Income Inequality in Capitalist Democracies

Income Inequality in Capitalist Democracies PDF Author: Vicki L. Birchfield
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 0271036095
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 255

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Book Description
There has been much concern about rising levels of income inequality in the societies of advanced industrial democracies. Commentators have attributed this increase to the impact of globalization, the decline of the welfare state, or the erosion of the power of labor unions and their allies among left-wing political parties. But little attention has been paid to variations among these countries in the degree of inequality. This is the subject that Vicki Birchfield tackles in this ambitious book. Differences in political institutions have been seen by political scientists as one likely explanation, but Birchfield shows institutional variation to be only one part of the story. Deploying an original conceptualization of political economy as applied democratic theory, she makes the compelling case that cultural values—particularly citizens' attitudes about social justice and about the proper roles of the market and the state—need to be factored into any account that will provide an adequate explanation for the observable patterns. To support her argument, she brings to bear both multivariate statistical analyses and historical comparative case studies, making this book a model for how quantitative and qualitative research can be effectively combined to produce more complete explanations of political and socioeconomic phenomena.

Income Inequality in Capitalist Democracies

Income Inequality in Capitalist Democracies PDF Author: Vicki L. Birchfield
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 0271036095
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 255

Get Book

Book Description
There has been much concern about rising levels of income inequality in the societies of advanced industrial democracies. Commentators have attributed this increase to the impact of globalization, the decline of the welfare state, or the erosion of the power of labor unions and their allies among left-wing political parties. But little attention has been paid to variations among these countries in the degree of inequality. This is the subject that Vicki Birchfield tackles in this ambitious book. Differences in political institutions have been seen by political scientists as one likely explanation, but Birchfield shows institutional variation to be only one part of the story. Deploying an original conceptualization of political economy as applied democratic theory, she makes the compelling case that cultural values—particularly citizens' attitudes about social justice and about the proper roles of the market and the state—need to be factored into any account that will provide an adequate explanation for the observable patterns. To support her argument, she brings to bear both multivariate statistical analyses and historical comparative case studies, making this book a model for how quantitative and qualitative research can be effectively combined to produce more complete explanations of political and socioeconomic phenomena.

Democratic Capitalism at the Crossroads

Democratic Capitalism at the Crossroads PDF Author: Carles Boix
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691216894
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 269

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Book Description
An incisive history of the changing relationship between democracy and capitalism The twentieth century witnessed the triumph of democratic capitalism in the industrialized West, with widespread popular support for both free markets and representative elections. Today, that political consensus appears to be breaking down, disrupted by polarization and income inequality, widespread dissatisfaction with democratic institutions, and insurgent populism. Tracing the history of democratic capitalism over the past two centuries, Carles Boix explains how we got here—and where we could be headed. Boix looks at three defining stages of capitalism, each originating in a distinct time and place with its unique political challenges, structure of production and employment, and relationship with democracy. He begins in nineteenth-century Manchester, where factory owners employed unskilled laborers at low wages, generating rampant inequality and a restrictive electoral franchise. He then moves to Detroit in the early 1900s, where the invention of the modern assembly line shifted labor demand to skilled blue-collar workers. Boix shows how growing wages, declining inequality, and an expanding middle class enabled democratic capitalism to flourish. Today, however, the information revolution that began in Silicon Valley in the 1970s is benefitting the highly educated at the expense of the traditional working class, jobs are going offshore, and inequality has risen sharply, making many wonder whether democracy and capitalism are still compatible. Essential reading for these uncertain times, Democratic Capitalism at the Crossroads proposes sensible policy solutions that can help harness the unruly forces of capitalism to preserve democracy and meet the challenges that lie ahead.

