Explaining Inequality

Inequalities in incomes and wealth have increased in advanced countries, making our economies less dynamic, our societies more unjust and our political processes less democratic. As a result, reducing inequalities is now a major economic, social and political challenge. This book provides a concise yet comprehensive overview of the economics of inequality. Until recently economic inequality has been the object of limited research efforts, attracting only modest attention in the political arena; despite important advances in the knowledge of its dimensions, a convincing understanding of the mechanisms at its roots is still lacking. This book summarizes the topic and provides an interpretation of the mechanisms responsible for increased disparities. Building on this analysis the book argues for an integrated set of policies addressing the roots of inequalities in incomes and wealth Explaining Inequality will be of interest to students, researchers and practitioners concerned with inequality, economic and public policy and political economy.

The contributions in this book highlight, contextualize and analyze different aspects of social inequality. What are the various cause and effects of inequality? How have these changed over recent decades? Which social policies might be best able to intervene? Written by authors from a variety of disciplines and geographical regions, these contributions provide a rich account of inequality within contemporary society. The role of the state, the media and the market in exacerbating and alleviating patterns of equality are all accessed alongside analysis of changing patterns of exclusion and hierarchy.

Using income surveys and various political-economic data, this book shows that income inequality is fundamental to the dynamics of US politics.

Forbes reports that the richest 1 percent of the world’s population owns nearly half the world’s wealth, and the gap between the richest and poorest of the world only continues to increase. Deep Inequality looks behind these stark statistics to understand not only wealth inequality but also rising disparities in other elements of life—from education to the media. The authors argue that inequality has become so pervasive that it is the new normal. When we do recognize troubling inequality, we look at individual or small-scale problems without understanding the broader structural issues that shape the economy, the global political system, and more. Only by understanding the structural forces at play can we recognize the deep divisions in our society and work for meaningful change. Deep Inequality explains the changing landscape of inequality to help readers see society in a new way.

Inequalities in incomes and wealth have increased in advanced countries, making our economies less dynamic, our societies more unjust and our political processes less democratic. As a result, reducing inequalities is now a major economic, social and political challenge. This book provides a concise yet comprehensive overview of the economics of inequality. Until recently economic inequality has been the object of limited research efforts, attracting only modest attention in the political arena; despite important advances in the knowledge of its dimensions, a convincing understanding of the mechanisms at its roots is still lacking. This book summarizes the topic and provides an interpretation of the mechanisms responsible for increased disparities. Building on this analysis the book argues for an integrated set of policies addressing the roots of inequalities in incomes and wealth Explaining Inequality will be of interest to students, researchers and practitioners concerned with inequality, economic and public policy and political economy.

This book discusses the origins of wealth inequality and explains how societies can reform to avoid the catastrophe of inequality-induced social breakdown. It develops a theoretical and practical understanding of the principles behind the concept of ownership and property, complete with historical examples. It proposes a new research perspective focusing on how the problem of wealth concentration is ameliorated by cooperative and collaborative initiatives to enhance the public sphere, without derogating from the private. The book is based on research data compiled from taxation and household data to explore the theme that wealth inequality is made inevitable by possessive behaviour expressed in possessive language. It shows that while inequality is inescapable, we can adopt policies where resources are more efficiently and broadly distributed for public benefit. Such policies are directed towards encouraging voluntary, as opposed to compulsory, wealth transfer to achieve public good. The primary market for the book consists of academics and students from the fields of economics, including growth and developmental economics, law, sociology, history, business and international trade. It also provides a practical resource for government policy analysts wanting to develop a more detailed understanding of the role played by wealth inequality in a range of social problems.

During the last 25 years, life expectancy at age 50 in the United States has been rising, but at a slower pace than in many other high-income countries, such as Japan and Australia. This difference is particularly notable given that the United States spends more on health care than any other nation. Concerned about this divergence, the National Institute on Aging asked the National Research Council to examine evidence on its possible causes. According to Explaining Divergent Levels of Longevity in High-Income Countries, the nation's history of heavy smoking is a major reason why lifespans in the United States fall short of those in many other high-income nations. Evidence suggests that current obesity levels play a substantial part as well. The book reports that lack of universal access to health care in the U.S. also has increased mortality and reduced life expectancy, though this is a less significant factor for those over age 65 because of Medicare access. For the main causes of death at older ages -- cancer and cardiovascular disease -- available indicators do not suggest that the U.S. health care system is failing to prevent deaths that would be averted elsewhere. In fact, cancer detection and survival appear to be better in the U.S. than in most other high-income nations, and survival rates following a heart attack also are favorable. Explaining Divergent Levels of Longevity in High-Income Countries identifies many gaps in research. For instance, while lung cancer deaths are a reliable marker of the damage from smoking, no clear-cut marker exists for obesity, physical inactivity, social integration, or other risks considered in this book. Moreover, evaluation of these risk factors is based on observational studies, which -- unlike randomized controlled trials -- are subject to many biases.

As the age of globalization and New Media unite disparate groups of people in new ways, the continual transformation and interconnections between ethnicity, class, and gender become increasingly complex. This reader, comprised of a diverse array of sources ranging from the New York Times to the journals of leading research universities, explores these issues as systems of stratification that work to reinforce one another. Understanding Inequality provides students and academics with the basic hermeneutics for considering new thought on ethnicity, class, and gender in the 21st century.