predistribution
{{Short description|Fiscal policy idea; holds that government should prevent rather than remedy inequalities}}
{{globalize|date=November 2023}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2019}}
Pre-distribution (or Predistribution{{cite encyclopedia |last=Hunt |first=T. |url=http://www.progressonline.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/The-Purple-Book.pdf#page=65 |title=Reviving our sense of mission: Designing a new political economy |encyclopedia=The Purple Book |editor-first=R. |editor-last=Philpot |page=65 |date= |accessdate=18 November 2013 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140727003435/http://www.progressonline.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/The-Purple-Book.pdf#page=65 |archivedate=27 July 2014 |url-status=dead }}{{Cite web|url=http://www.policy-network.net/pno_detail.aspx?ID=3998&title=The+institutional+foundations+of+middle-class+democracy|title = Home}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/jan/09/responsible-capitalism-labour-david-cameron|title = Responsible capitalism is Labour's agenda | Stewart Wood| website=TheGuardian.com |date = 9 January 2012}}) is the idea that the state should try to prevent inequalities occurring in the first place rather than ameliorating them via tax and benefits once they have occurred, as occurs under redistribution.Hacker, J. (2011), The institutional foundations of middle-class democracy, Policy Network, 6 May 2011, at http://www.policy-network.net/articles/3998/The-institutional-foundations-of-
middle-class-democracy
The term is a neologism{{cite web |url=http://www.progressonline.org.uk/2012/09/11/from-redistribution-to-predistribution/ |title=Redistribution to predistribution | Progress | News and debate from the progressive community |accessdate=11 September 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120913175037/http://www.progressonline.org.uk/2012/09/11/from-redistribution-to-predistribution/ |archivedate=13 September 2012}} coined by Yale University Professor Jacob Hacker in his paper, "The Institutional Foundations of Middle Class Democracy"{{Cite|url=https://assets.website-files.com/64a8727f61fabfaa63b7b770/64aab85cf813ccbee57ce07f_hacker_pn.pdf|title = Paper}} published by the think tank Policy Network.{{Cite web|url=http://www.policy-network.net/pno_detail.aspx?ID=3998&title=The+institutional+foundations+of+middle-class+democracy|title = Home}}
It has been used in the same sense by authors James Robertson and Joseph Huber in the book, Creating New Money (New Economics Foundation, London, UK).{{Cite web |last1=Robertson |first1=James |last2=Huber |first2=Joseph |date=31 May 2000 |title=Creating New Money |url=https://neweconomics.org/2000/05/creating-new-money |access-date=4 February 2023 |website=New Economics Foundation}} It is also employed in various publications associated with the Campaign for Co-operative Socialism, including a set of five articles published in 2009/2010 by The CCPA Monitor (the publication of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives{{Cite web | url=http://www.policyalternatives.ca/ | title=Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives | research • analysis • solutions}}), and republished in 2010 as a collection, CCPA Readings on Co-operative Socialism.{{citation needed|date=October 2012}}
Influence on British politics
In the United Kingdom, Labour Party leader Ed Miliband showed interest in the concept, telling a Policy Network seminar at the London Stock Exchange that "Predistribution is about saying we cannot allow ourselves to be stuck with permanently being a low-wage economy".[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-19508785 BBC News – Predistribution: The Labour leader's latest Big Idea] The concept has been seen as resulting from a recognition that were Labour to return to government they would not be able to reverse all Coalition cuts and implement traditional redistributive policies due to the poor state of the economy and instead need to focus on policies that make "work pay" for the poorest in society.[https://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5hxDeEzAzPYnM6xyxSf9Fb2GIAlMA?docId=N0408791346854705929A The Press Association: No more high spending: Miliband]{{dead link|date=June 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}
Tristram Hunt, a Labour MP, called for predistribution in his chapter in The Purple Book as a way to reform the economy whilst having fiscal restraint and fellow Purple Book contributor Rachel Reeves used the term in a June 2012 Progress article.{{Cite web |url=http://www.progressonline.org.uk/2012/06/28/labours-economic-cause/ |title=Labour's economic cause | Progress | News and debate from the progressive community |access-date=11 September 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170630032728/http://www.progressonline.org.uk/2012/06/28/labours-economic-cause/ |archive-date=30 June 2017 |url-status=dead }}
Lord Wood of Anfield, an adviser to Miliband, has argued that the "pre-distribution" agenda is necessary because "In the face of rising inequality, declining social mobility and stagnating real wages for middle-income earners, there are limits to what redistribution can achieve on its own".{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/jan/09/responsible-capitalism-labour-david-cameron|title = Responsible capitalism is Labour's agenda | Stewart Wood| website=TheGuardian.com |date = 9 January 2012}}
In an article in The Guardian,{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jun/12/reinvigorate-centre-left-predistribution |title=How to reinvigorate the centre-left? Predistribution |author=Jacob Hacker |newspaper=The Guardian |date=12 June 2013 |accessdate=18 November 2013}} Hacker described the three major themes of predistribution in a UK environment:
- getting the macroeconomy right, particularly by encouraging long-term investment
- providing good quality public services, particularly healthcare and investing in skills of the young
- discovering new ways to control the market-economy, such as worker empowerment, steps beyond the minimum wage such as the right to know what co-worker groups earn, and the formation of worker groups other than unions
Criticism
There has been discussion of whether predistribution is practical. BBC Political Correspondent Ian Watson argues that a predistributive policy might, for instance, require a business (when bidding for a government contract) to pay the living wage rather than the national minimum wage, something that might be difficult during times of austerity although Watson's argument has been countered by the independent Commission on Living Standards.[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-19503451 BBC News – Ed Miliband unveils 'predistribution' plan to fix economy]
Some commentators have gone so far as to suggest that the concept of predistribution has simply been invented, and lacks any real substance.[http://labour-uncut.co.uk/2012/09/07/predistribution-is-another-meaningless-phrase-in-place-of-actual-policy/ Predistribution is just a meaningless word in place of actual policy – Labour Uncut]
See also
References
{{Reflist|2}}
External links
- [http://www.politics.co.uk/comment-analysis/2012/09/06/ed-miliband-s-redistribution-speech-in-full Ed Miliband's predistribution speech] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190717115900/https://www.politics.co.uk/comment-analysis/2012/09/06/ed-miliband-s-redistribution-speech-in-full |date=17 July 2019 }}