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Who Gains From Free Trade: Export-Led Growth, Inequality and Poverty in Latin America (Routledge Studies in Development Economics)
Vos & Ganuza
Manufacturer: Routledge
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ASIN: 0415770440 |
Book Description
Since the late 1980s, almost all Latin American countries have gone through a process of far-reaching economic reforms, featuring in particular trade, financial and capital account liberalization. At first the reforms seemed to be working as promised and trade expanded. However, at the turn of the century, the economies have shown unstable and rather dismal growth. Some argue trade liberalization is partly to be blamed for this.
Who Gains from Free Trade examines the extent to which trade reforms have been an important source of the slowdown of economic growth, rising inequality and rising poverty as observed in many parts of the region. This volume presents an comprehensive analysis of this important topic, utilizing research based on 16 country narratives of policy reform and economic performance; rigorous general equilibrium (CGE) modelling of the economy-wide effects of trade reform for all country cases; alongside application of an innovative method of microsimulations to assess the employment and factor income distribution impact of policy reforms on poverty and inequality at the household level.
The study finds that trade liberalization and the switch to export-led growth are not the cause of the growth slowdown in Latin America. Nor are they the cause of rising poverty and inequality. If anything, the impact on growth and poverty in general has been positive, but very small. Thus, further trade opening is neither the solution to the region's economic woes, nor should we expect any disastrous implications for aggregate poverty.
Book Description
What are the relative merits of the American and European socioeconomic systems? Longstanding debates have heated up in recent years with the expansion of the European Union and increasingly sharp political and cultural differences between the United States and Europe. In Inequality and Prosperity, Jonas Pontusson provides a comparative overview of the two major models of labor markets and welfare systems in the advanced industrial world: the "liberal capitalist" system of the United States and Britain, and the "social market" capitalism of northern Europe. These two models balance concerns of efficiency and equity in fundamentally different ways. In the 1990s the much-heralded forces of globalization (together with demographic changes and attendant political pressures) seemed to threaten the very existence of the social-market economies of Europe. Were the social compacts of Sweden and Germany outmoded? Would varieties of capitalism remain possible, or were labor-market and social-welfare arrangements converging on the U.S. norm?
Pontusson opposes the notion of inevitable convergence: he believes that social-market economies can survive and indeed flourish in the contemporary world economy. He bases his argument on an enormous amount of highly specialized research on eighteen countries, using national-level data for the last thirty years. Among the areas he explores are labor-market dynamics, income distribution, employment performance, wage bargaining, firm-level performance, and the changing possibilities for the welfare state.
Book Description
Over the past three decades, racial prejudice in America has declined significantly and many African American families have seen a steady rise in employment and annual income. But alongside these encouraging signs, Thomas Shapiro argues in The Hidden Cost of Being African American, fundamental levels of racial inequality persist, particularly in the area of asset accumulation--inheritance, savings accounts, stocks, bonds, home equity, and other investments-. Shapiro reveals how the lack of these family assets along with continuing racial discrimination in crucial areas like homeownership dramatically impact the everyday lives of many black families, reversing gains earned in schools and on jobs, and perpetuating the cycle of poverty in which far too many find themselves trapped. Shapiro uses a combination of in-depth interviews with almost 200 families from Los Angeles, Boston, and St. Louis, and national survey data with 10,000 families to show how racial inequality is transmitted across generations. We see how those families with private wealth are able to move up from generation to generation, relocating to safer communities with better schools and passing along the accompanying advantages to their children. At the same time those without significant wealth remain trapped in communities that don't allow them to move up, no matter how hard they work. Shapiro challenges white middle class families to consider how the privileges that wealth brings not only improve their own chances but also hold back people who don't have them. This "wealthfare" is a legacy of inequality that, if unchanged, will project social injustice far into the future. Showing that over half of black families fall below the asset poverty line at the beginning of the new century, The Hidden Cost of Being African American will challenge all Americans to reconsider what must be done to end racial inequality.
