“The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.” Such beliefs fire the indignation of critics of capitalism and provide a guilty thrill for some of the better off. If only it were as simple.

Thank heavens, then, for the Institute for Fiscal Studies, which sheds so much light on the subject, for example in its recent Poverty and Inequality in the UK survey . My only quarrel with it is that it follows the academic herd in using the loaded term “inequality”.