Capitalisms and Democracies

Capitalisms and Democracies PDF Author: Carlo Trigilia
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000788903
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 373

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Book Description
This book examines steadily-growing increases in inequality within Western capitalist democracies, examining with care the differences between these democracies rooted in their culture and institutions. It highlights the differences in growth and inequalities between different countries, pointing to the role of endogenous institutions that affect social inequalities as well as the relationship between redistribution and economic growth. The book presents extensive comparative research on institutional factors such as industrial relations, welfare systems, training and innovation policies. Paying attention to diverse types of democracies and to the main features of left-wing parties, the book highlights the importance of politics, and of different types of democracies, in shaping social inequalities and diverse development paths. It will appeal to students and scholars interested in economic and labour sociology, welfare studies, comparative political economy, comparative welfare, varieties of capitalism, and comparative politics. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution- Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

Capitalism, Alone

Capitalism, Alone PDF Author: Branko Milanovic
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674987594
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
For the first time in history, the globe is dominated by one economic system. Capitalism prevails because it delivers prosperity and meets desires for autonomy. But it also is unstable and morally defective. Surveying the varieties and futures of capitalism, Branko Milanovic offers creative solutions to improve a system that isn’t going anywhere.

The Politics of Inequality

The Politics of Inequality PDF Author: Michael Thompson
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231140754
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
Since the early days of the American republic, political thinkers have maintained that a grossly unequal division of property, wealth, and power would lead to the erosion of democratic life. Yet over the past thirty-five years, neoconservatives and neoliberals alike have redrawn the tenets of American liberalism. Nowhere is this more evident than in our current mainstream political discourse, in which the politics of economic inequality are rarely discussed. In this impassioned book, Michael J. Thompson reaches back into America's rich intellectual history to reclaim the politics of inequality from the distortion of recent American conservatism. He begins by tracing the development of the idea of economic inequality as it has been conceived by political thinkers throughout American history. Then he considers the change in ideas and values that have led to the acceptance and occasional legitimization of economic divisions. Thompson argues that American liberalism has made a profound departure from its original practice of egalitarian critique. It has all but abandoned its antihierarchical and antiaristocratic discourse. Only by resuscitating this tradition can democracy again become meaningful to Americans. The intellectuals who pioneered egalitarian thinking in America believed political and social relations should be free from all forms of domination, servitude, and dependency. They wished to expose the antidemocratic character of economic life under capitalism and hoped to prevent the kind of inequalities that compromise human dignity and freedom-the core principles of early American politics. In their wisdom is a much broader, more compelling view of democratic life and community than we have today, and with this book, Thompson eloquently and adamantly fights to recover this crucial strand of political thought. In this impassioned book, Michael J. Thompson reaches back into America's rich intellectual history to reclaim the politics of inequality from the distortion of recent American conservatism. He begins by tracing the development of the idea of economic inequality as it has been conceived by political thinkers throughout American history. Then he considers the change in ideas and values that have led to the acceptance and occasional legitimization of economic divisions. Thompson argues that American liberalism has made a profound departure from its original practice of egalitarian critique; it has all but abandoned its antihierarchical and antiaristocratic discourse. Only by resuscitating this tradition can democracy again become meaningful to Americans. The intellectuals who pioneered egalitarian thinking in America believed political and social relations should be free from all forms of domination, servitude, and dependency. They wished to expose the antidemocratic character of economic life under capitalism and hoped to prevent the kind of inequalities that compromise human dignity and freedom--the core principles of early American politics. In their wisdom is a much broader, more compelling view of democratic life and community than we have today, and with this book, Thompson eloquently and adamantly fights to recover this crucial strand of political thought.

Inequality and the Labyrinths of Democracy

Inequality and the Labyrinths of Democracy PDF Author: G÷ran Therborn
Publisher: Verso Books
ISBN: 1788739019
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 209

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Book Description
A global panorama of the historical development and contemporary malaise of liberal democracy, from a renowned social theorist. Barely a century has passed since liberal democracy became established in the majority of advanced capitalist economies. Elsewhere, it is of even more recent vintage. Classical liberalism held universal suffrage a mortal threat to property. So why did it nevertheless come to pass, and how stable today is the marriage between representative government and the continued rule of capital? People on all continents consider inequality a "very big problem". The Davos Economic Forum and the OECD say they are worried. But capitalist democracies don't respond. How has democracy been transformed from a popular demand for social justice to a professional power game? These questions are raised, and answered, in Inequality and the Labyrinths of Democracy. Together with an essay on the current situation, it includes a compact global history of 'The Right to Vote and the Four World Routes to/through Modernity' and two landmark essays from New Left Review, 'The Rule of Capital and the Rise of Democracy' and 'The Travail of Latin American Democracy', collected here in book form for the first time.

