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Flat-lining or seething beneath the surface? Two decades of changing economic inequality in the UK

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  • Polina Obolenskaya
  • John Hills

Abstract

This paper analyses what happened to economic inequalities in the United Kingdom in the two decades from 1995–6. In aggregate, inequality changes were unremarkable, especially by comparison with sharp increases in the 1980s. However, over the first decade economic outcomes improved across population groups, while over the second near-stagnation accompanied continuing high inequality. We show that the apparent stability of inequality in this period masked the way in which the nature and depth of economic inequalities changed after the economic crisis, leading to substantial differences between and within groups defined in different ways. Pervasively, younger adults lost out in the second decade compared to older ones. When population groups are defined in other ways (such as region, housing tenure, or ethnicity) patterns are more complex, but with the worst-off in particular groups often being ‘left behind’.

Suggested Citation

  • Polina Obolenskaya & John Hills, 2019. "Flat-lining or seething beneath the surface? Two decades of changing economic inequality in the UK," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 35(3), pages 467-489.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:oxford:v:35:y:2019:i:3:p:467-489.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/oxrep/grz018
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    Cited by:

    1. Cooper, Kerris & Hills, John, 2021. "The Conservative governments’ record on social security: policies, spending and outcomes, May 2015 to pre-COVID 2020," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 121553, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. Kerris Cooper & John Hills, 2021. "The Conservative Governments’ Record on Social Security: Policies, Spending and Outcomes, May 2015 to pre-COVID 2020," CASE - Social Policies and Distributional Outcomes Research Papers 10, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE.

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