"There has been a remarkable upsurge of debate about increasing inequalities and their societal implications, reinforced by the economic crisis but bubbling to the surface before it. This has been seen in popular discourse, media coverage, political debate, and research in the social sciences....

Rapid economic growth is often expected to lead to increased returns to education and skills and thus to rising wage inequality. Ireland offers a valuable case study, with distinctive wage-setting institutions and exceptional rates of growth in output, employment and incomes in the Celtic Tiger...

This text combines a focus on multidimensionality with a comparative approach to survey the role of non-monetary indicators of deprivation. It shows how poverty varies across countries and over time, who is affected, and which groups should be targeted in framing anti-poverty strategies