Paul Johnson

A comprehensive look at inequalities and why they matterThere is a widespread sense throughout the developed world that progress towards a better society has stalled.

Many countries, including the UK, have experienced persistent economic stagnation accompanied by declining trust in institutions.

Governments are struggling to respond not only to traditional economic problems but also to newer challenges posed by climate change, migration and technological change. _Challenging Inequalities_ connects these conditions to inequality-inequality not just of income and wealth but of health, political participation and opportunity.

It not only offers a detailed analysis of the different forms of inequalities but also an in-depth consideration of why inequalities matter, how they have changed and what can, or should, be done about them.The book explains the enduring effects of early life experiences and education and examines the trends in employment and earnings over recent decades.

It argues that economic stagnation since the financial crises of 2008-2009 has exposed inequalities originating in the 1980s.

Not only have incomes stagnated, but so has progress towards reducing health inequalities and dealing with inequalities across gender, ethnicity, geography, age and educational level.

The combination of earnings inequality and economic stagnation has led to the growing importance of wealth, the increasing concentration of economic power in an older generation and a decline in social mobility.

Economic inequalities have also resulted directly in dangerous differences between regions and in political power across groups.PAUL JOHNSON is provost of the Queen's College, University of Oxford, and former director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).

He is the author of the _Sunday_ _Times_ bestseller _Follow the Money._