Social Ills? Blame Income Inequality

Two English health scholars have written a book called ‘The Spirit Level’ which locates the cause of social ills in income inequality. The Boston Review unpacks their arguments. “Wilkinson and Pickett, eminent health scholars from the United Kingdom, present considerable evidence correlating unequal incomes in nations or American states with negative outcomes in physical health, mental balance, levels of violence, social integration, teen births, school performance, and just about everything else…But does this psychological explanation really account for the harms of inequality? And just how sure are we that the social ills Wilkinson and Pickett canvass are even caused by inequality?”