Book review: Reducing Inequalities: A Challenge for the European Union?
| Author | Abhishek |
| DOI | 10.1177/1388262719837402 |
| Published date | 01 March 2019 |
| Date | 01 March 2019 |
| Subject Matter | Book reviews |
Book reviews
Carmo, Renato Miguel / Rio, C´
edric / Medgyesi, M´
arton (eds.), Reducing Inequalities: A Challenge for
the European Union? 2018, Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 259 pages, ISBN: 978-3-319-
65006-7 (e-book).
Reviewed by: Abhishek, Centre for European Studies, the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India
DOI: 10.1177/1388262719837402
In the 1970s when neo-liberal policies were adopted, it was argued that free-trade and the freeing
up of capital would help the poor and lead to a better world in which the down-trodden of the
developed global North would get access to cheaper goods, and their brethren in the global South
would get access to jobs. Competition was supposed to lead to efficiency and the proverbial rising
tide was supposed to lift all boats. But, the experiences of the past three to four decades indicate
otherwise. Although on one hand, as a result of the high growth in the developing countries and
international catching up, income inequality among the nations is declining, on the other hand,
inequality within these countries is rising significantly.
Today, we are living in a world where just 1 per cent of the world’s population holds over
35 percent of all private wealth; more than the bottom 95 per cent combined, and Oxfam (2017)
reports that ‘just eight men own the same wealth as the poorest half of the world’. Even those
institutions that once pushed laissez-faire economic ideas and that did not consider inequality as a
problem are now arguing for a more equal world. The concentration of wealth in a few hands is
threatening not just the economic well-being of the masses, sustainability of growth, social cohe-
sion, political inclusion and abetting crime (Newell 2017), but the very legitimacy of the state.
There are enough reasons to believe that the widening gap has largely been the outcome of the
choices that states have made in recent decades. Rising inequality has been a global trend and
Europe has not been an exception to it, although it still remains more equal than other parts of the
world. Of the ten most inclusive advanced economies, eight remain European (Newell 2017),
thanks to the measures like the relative poverty line and robust social spending. The worrying
trend here is that the gap between rich and poor is widening even in the, previously more equal,
European countries. This is the issue with which the collection of essays under review, Reducing
Inequalities. A Challenge for the European Union?, is concerned.
These essays relate to different aspects of inequality: vertical (between those with high incomes
and those with low incomes, as well as horizontal (between groups defined in terms of nationality,
age, ethnicity or gender). The book discusses the issue from different perspectives using various
indicators such as income and economic inequalities, poverty and social exclusion, categorical
inequalities and social class and educational inequalities. The book is divided into two parts. The
European Journal of Social Security
2019, Vol. 21(1) 76–91
ªThe Author(s) 2019
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