Customer Reviews:
Every American needs to read this book!.......2007-03-10
I agree with Mr. Shapiro. He took my understanding of how tax policy and wealth transfers have widened the gap to a new level. His arguments are highly persuasive. However, I have an alternative view of why the value of homes in AA communities do not appreciate as fast. There is validity to his view but I believe another reason is because of the way AA's maintain their communities and not because they are segregated. I grew-up in an all black neighborhood but my father cut our grass; we didn't have broken down cars in the drive way, or couches on the front porch. Everyone worked together and we were proud of our homes. The way I see it, I don't care if the neighborhood is black, white, hispanic, or asian, if the people do not keep that community clean and well-maintained, the property values will stagnate or decline, inevitably. So let's not go too far to one side and say that "Because neighborhoods are racially segregated, African Americans' homes do not grow in value as fast as whites' homes do." There are other factors at play as well.
Wealth: The Bedrock of Racial Inequality.......2006-12-08
The typical minority household in the United States now owns less than one-tenth the wealth of a typical white household. Even worse, this gap is actually growing, an increase that's confounding America's mainstream public policy analysts.
These analysts treat racial inequality as purely a function of unequal access to jobs, skills, and education. The more access, the less inequality.
That certainly sounds reasonable. But if this analysis were correct, then racial inequalities ought to be narrowing, since Americans of color today have far more access to jobs, skills, and education than they did just a generation ago.
So why is racial inequality, as measured by net worth, expanding? Thomas Shapiro has an answer in his insightful new Hidden Cost of Being African American. Racial inequalities are widening, he argues, because Americans continue to ignore our nation's incredibly unequal distribution of wealth.
That maldistribution, Shapiro contends, has essentially trumped the expanded access to jobs, skills, and education won through years of civil rights struggles.
Consider two young people. Both study hard in high school. Both go on to attend college. One has parents with enough wealth to foot the bill for college tuition. The other graduates with thousands of dollars in student loan debt.
These two young people get hired by the same company. Both make the same income, and both look to buy their first home at the same time. But only one has parents who can help with the downpayment. The other, still burdened with student debts, gets dirty looks from lenders -- and ends up with a mortgage at a higher monthly rate.
Our lucky young person, buoyed by abundant parental help, can afford to buy a home in a nice neighborhood with good schools. Our unlucky young person can only afford a home in a considerably less desirable neighborhood.
Fifteen years later, the home in the nice neighborhood has appreciated nicely. The other home has not. Our two now-no-longer-young people still make the same income. But they are not equally wealthy. Only one lives in financial security. One is white, the other black.
How can we begin to turn this dynamic around? Shapiro sees "no means of seriously moving toward racial equality without positive asset policies to address the racial wealth gap." And Shapiro also emphasizes the importance of leveling down privilege at the top of America's economic ladder.
"What is really at stake," he writes, "is the power of very wealthy individuals to assure succeeding generations economic success and material comfort through unearned advantages, regardless of any achievements or contributions they may make."
[Excerpted from a review that appeared in Too Much, the online weekly newsletter.]
The Hidden Cost of Being African American: How Wealth perpetuates Inequality.......2006-11-15
Finally, a book that acknowledges the historical inequalities of any people, in this instance, African Americans. Thomas M. Shapiro gives a very well written and researched treatise of how historical disadvantages perpetuates inequality today for the people who were held back the longest in the United States.
This is a must read for people who really care about humanity and the diminishing middle class in this country. I hope this book is not seen as some mere racial rant, but rather as a substative tool for remediating some of the ills of our common past.
Must read for first time black home owners!!.......2006-11-03
Mr Shapiro taught me why a white man and a black man with the same degree,same college, job position and income will pay a different price for the same house.(The white man pays less).
He reviews school districts and how they effect the price of a house.
Real Estate is driven by school taxes. Now I know why the Freshmen at Harvard came from homes where the average house was very expensive.
I learned so much about INHERETED wealth that some whites but few blacks enjoy.
Darrell Pone,MD
New York
great book .......2006-03-16
I really learned why real estate in communities of color so often is worth less money than when the exact same housing or real estate is available in white communities. What a terrible price people of color pay for our nation's social cancer of racism. Our collective racism cloaks our underlying issues of pretending there is no classism in the USA. I appreciate Dr. Shapiro's honest assessment of the situation and his clarity in analyzing the actual numbers and statistics underneath the money and educational disparities that can keep some African American families from achieving the wealth levels they would otherwise easily be able to enjoy. Great reading and a fair minded resource for all Americans of any heritage.