Twenty-First Century Inequality & Capitalism: Piketty, Marx and Beyond

Twenty-First Century Inequality & Capitalism: Piketty, Marx and Beyond PDF Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004357041
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 412

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Book Description
Twenty-First Century Inequality & Capitalism: Piketty, Marx and Beyond is a collection of critical essays on the economist’s iconic 2014 book, from the perspective of critical theory, global political economy or public sociology, mostly drawn from the Marxist tradition.

Economy, Society and Public Policy

Economy, Society and Public Policy PDF Author: The Core Team
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 9780198849841
Category : Economic policy
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Economy, Society, and Public Policy is a new way to learn economics. It is designed specifically for students studying social sciences, public policy, business studies, engineering and other disciplines who want to understand how the economy works and how it can be made to work better. Topical policy problems are used to motivate learning of key concepts and methods of economics. It engages, challenges and empowers students, and will provide them with the tools to articulate reasoned views on pressing policy problems. This project is the result of a worldwide collaboration between researchers, educators, and students who are committed to bringing the socially relevant insights of economics to a broader audience.KEY FEATURESESPP does not teach microeconomics as a body of knowledge separate from macroeconomicsStudents begin their study of economics by understanding that the economy is situated within society and the biosphereStudents study problems of identifying causation, not just correlation, through the use of natural experiments, lab experiments, and other quantitative methodsSocial interactions, modelled using simple game theory, and incomplete information, modelled using a series of principal-agent problems, are introduced from the beginning. As a result, phenomena studied by the other social sciences such as social norms and the exercise of power play a roleThe insights of diverse schools of thought, from Marx and the classical economists to Hayek and Schumpeter, play an integral part in the bookThe way economists think about public policy is central to ESPP. This is introduced in Units 2 and 3, rather than later in the course.

Wealth and Justice

Wealth and Justice PDF Author: Peter Wehner
Publisher: Government Institutes
ISBN: 084474378X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 91

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Book Description
Popular opinion would have us believe that America's free market system is driven by greed and materialism, resulting in gross inequalities of wealth, destruction of the environment, and other social ills. Even proponents of capitalism often refer to the free market as simply a 'lesser evil' whose faults are preferable to those of social democracy or communism. But what if the conventional understanding of capitalism as corrupt and unprincipled is wrong? What if the free market economy actually reinforces Christian values? In Wealth and Justice: The Morality of Democratic Capitalism, Arthur C. Brooks and Peter Wehner explore how America's system of democratic capitalism both depends upon and cultivates an intricate social web of families, churches, and communities. Far from oppressing and depriving individuals, the free market system uniquely enables Americans to exercise vocation and experience the dignity of self-sufficiency, all while contributing to the common good. The fruits of this system include the alleviation of poverty, better health, and greater access to education than at any other time in human history-but also a more significant prosperity: the flourishing of the human soul.

Saving Capitalism

Saving Capitalism PDF Author: Robert B. Reich
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0345806220
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
Now a Netflix Original Documentary America was once celebrated for and defined by its large and prosperous middle class. Now, this middle class is shrinking, a new oligarchy is rising, and the country faces its greatest wealth disparity in eighty years. Why is the economic system that made America strong suddenly failing us, and how can it be fixed? Leading political economist and bestselling author Robert B. Reich presents a paradigm-shifting, clear-eyed examination of a political and economic status quo that no longer serves the people, exposing one of the most pernicious obstructions to progress today: the enduring myth of the “free market” when, behind the curtain, it is the powerful alliances between Washington and Wall Street that control the invisible hand. Laying to rest the specious dichotomy between a free market and “big government,” Reich shows that the truly critical choice ahead is between a market organized for broad-based prosperity and one designed to deliver ever more gains to the top. Visionary and acute, Saving Capitalism illuminates the path toward restoring America’s fundamental promise of opportunity and advancement.