Income Inequality in Capitalist Democracies

Income Inequality in Capitalist Democracies PDF Author: Vicki L. Birchfield
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 0271047461
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
"Examines patterns of income inequality among 16 advanced democracies from the mid 1970s to the early 2000s and explains why some societies have a large and growing divide between the rich and the poor while others, facing similar global economic pressures, maintain more egalitarian income distributions"--Provided by publisher.

Income Inequality in Capitalist Democracies

Income Inequality in Capitalist Democracies PDF Author: Vicki L. Birchfield
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 0271047461
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
"Examines patterns of income inequality among 16 advanced democracies from the mid 1970s to the early 2000s and explains why some societies have a large and growing divide between the rich and the poor while others, facing similar global economic pressures, maintain more egalitarian income distributions"--Provided by publisher.

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.

Capitalism, Alone

Capitalism, Alone PDF Author: Branko Milanovic
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674260309
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.

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.

Democracy and Prosperity

Democracy and Prosperity PDF Author: Torben Iversen
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691210217
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 359

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Book Description
It is a widespread view that democracy and the advanced nation-state are in crisis, weakened by globalization and undermined by global capitalism, in turn explaining rising inequality and mounting populism. This book, written by two of the world's leading political economists, argues this view is wrong: advanced democracies are resilient, and their enduring historical relationship with capitalism has been mutually beneficial. For all the chaos and upheaval over the past century--major wars, economic crises, massive social change, and technological revolutions--Torben Iversen and David Soskice show how democratic states continuously reinvent their economies through massive public investment in research and education, by imposing competitive product markets and cooperation in the workplace, and by securing macroeconomic discipline as the preconditions for innovation and the promotion of the advanced sectors of the economy. Critically, this investment has generated vast numbers of well-paying jobs for the middle classes and their children, focusing the aims of aspirational families, and in turn providing electoral support for parties. Gains at the top have also been shared with the middle (though not the bottom) through a large welfare state. Contrary to the prevailing wisdom on globalization, advanced capitalism is neither footloose nor unconstrained: it thrives under democracy precisely because it cannot subvert it. Populism, inequality, and poverty are indeed great scourges of our time, but these are failures of democracy and must be solved by democracy.

Crisis and Inequality

Crisis and Inequality PDF Author: Mattias Vermeiren
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1509537708
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 326

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Book Description
Spiralling inequality since the 1970s and the global financial crisis of 2008 have been the two most important challenges to democratic capitalism since the Great Depression. To understand the political economy of contemporary Europe and America we must, therefore, put inequality and crisis at the heart of the picture. In this innovative new textbook Mattias Vermeiren does just this, demonstrating that both the global financial crisis and the European sovereign debt crisis resulted from a mutually reinforcing but ultimately unsustainable relationship between countries with debt-led and export-led growth models, models fundamentally shaped by soaring income and wealth inequality. He traces the emergence of these two growth models by giving a comprehensive overview, deeply informed by the comparative and international political economy literature, of recent developments in the four key domains that have shaped the dynamics of crisis and inequality: macroeconomic policy, social policy, corporate governance and financial policy. He goes on to assess the prospects for the emergence of a more egalitarian and sustainable form of democratic capitalism. This fresh and insightful overview of contemporary Western capitalism will be essential reading for all students and scholars of international and comparative political economy.

Inequality and Democratization

Inequality and Democratization PDF Author: Ben W. Ansell
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1316123286
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 255

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Book Description
Research on the economic origins of democracy and dictatorship has shifted away from the impact of growth and turned toward the question of how different patterns of growth - equal or unequal - shape regime change. This book offers a new theory of the historical relationship between economic modernization and the emergence of democracy on a global scale, focusing on the effects of land and income inequality. Contrary to most mainstream arguments, Ben W. Ansell and David J. Samuels suggest that democracy is more likely to emerge when rising, yet politically disenfranchised, groups demand more influence because they have more to lose, rather than when threats of redistribution to elite interests are low.

Causes and Consequences of Income Inequality

Causes and Consequences of Income Inequality PDF Author: Ms.Era Dabla-Norris
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1513547437
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 39

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Book Description
This paper analyzes the extent of income inequality from a global perspective, its drivers, and what to do about it. The drivers of inequality vary widely amongst countries, with some common drivers being the skill premium associated with technical change and globalization, weakening protection for labor, and lack of financial inclusion in developing countries. We find that increasing the income share of the poor and the middle class actually increases growth while a rising income share of the top 20 percent results in lower growth—that is, when the rich get richer, benefits do not trickle down. This suggests that policies need to be country specific but should focus on raising the income share of the poor, and ensuring there is no hollowing out of the middle class. To tackle inequality, financial inclusion is imperative in emerging and developing countries while in advanced economies, policies should focus on raising human capital and skills and making tax systems more progressive.

Capitalism, Democracy, and Welfare

Capitalism, Democracy, and Welfare PDF Author: Torben Iversen
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 052184861X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 337

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Book Description
The rise of nontraded services undermines this specialization and increases demands for more flexible labor markets."--BOOK JACKET.

Possessive Individualism

Possessive Individualism PDF Author: Daniel W. Bromley
Publisher:
ISBN: 0190062843
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 309

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Book Description
Daniel Bromley offers a fundamental critique of contemporary capitalism to explain why the world now finds itself in widespread disorder. The basic flaw, he argues, is the triumph of a culture of possessive individualism. As a result, capitalism is no longer an engine of improved livelihoods and social hope. Bromley explains that escape from this disorder requires that the private firm be reimagined as a public trust whose purpose is to offer plausible livelihoods as it also serves our acquisitive wants. However, the possessive individual also bears urgent responsibilities. We must renew the idea of loyalty to others-whether neighbors, fellow workers, or society at large.