The super-rich have never had it so good. But millions of us can't afford a home, an education or a pension. And unless we change course soon, the future will be even worse. Much worse. But things don't have to be like this.
In this bold new book, former Treasury Minister Liam Byrne explains why wealth inequality has grown so fast in recent years; warns how it threatens our society, economy and politics; shows where economics has got it wrong - and lays out a path back to common sense, with five practical ways to rebuild an old ideal: the wealth-owning democracy.
Liam Byrne draws on conversations and debates with former prime ministers, presidents and policymakers around the world, together with experts at the OECD, World Bank and IMF, to argue that after twenty years of statistics and slogans it's time for solutions that aren't just radical but plausible and achievable as well.
The future won't be a land of milk and honey but it could be a place where we live longer, happier, healthier and wealthier lives.
'An invaluable repository of recent ideas put forward by academics and think-tankers.' - The Financial Times
'Byrne is an engaging writer, and his latest book is full of ideas.' - The Telegraph
Author
About Liam Byrne
The Rt. Hon. Liam Byrne MP chairs the Global Parliamentary Network on the World Bank & International Monetary Fund and sits on the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee. He served in the Cabinet in 10 Downing Street and Her Majesty's Treasury. An Honorary Professor of Social Science at the University of Birmingham, Liam was a Fulbright scholar at the Harvard Business School and Gwilym Gibbon Research Fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford. He has represented Birmingham Hodge Hill, the most income-deprived community in Britain, for the last 19 years and is the author of a major history of British capitalism Dragons: Ten Entrepreneurs Who Built Britain.
