HANDS FULL OF DOLLARS

The recent study of the Institute for Fiscal Studies that showed 0.1 per cent of the UK population has an income of £780,000 per annum looks decided modest when compared with the US figures. " ... the IFS's findings will be cited alongside the work of Emmanuel Saez and Thomas Piketty, the US academics who have highlighted how wealth is held in ever fewer hands. Their study, published last year, showed that the most affluent Americans are better off than at any time since the 1920s. The top 10 per cent now account for 48.5 per cent of income, and the top 1 per cent for 21.8 per cent of income." (Times, 18 January) RD