Inequality: the enemy between us?
Richard Wilkinson
Emeritus Professor of Social Epidemiology
Income per head and life-expectancy: rich & poor countries
3
Source: Wilkinson & Pickett, The Spirit Level (2009)
www.equalitytrust.org.uk
Life expectancy in rich countries is
no longer related to National Income per head
Wilkinson & Pickett, The Spirit Level
www.equalitytrust.org.uk
Life expectancy is strongly related to
income within rich countries
80
Life expectancy (years)
79
78
77
76
75
74
73
72
71
70
Richest
Poorest
Local Neighbourhoods
(in England & Wales)
Wilkinson & Pickett, The Spirit Level
www.equalitytrust.org.uk
Inequality...
How much richer are the richest 20% in
each country than the poorest 20%?
Income gaps
How many times richer
are the richest fifth than
the poorest fifth?
8.0
Wilkinson & Pickett, The Spirit Level
Sin
ga
po
re
ug
al
US
A
Po
rt
UK
Isr
ae
l
Ze
ala
nd
Au
str
ali
a
Ne
w
6.1 6.2
8.5
7.2
6.7 6.8 6.8 7.0
Ita
ly
5.6 5.6 5.6 5.7
5.2 5.3
Ja
pa
n
Fin
lan
d
No
rw
ay
Sw
ed
en
De
nm
ark
Be
lgi
um
Au
str
ia
Ge
rm
an
Ne
y
the
rla
nd
s
Sp
ain
Fra
nc
e
Ca
na
da
Sw
izt
erl
an
d
Ire
lan
d
Gr
ee
ce
4.6 4.8
4.3
3.9 4.0
3.7
3.4
9.7
www.equalitytrust.org.uk
Health and social problems with social gradients
and internationally comparable data
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Life expectancy
Math & Literacy
Infant mortality
Homicides
Imprisonment
Teenage births
Trust
Obesity
Mental illness – incl. drug &
alcohol addiction
• Social mobility
Index of:
• Life expectancy
• Math & Literacy
• Infant mortality
• Homicides
• Imprisonment
• Teenage births
• Trust
• Obesity
• Mental illness
– incl. drug &
alcohol
addiction
• Social mobility
Index of health and social problems
Health and social problems are worse
in more unequal countries
Wilkinson & Pickett, The Spirit Level
www.equalitytrust.org.uk
Index of:
• Life expectancy
• Math & Literacy
• Infant mortality
• Homicides
• Imprisonment
• Teenage births
• Trust
• Obesity
• Mental illness
– incl. drug &
alcohol
addiction
• Social mobility
Index of health and social problems
Neither health nor social problems are
related to national income per head
Wilkinson & Pickett, The Spirit Level
www.equalitytrust.org.uk
Child well-being is better in more equal countries
Wilkinson & Pickett, The Spirit Level
www.equalitytrust.org.uk
Child Wellbeing is not related to National Income per head
Wilkinson & Pickett, The Spirit Level
www.equalitytrust.org.uk
People in more unequal countries
trust each other less
Wilkinson & Pickett, The Spirit Level
www.equalitytrust.org.uk
People in more unequal states of
the USA trust each other less
Wilkinson & Pickett, The Spirit Level
www.equalitytrust.org.uk
Mental illness is more common in
more unequal societies
Wilkinson & Pickett, The Spirit Level
www.equalitytrust.org.uk
Infant Mortality Rates are Higher in More Unequal Countries
15
Source: Wilkinson & Pickett, The Spirit Level (2009)
www.equalitytrust.org.uk
Homicide rates are higher in more unequal
US states and Canadian provinces
180
USA states
Canadian provinces
Homicides per million people
150
120
90
60
30
0
Low
Income Inequality
High
Daly M, Wilson M, Vasdev S. Income inequality and homicide rates in Canada and the United States. Can J Crim 2001; 43: 219-36.
Imprisonment rates are higher in
more unequal countries
Wilkinson & Pickett, The Spirit Level
www.equalitytrust.org.uk
Teenage Birth Rates are Higher in More Unequal Rich Countries
18
Source: Wilkinson & Pickett, The Spirit Level (2009)
www.equalitytrust.org.uk
Social mobility is lower in more unequal countries
Wilkinson & Pickett, The Spirit Level
www.equalitytrust.org.uk
In summary... bigger income gaps lead
to deteriorations in:Health
Social Relations
•
•
•
•
•
Child conflict
Homicide
Imprisonment
Social capital
Trust
Exceptions:
suicide?
•
•
•
•
•
Drug abuse
Infant mortality
Life expectancy
Mental illness
Obesity
Human Capital
•
•
•
•
•
Child wellbeing
High school drop outs
Math & literacy scores
Social mobility
Teenage births
Correlations: different measures and settings
Indicator
International
UN 20:20
OECD Gini
US 50 States
Census Gini
r
p
r
p
r
p
Child wellbeing
-071
<0.01
-0.68
0.01
-
-
Trust
-0.66
<0.01
-0.66
0.03
-0.70
<0.01
Life expectancy
-0.44
0.04
-0.27
0.24
-0.45
<0.01
Infant mortality
0.42
0.04
0.54
0.01
0.43
<0.01
Obesity
0.57
<0.01
0.41
0.06
0.47
<0.01
Mental illness
0.73
<0.01
0.32
0.30
0.18
0.12
Education score
-0.45
0.04
-0.46
0.05
-0.47
.01
Teen birth rate
0.73
<0.01
0.64
<0.01
0.46
<0.01
Homicides
0.47
0.02
0.44
0.04
0.42
<0.01
Imprisonment
0.75
<0.01
0.51
0.02
0.48
<0.01
Social mobility
0.93
<0.01
0.83
<0.01
-
-
Index
0.87
<0.01
0.75
<0.01
0.59
<0.01
Mortality: Odds Ratio
Lag times: marginal impact of a 0.01-unit increase
in the Gini on individual mortality risk over time
Lag time - Years
Zheng H. Social Science & Medicine 2012; 75: 36-45.
