Tuesday 20 June 2017

The wealth of our nation

Who owns what in 21st century Britain

Launch of major work programme on wealth across Britain for the Intergenerational Commission

The wealth we accumulate, spend and pass on is too often the forgotten side of big national debates on inequality and living standards, where questions of day to day income dominate. A full lifetime view of our living standards needs to put that right, setting wealth centre stage.

That means looking not just at the wealth gap between rich and poor, but also the new gap opening up between young and old. The implications of this new intergenerational inequality for the living standards of current and future generations are profound. The Resolution Foundation is undertaking a major programme of work on wealth across Britain as part of its Intergenerational Commission to explore the issue in detail.

At an event to kick off the series, the Foundation published new research examining wealth accumulation across generations. Leading experts, including Professor John Hills, debated what this tells us about who owns what in Britain. Policy makers from Downing Street under Conservative and Labour governments then debated how public policy has and should respond. An audience Q&A followed each session.

Further events on wealth across Britain will take place over the course of the summer.

Session 1

John Hills, Co-Director of the International Inequalities Institute at the LSE

Gemma Tetlow, Economics Correspondent at the Financial Times

Conor D’Arcy, Policy Analyst at the Resolution Foundation

Torsten Bell, Director of the Resolution Foundation

Session 2

Rachel Sylvester, Columnist at The Times

David Willetts, Executive Chair of the Resolution Foundation

Nick Pearce, Director of the Institute for Policy Research, Bath University