If you’ve written a successful book based around one big idea, what do you make the next one about? Back in 2009, Kate Pickett’s The Spirit Level (co-authored with Richard Wilkinson) argued that inequality was the ultimate cause of almost all our social problems, from obesity and teenage pregnancy to violent crime; more equal societies, they claimed, had better outcomes across the board. While criticised – as most “big idea” books are – for overstating the case and cherrypicking evidence, they struck a chord, and some aspects of their thesis are now mainstream.
However, when it comes to the UK, there is an awkward problem, both for Pickett and for economists like me who, while not entirely convinced by The Spirit Level, would still like to see a more equal society. In the first chapter of Pickett’s new book, inequality is once again the root of all (social) evils: “if you know a country’s level of inequality, you can do a pretty good job of predicting its infant mortality rate, or prevalence of mental illness, or levels of homicide or imprisonment”. By contrast, she argues that GDP or GDP growth are very poor measures of overall welfare. Pickett then goes on to list the ways in which the UK has become a worse place to live since 2010 – higher child poverty, flattening life expectancy and child mortality, more people in prison.
But what actually happened to inequality and GDP over this period? On Pickett’s own preferred measure, the Palma ratio, inequality peaked in 2008 and has fallen considerably since then, as the tax system has become significantly more progressive. Meanwhile, growth in GDP has been very slow compared to the previous two decades. If you’d asked Pickett in 2010 whether she’d have accepted this trade – much slower growth in GDP in return for more progressive taxation and lower inequality, she’d presumably have jumped at it. But now, like most of the rest of us, she’s less than happy with the results.
Rather than addressing this puzzle, Pickett largely dodges it. The Good Society has lots of ideas: that is, rather than one unifying concept, it covers policy problems and solutions across health, education, criminal justice, social care, and elsewhere. In each case, she diagnoses the failures of our current model and suggests alternatives, mostly drawn from the successful social democracies of northern Europe.
The problem is that because – as she commendably admits – she has neither the expertise nor the space to provide a detailed analysis of these topics, we end up with a whistle-stop tour of the greatest hits of progressive social policy, from Finnish schools to Norwegian prisons. If you’re instinctively sympathetic to the view that we imprison too many people, that we should value care work more, that the education system is too exam-focused and so on, then you will probably nod along to much of this. But if you’re not already convinced, you’re unlikely to change your mind. And for those who do have expertise in one of these topics – and can spot the holes, or at least the oversimplifications – this compendium is less than the sum of its parts.
More interesting – perhaps because Pickett has researched the topic in depth herself – is her section on Universal Basic Income. Working with my frequent co-author and friend Howard Reed, she has helped produce detailed, costed blueprints for a UK UBI. I think she overstates the case, though: it’s simply false to claim that a UBI would eliminate the need for means-testing or eligibility tests, since the main drivers of these in the UK system are incapacity and housing benefit, which would still be needed even with a UBI. And most of the small-scale studies of UBI so far have failed to find the transformational benefits she claims. Whether you agree or disagree, however, this at least represents a serious and substantive proposal for tackling both inequality and injustice.
Finally, in an attempt to address the political obstacles to achieving any of this, Pickett concludes with an appeal for the greater use of evidence in policymaking, combined with citizens’ juries. Sadly, this just makes her sound out of touch in the current political context. I wish I could believe her claim that “a fairer, healthier, more caring and sustainable society is entirely within our grasp”, but I’m afraid I ended this book no more optimistic than when I started it.
• The Good Society: And How We Make It is published by Bodley Head. To support the Guardian, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply.To buy a copy for £22.50 go to guardianbookshop.com
