Proponents of income redistribution generally see it as the easy solution to poverty and inequality, and believe all that is needed is the political will to act. But, as Mark Harrison points out in this empirical study of the effects of the income redistribution, they rarely question how effective it is.

The study finds that such redistribution is very costly, has many disincentive effects, and is of limited benefit to the recipients over a lifetime.

Dr Mark Harrison is an economist and has been a lecturer at the University of Chicago and at the Australian National University.