Bulletin

Issue: August 2005

Books

Wealth redistributed

Recently retired after 36 years at La Trobe, economist Michael Schneider, has published his latest book, The Distribution of Wealth.

Mr Schneider uses data from 15 countries to demonstrate how inequality in the distribution of wealth varies between different parts of the world and changes over time.

He discusses why distribution is unequal, whether it should be unequal, and how it could be changed. Mr Schneider also compares distribution implied by alternative views of society and discusses means by which distribution could be altered - and whether less unequal redistribution would, in time, reduce the amount of wealth available.

The book is aimed at economists, particularly those in the fields of welfare economics, distribution theory, heterodox economics and the history of economic thought, as well as sociologists, political scientists and philosophers.