Skills and Inequality

Marius R. Busemeyer is Professor of Political Science in the Department of Politics and Public Administration at the University of Konstanz, Germany. His research focuses on comparative political economy and welfare state research, education and social policy, public spending, theories of institutional change and, more recently, public opinion on the welfare state. He has published a large number of journal articles and edited The Political Economy of Collective Skill Formation (with Christine Trampusch, 2011) as well as a special issue of the Socio-Economic Review on 'The Political Economy of Skills and Inequality' (with Torben Iversen).

• Introduction; Part I. The Political and Institutional Determinants of Education Policy: 1. Theoretical framework: partisan politics in context; 2. The politics of education and training reform: case studies; 3. Worlds of skill formation: cross-national quantitative analysis; Part II. The Impact of Educational Institutions on Outcomes and Popular Attitudes: 4. Educational institutions and socioeconomic inequality; 5. The impact of educational institutions on popular attitudes and preferences; 6. Conclusion.

'In this path-breaking book, Busemeyer argues that educational policy should be seen as an integral part of the welfare state, with major consequences for our understanding of inequality. Using an impressive combination of macro-historical and micro-statistical evidence, Busemeyer shows how partisan governments led countries down distinct institutional paths, and how these paths now shape distributive outcomes. This is a book about education, but it is also a book about the perhaps most pressing issue of our time: rising inequality.' Torben Iversen, Harvard University