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Covid shows how the state can address social inequality https://www.ft.com/content/caa37763-9c71-4f8d-9c29-b16ccf53d780?accessToken=zwAAAXbUXlKAkdPKo3djnHFPjdOcKbFsz1PXgA.MEUCIDUh5C433J9q_KU-H3OwNdK7FpFQAHiH3Hm6YLmPTM4bAiEAp4TebyHvflpBAKc-ibk3gclcnl6Pi8Otw0zEXjzglWc&sharetype=gift?token=7b2faba3-1174-42bb-b5f6-ebf62cef60b0 << it's difficult to believe that this article is written by a Nobel Laureate. A few observations about it.
Usually when you write an article on a subject, you try to outline *why* the thing you are worried about is a problem by examining what causal impact it has on things we might care about, before then outlining policy changes you'd make to address it, recognising trade-offs.
Deaton's article does none of that. It just lists a bunch of factual inequalities, not explaining which are the result of undesirable phenomena, which we'd expect to exist in some form whatever we did, or which in themselves will create problems down the track.
In other words, it takes it as given that inequality is a bad thing--that if we could get to a situation where all social aspects of our life were equal, that that would be a better world. How? Well, government of course! The great, all-powerful equaliser!
Apparently the pandemic has both exacerbated inequalities but also shown that the state can solve them seamlessly (sorry?) With "reform," a tax here and there, and a "rethink" of how labour markets work, these social inequalities can be eliminated! Hooray.
Wait a minute: which entity runs education in most countries? And the UK, who provides healthcare? Which institution determines where housing can be built? Who sets minimum wages that make zero-hours contracts more attractive? I'll give you a clue: starts with g & ends in "ment"
Just one more heave, I guess. If only those pesky "voices against active government" didn't get in the way of the big statists solving inequalities without having to worry about trade-offs or government failures.