Book Description
Revised following the 2004 presidential election, a graphic portrait of the growing gap between the rich and everyone else in America.
• In 1968, African Americans earned 55 cents for every dollar of white income. At the current pace, it would take 581 years for African Americans to achieve income parity.
• States including Alabama, Tennessee, and Virginia tax food and basic needs at a higher rate than income from investments.
• Welfare for very low income people totaled $193 billion in 2004. Aid to "dependent corporations" exceeded $800 billion.
This updated edition of the widely touted Economic Apartheid in America looks at the causes and manifestations of wealth disparities in the United States, including tax policy in light of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts and recent corporate scandals.
Published with two leading organizations dedicated to addressing economic inequality, the book looks at recent changes in income and wealth distribution and examines the economic policies and shifts in power that have fueled the growing divide.
Praised by Sojurners as "a clear blueprint on how to combat growing inequality," Economic Apartheid in America provides "much-needed groundwork for more democratic discussion and participation in economic life" (Tikkun). With "a wealth of eye-opening data" (The Beacon) focusing on the decline of organized labor and civic institutions, the battle over global trade, and the growing inequality of income and wages, it argues that most Americans are shut out of the discussion of the rules governing their economic lives.
Accessible and engaging and illustrated throughout with charts, graphs, and political cartoons, the book lays out a comprehensive plan for action. Charts, graphs, and black-and-white illustrations throughout.
Customer Reviews:
More of a primer.......2007-07-11
This book isn't bad. But the content makes it difficult to be entertaining. I would compare it to a college freshmen economic textbook. But it's not just boring text. There are interesting graphs and charts. And even some lame cartoons. But it's done very well and has some excellent commentary. It's almost entertaining. But again, it's tough to sit down and actually read content about labor unions and minimum wage and stay excited. But as far as the books that I've seen or read that paint a big picture of our economy and it's current state . . . this is the best.
Informative, important, and easy to read.......2007-04-17
Co-authors Chuck Collins and Felice Yeskel discuss the widening gap between America's rich and poor, and why it's in our interest to pay attention.
With clarity and conviction, Economic Apartheid In America details the reasons for this country's increasing disparity between the wealthiest and everyone else. It begins with a discussion of the societal risks economic inequality poses, including a decrease in family security, threats to our democratic institutions, and the decay of social cohesion. The book indicates that families in all but the highest earning brackets face declining real incomes, increasing personal debt, a virtual disappearance in both retirement and personal savings, and unavailable or unaffordable health care coverage. In addition, education and child care costs are on the rise and the federal minimum wage is so outdated it can no longer realistically keep a family of four above the poverty line.
The authors explain how high concentrations of wealth place excessive power in the hands of too few, primarily through political influence and corporate disenfranchisement of workers. This has resulted in an uneven playing field on which the wealthiest individuals and corporations enjoy higher income, numerous tax breaks, and greater returns on investment, while the poorest are expected to bear higher living costs, declining income, and an ever-increasing tax burden. The book also discusses the persistent disparities in earning power for minorities and women.
Collins and Yeskel point out that it wasn't always this way. In the post World War II era families in every income bracket enjoyed comparably sized increases in earnings, allowing a more even distribution of wealth and, with the notable exceptions of women and minorities, a greater level of overall prosperity. Now, in the post-Reagan era of globalization and the proliferation of "free-market capitalism," corporations have compromised wage-earner security through downsizing, outsourcing, and excessive executive compensation.
The book admonishes readers to effect change through the use of grassroots organizing efforts, the support of political leaders who favor limits on corporate welfare and an increase in the minimum wage, the reinvigoration of unionized labor, and the creation/adaptation of government social services that support working families. In addition, several strategies, from socially responsible investing to publicly funded elections, are offered as methods to close the economic divide.
Other notable topics discussed in the book include the Federal Reserve's over-aversion to inflation, the abuse of commonwealth resources, a cultural shift towards greed and consumerism, and the perpetuation of class divide via intergenerational retention of wealth. While at times the book suffers from a tone of activist desperation, overall it offers an informed summation and practical solutions for a critical issue facing society.
