This is a guest review by my husband Bill.  Welcome Bill!

In an age when middle and working class living standards have been stressed throughout the advanced economies, The Spirit Level (Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better)is a timely contribution to the discussion of why we are living in increasingly unequal societies, and the consequences of the policy choices that brought it about.
Written by British academics Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, The Sprit Level examines the levels of income inequality among the advanced industrial economies (and between states in the US) and how they relate to various social pathologies such as life expectancy, crime and violence, academic achievement, obesity, drug use, and incarceration rates. Along all these measures, there is a strong relationship between inequality and the prevalence of these problems. Even on measures of social mobility, highly unequal societies such as the US and UK fare worse than more equalitarian countries, even though increased social mobility is often cited as a justification for inequality.
The authors show how policies embraced during the last 30 years emphasizing lower tax rates for the wealthiest and widespread deregulation have vastly increased inequality and its attendant problems. Their solutions do not necessarily mean higher levels of taxation and government intervention, as some countries (such as Japan) have achieved more equal societies with relatively little intervention by the state.
Wilkinson and Pickett’s thesis is backed by impressive amounts of academic research, though it is written in a style that is quite accessible to the average reader. People can argue back and forth about whether highly unequal levels of income are fair or not, but there is little doubt around the negative consequences for the vast majority of citizens in those countries. This book is highly recommended to educate people to be better informed about economic choices facing their political leaders, and what can be expected as a result.

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