Ed Miliband introduced the new word 'predistribution' to UK political debate last week. The word was coined by Yale professor Jacob Hacker a year or so ago. It is an alternative to the policy of 'redistribution' which relies on taxes and benefits to distribute money from the well-off to the less well-off. Predistribution is meant to tackle the problem of inequality earlier in the process, by making sure that people earn a decent living wage and thus do not need to rely on tax credits or benefits, as now.
Interpretations of the word 'predistribution' differ, but Labour politicians are highlighting the need for a higher skilled workforce which will earn higher wages to begin with, and thus will not reach the stage of requiring state handouts.
There was a piece on Radio 4's Today programme yesterday on the policy and word (listen for another week here) or, if you prefer to read something, this Telegraph article goes into a fairly detailed explanation.
There is a growing trend for the coining of words beginning with the prefix pre-. See this old post of mine, and also this one on 'pre-loved', and this one on 'pre-overdue'.
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