Human capital is critical for job and earnings prospects and therefore important both for the level and distribution of income. Accordingly educational policies matter for the trade-off between efficiency and equity. The argument for public intervention in human capital formation and the role it may play for reaching distributional objectives are reviewed. Such predistribution policies are compared to traditional redistribution policies running via transfers and taxes, focusing on both short- and long-run effects. The role of these policies is discussed with reference to the Nordic welfare model and its ability to reconcile a high-income level with a relatively equal distribution of income.