Senior Research Fellow, Nuffield College
Professor of Social Policy Emeritus, University of Oxford
Professorial Research Fellow Emeritus, The Institute for New Economic Thinking
Brian Nolan was the director of INET’s research program on Economics, Inequality and Opportunity (formerly Employment, Equity and Growth) and a Professor of Social Policy at the Department of Social Policy and Intervention from 2014 to 2024. He is currently a Professorial Research Fellow Emeritus at INET and a Senior Research Fellow at Nuffield College Oxford. He coedited The Handbook of Economic Inequality (2008), The Great Recession and the Distribution of Household Income (2013), Changing Inequalities in Rich Countries: Analytical and Comparative Perspectives (2014), Changing Inequalities and Societal Impacts in Rich Countries: Thirty Countries’ Experiences (2014), and Children of Austerity: The Impact of the Great Recession on Child Poverty in Rich Countries (2017), and with Christopher T. Whelan coauthored Poverty and Deprivation in Europe (2011), all published by Oxford University Press.
The initial phase of inequality-focused research program at INET sought to understand why current growth models are failing those on middle and lower incomes in many developed countries, and what policies may help to promote better, fairer growth. Research carried out by the group with the support of the Resolution Foundation was brought together in two volumes Nolan edited, published by Oxford University Press in 2018: Inequality and Inclusive Growth in Rich Countries: Shared Challenges, and Contrasting Fortunes and Generating Prosperity for Working Families in Affluent Countries.
Nolan directed the Oxford Martin Program on Inequality and Prosperity from 2016 to 2021, supported by Citi as part of its research partnership with the Oxford Martin School and focused on the drivers of inequality and how best to address it and promote inclusive growth. Nolan was also the principal investigator on a project funded by the Nuffield Foundation from 2017 to 2019 on the intergenerational transmission of family wealth. Up to his retirement from the University at the end September 2024, Nolan was the Oxford PI on the ongoing multiyear research program supported by a Synergy Grant from the European Research Council for Towards Distributional National Accounts, in collaboration with Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez.
Areas of Expertise
Income and Wealth Inequality
Poverty
Redistribution
Economics of Social Policy
- Stone Center Working Paper Series. no. 94: The Influence of Inheritances on Wealth Inequality in Rich Countries
- Stone Center Working Paper Series. no. 80:
- Stone Center Working Paper Series. no. 79: Intergenerational Poverty Persistence in Europe – Is There a ‘Great Gatsby Curve’ for Poverty?
- Co-author: Intergenerational Wealth Transfers in Great Britain from the Wealth and Assets Survey in Comparative Perspective
- Co-author: Inheritance, Gifts, and the Accumulation of Wealth for Low-Income Households
- Commentary: How Does Wealth Matter for Social Policy? A Special Issue of the Journal of European Social Policy Seeks to Answer That Question
- Stone Center Working Paper Series. no. 40: Inheritance, Gifts, and the Wealth Deficit of Low-Income Households
- Blog Post: The Intergenerational Transmission of Wealth in Rich Countries
- Co-author: Intergenerational Wealth Transfers and Wealth Inequality in Rich Countries: What Do We Learn from Gini Decomposition?
- Stone Center Working Paper Series. no. 21: Intergenerational Transfers by Size and Wealth Inequality in Rich Countries
- Co-author: The Wealth of Families: The Intergenerational Transmission of Wealth in Britain in Comparative Perspective