The Spirit Level is a thorough-going attempt to demonstrate scientifically the benefits of a smaller gap between rich and poor. Wilkinson, an epidemiologist specialising in health inequalities, is famous in policy-making circles for his graphs showing how income inequality is related to all manner of social ills. Here, variable after variable is plotted against levels of inequality in developed nations, resulting in a scatter graph. A computer then generates a "line of best fit" through the points, which always slopes in a direction indicating that inequality is bad news. There are problems with this approach, and some of the relationships look rather weak, but on Wilkinson's home turf, health, the links between outcomes and income inequality do appear strong, and disturbing. One in 10 people in fairly equal societies such as Japan or Germany report a mental health problem in a given year; in less equal nations such as Britain, Australia or Canada, the figure rises to one in five - and one in four in the US. It does seem that inequality breeds anxiety.
Statistical links between health and income equality appear strong, and disturbing, says Richard Reeves
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