Index of:
• Life expectancy
• Math & Literacy
• Infant mortality
• Homicides
• Imprisonment
• Teenage births
• Trust
• Obesity
• Mental illness
– incl. drug &
alcohol
addiction
• Social mobility
Index of health and social problems
Health and social problems are worse
in more unequal countries
Wilkinson & Pickett, The Spirit Level
www.equalitytrust.org.uk
The benefits of greater equality are not confined
to the poor but extend to all social classes
Infant mortality by class: Sweden compared with England & Wales
Infant deaths per 1000
15
England & Wales
Sweden
10
5
0
Single
mothers
Low
Father's occupational class
High
Leon, D. A., D. Vagero, et al. (1992). "Social class differences in infant mortality
in Sweden: comparison with England and Wales." Brit Med J 305(6855): 687-91.
Literacy Scores of 16-25 year olds by
Parents' Education
1
0.5
Literacy score
Sweden
0
Canada
-0.5
-1
United States
-1.5
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
Parents' Education (years)
25
Source: Willms JD. 1997. Data from OECD Programme for International Student Assessment.
These relationships reflect
deep-seated social
processes.
What are they?
How do they work?
Income differences increase social class differentiation
Bigger income differences:•
•
•
Class becomes more important
The social pyramid is higher
and more hierarchical
The quality of social relations
deteriorates
Valued or
Devalued?
More
inequality
More superiority and inferiority
• More status competition and consumerism
• More status insecurity
•
• More worry about
how we are seen and judged
• More “social evaluation anxiety”
(threats to self-esteem & social
status, fear of negative
judgements
Even low levels of stress raise death rates
Russ TC, Stamatakis E, Hamer M, Starr JM, Kivimäki M, Batty GD. Association between psychological
distress and mortality: pooled analysis of 10 prospective cohort studies. BMJ 2012; 345: e4933.
Psychosocial risk factors for ill health
 Low social status
 Weak social connections
 Stress in early life (pre- and postnatally)
30
Cortisol response (effect size)
What kind of stressful tasks raise
stress hormones most?
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
Tasks with ‘social
evaluative threat’
(uncontrollable)
Other
tasks
Dickerson SS, Kemeny ME. Acute stressors and cortisol
responses. Psychological Bulletin 2004; 130(3): 355-91.
Self enhancement increases in more unequal
societies
Loughnan S, et al. Economic Inequality is linked to biased self-perception.
Psychological Science, 2011; 22: 1254
Rising narcissism among American college students
Narcissistic Personality Inventory
(meta-analysis of 85 samples 1979-2006)
Twenge JM, Konrath S, Foster JD, Campbell WK, Bushman BJ.
Egos inflating over time. J Personality 2008; 76(4): 875-901.
Inequality (Gini)
Rising income inequality in Britain 1979-2011
Cribb J, Joyce R, Phillips D. Living standards, poverty and inequality in
the UK: 2012. Institute for Fiscal Studies, London 2012
What can be done?
Income differences
before tax
• Stronger Trade
Unions
Taxes & benefits
• Stop tax
avoidance
• End tax havens
• Increase company
democracy employee
ownership etc
• Promote more
directors from
within companies
• Make taxation
progressive
again
Sustainability needs
greater equality
Changing ratio of CEO pay to average pay of production &
non-supervisory workers in top 350 US companies
Between 1979-2007 the income of the:Top 0.1% increased by 362%
Top 1% increased by 156%
Bottom 90% increased by17%
Mishel L, Sabadish N. Economic Policy Institute Brief #331. Washington, May 2012
Pay differentials
•
Pay ratios in public sector usually between 1:10 and 1:20
•
Average for FTSE 100 companies 1:300
•
78% of public think the pay gap is too large, but only 27% support higher
welfare benefits. (Brit Soc Atts Survey)
•
Greater London Assembly committed (16th June 2010) to pay differences
of 1:20, with a long term goal of 1:10.
•
Hutton Report suggested public sector 1:20
•
Brit Soc Atts Survey: Appropriate pay for unskilled worker: £16,000, for
CEO of large company: £100,000. i.e. ratio of less than 1:7
•
Fairness Commissions have recommended Living Wage
•
Referendum in Switzerland (Nov 2013) limiting pay differentials to 1:12
•
WageMark – a new standard (like Fair Trade) to be launched for companies
with pay differences less than 1:8
•
Mondragon Cooperatives between 1:3 and 1:9. Ave 1:5
For more information:
… a book
and a
website…
http://www.equalitytrust.org.uk
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