Changing fortunes: income mobility and poverty dynamics in Britain

Authors

Peter M. Siminski, University of WollongongFollow

RIS ID

61387

Publication Details

Siminski, P. M. (2012). Changing fortunes: income mobility and poverty dynamics in Britain. The Economic Record, 88 (281), 299-300.

Abstract

In Jenkins’ words, Changing Fortunes ‘is primarily a book about the measurement and description of Britain’s income distribution from a longitudinal perspective’. Whilst internationally there now exist many household panel datasets, facilitating countless diverse longitudinal analyses, this appears to be the first book entirely devoted to the income dynamics of a single country, using a single data set: the British Household Panel Survey. (Comparisons are made to published results for other countries, but these are not systematic and are affected by comparability issues.) It goes without saying that the overriding impression is of a book that is very focused and deep, but not very broad. Given the care devoted by its highly credentialed author, I think this book will be regarded as an authoritative account of its topic, but at the same time may not draw a wide readership. It will primarily be of interest to those interested in a thorough introduction to the subtleties of researching income dynamics or those with a serious interest in British income dynamics.