Contributor(s): Professor Sir Richard Blundell | Even before the financial crisis many developed economies were facing growing inequality and struggling to maintain employment and earnings. This lecture will dig deeper into the background to these trends and will examine the evidence on how tax and welfare reform impacts on human capital, inequality and earnings. It will ask two general questions: What are the key margins where we might expect tax and welfare reform to have most impact on earnings, employment growth and inequality? How has this changed in the light of the great recession? The talk will consider prospects for the future and the potential for policy reform. Richard Blundell CBE FBA is a Professor at University College London and Research Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies. He is an alumnus of LSE. Credits: Tom Sturdy (Audio Post-Production), LSE AV Services (Audio Recording).