the data analysed, the methods of analysis used, the theoretical framework applied and the explanations put forward for the patterns identified.
The JRF research will also set out ways that further research could contribute to the important question of the effect of inequality, independent of poverty.
If you would like to contribute your thoughts to this debate or send me any references then I'd be very grateful. Please send them to: [log in to unmask] by the end of September.
There will be a 10-15,000 words report from this work published in 2011.
Thanks in advance and all the best
Karen Rowlingson
Professor of Social Policy
Director of CHASM: Centre on Household Assets and Savings Management
http://www.chasm.bham.ac.uk/
University of Birmingham
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