Book Description
The economic boom of the 1990s created huge wealth for the bosses, but benefited workers hardly at all. At the same time, the bosses were able to take the political initiative and even the moral high ground, while workers were often divided against each other. This new book by leading labor analyst Michael D. Yates seeks to explain how this happened, and what can be done about it.
Essential to both tasks is "naming the system"
the system that ensures that those who do the work do not benefit from the wealth they produce. Yates draws on recent data to show that the growing inequality
globally, and within the United States
is a necessary consequence of capitalism, and not an unfortunate side-effect that can be remedied by technical measures. To defend working people against ongoing attacks
on their working conditions, their living standards, and their future and that of their children
and to challenge inequality, it is necessary to understand capitalism as a system and for labor to challenge the political dominance of capitalist interests.
Naming the System examines contemporary trends in employment and unemployment, in hours of work, and in the nature of jobs. It shows how working life is being reconfigured today, and how the effects of this are masked by mainstream economic theories. It uses numerous concrete examples to relate larger theoretical issues to everyday experience of the present-day economy. And it sets out the strategic options for organized labor in the current political context, in which the U.S.-led war on terrorism threatens to eclipse the anti-globalization movement.
Customer Reviews:
The "No Logo" of anti-capitalism.......2006-05-08
Yates' book "Naming the System" is a valiant attempt to explain the failures, contradictions and problems of modern globalized capitalism in terms understandable to every layman. By and large, he has succeeded, though there are some flaws.
His strongest point is reconciling the arguments against the orthodox neoclassical theory of "more free markets = better" with the 'facts on the ground', in the form of valuable statistics and examples from practical experience. He enthousiastically destroys the reformist view of capitalism as followed by many social-democrats and current-day labor union leaders just as much as the libertarian approach. In addition to that, he gives a worthwhile overview of the Marxist interpretation of capitalism and why it is better able to explain certain commonplace phenomena in firm practice than the neoclassicals. Finally, he gives a non-too-critical overview of the great variety of leftist anti-capitalist movements in the world today and some general perspectives on their success, though all this is very vague.
The books great benefits are the easy to understand ways in which he shows the workings of capitalism in the many kinds of injustice felt by (young) leftist-inclined people, giving them a more solid ground for their critiques. However, this accessible approach is also the big downside to Yates' work: "Naming the System" is not in-depth at all, its wording is a little simplistic and childish sometimes, and it is virtually useless to those who already have a basic Marxist understanding of the capitalist world. Nevertheless, the book is worth four stars for its excellent utility as an education book on the Marxist approach for young people (high school and students), much like Naomi Klein's book was for the anti-branding movement.
An accessible and serious economic presentation.......2003-10-19
Leading labor analyst Michael Yates successfully strives to explain why the economic boom of the 1990s benefitted the wealthiest segment of business and society while doing little for the hard-working masses in Naming The System: Inequality And Work In The Global Economy. Aptly discussing a series of related issues including the inequalities that riddle the economic system of capitalism by its very nature (both within and between nations); unemployment and underemployment; contradictions within capitalism; and means for social change that battle for a better world, Naming The System is an accessible and serious economic presentation which has self-evidently been deftly researched and is skillfully argued. A welcome addition to personal and academic Economics Studies reference collections and reading lists, Naming The System is especially recommended to the attention of anyone wanting to understand the rationale behind the importance of placing limits and regulations to ensure a prosperous future for labor and management alike.
Even economists smoke crack.......2003-09-16
This man lives in a world od distorted reality. Economic equality and poverty is bound to exist reguardless of the mode of production. Capitalism allows democracy, which is the most important issue to me. He talks about Cuba in this book... The have to give up freedom and live in poverty, but their literacy level is the same as our's; which system sounds better? Tjis was a well written book wth ample information, so I probably should have rated it better. However, I hate the message that it sends.
But, some of my best friends are economists.......2003-08-16
I am not an economist, but some of my best friends are. And much of my work as a labor law professor, has involved dealing with ideas couched in economic terms. Even so, there is a lot about economics as it is really practiced, that comes as a surprise. Several years, when the news was full of predictions from leading economists about the effects of a new policy on the economy, I asked a group of economists whether these sorts of predictions were based on studies of effects in the world. The economists told me that these predictions none of these predictions were ever tested. All that was ever done was to create simplified theories about how the economy worked and then use those theories to make predictions. No one ever checked to make certain those theories were valid.
Imagine what healthcare would be like if doctors and scientists operated this way. Actually, we don't have to imagine. This is how life was in the Middle Ages when doctors tried to balance the body's four humors, and everyone knew the sun revolved around the earth. The models got more and more complex as reality did not jibe with theory.
So all of us have our fates determined by economists whose methods are no more up to date than the 16th century. Consider Alan Greenspan, the hero of the Fed. He and his colleagues for years were convinced that the only way to fight inflation - and inflation had to be fought at all costs - was to raise interest rates any time unemployment fell below 5.8%. The effect was that higher interest rates increased unemployment. In the early 1990's, unemployment began to fall below this danger level, but no inflation appeared. Pressure was put on the Fed not to raise interest rates, enough pressure that they held off. Unemployment plunged ever lower with no inflation. Did the economists admit that their theory had to be discarded based on the evidence/ Of course not. They responded that they needed to refine the theory to account for this aberration from the theory, but the theory was still solid.
Michael Yates does a much better job at leading the reader through classic economic theory and exploring the many ways in which those theories stand unproven - and yet they still rule the world. Yates provides a fair and balanced look at the claims of classic economics for economies and for global trade and demonstrates that there is no evidence to support those claims.
There is no question that Michael Yates is passionate and has strong opinions. He does nothing to hide his views and is fair and open with the reader as he presents his arguments against classical economics and his ideas as to what should replace those disproven theories. I won't even try to summarize the. Yates deserves to be read and his arguments digested in full.
Yates is a wonderful writer and educator. He should be. He had a long teaching career at University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, among prisoners, and with unionists. He is clear without ever talking down to his audiences. Over the years he has opened up the world of economics to many of us, and through this book will reach even more. I recommend it strongly.
I am not an economist, but some of my best friends are.......2003-08-11
I am not an economist, but some of my best friends are. And much of my work as a labor law professor, has involved dealing with ideas couched in economic terms. Even so, there is a lot about economics as it is really practiced, that comes as a surprise.
Several years, when the news was full of predictions from leading economists about the effects of a new policy on the economy, I asked a group of economists whether these sorts of predictions were based on studies of effects in the world. The economists told me that these predictions none of these predictions were ever tested. All that was ever done was to create simplified theories about how the economy worked and then use those theories to make predictions. No one ever checked to make certain those theories were valid.
Imagine what healthcare would be like if doctors and scientists operated this way. Actually, we don't have to imagine. This is how life was in the Middle Ages when doctors tried to balance the body's four humors, and everyone knew the sun revolved around the earth. The models got more and more complex as reality did not jibe with theory.
So all of us have our fates determined by economists whose methods are no more up to date than the 16th century. Consider Alan Greenspan, the hero of the Fed. He and his colleagues for years were convinced that the only way to fight inflation - and inflation had to be fought at all costs - was to raise interest rates any time unemployment fell below 5.8%. The effect was that higher interest rates increased unemployment. In the early 1990's, unemployment began to fall below this danger level, but no inflation appeared. Pressure was put on the Fed not to raise interest rates, enough pressure that they held off. Unemployment plunged ever lower with no inflation. Did the economists admit that their theory had to be discarded based on the evidence/ Of course not. They responded that they needed to refine the theory to account for this aberration from the theory, but the theory was still solid.
Michael Yates does a much better job at leading the reader through classic economic theory and exploring the many ways in which those theories stand unproven - and yet they still rule the world. Yates provides a fair and balanced look at the claims of classic economics for economies and for global trade and demonstrates that there is no evidence to support those claims.
There is no question that Michael Yates is passionate and has strong opinions. He does nothing to hide his views and is fair and open with the reader as he presents his arguments against classical economics and his ideas as to what should replace those disproven theories. I won't even try to summarize the. Yates deserves to be read and his arguments digested in full.
Yates is a wonderful writer and educator. He should be. He had a long teaching career at University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, among prisoners, and with unionists. He is clear without ever talking down to his audiences. Over the years he has opened up the world of economics to many of us, and through this book will reach even more. I recommend it strongly.
Book Description
How often do working-class children obtain college degrees and then pursue professional careers? Conversely, how frequently do the children of doctors and lawyers fail to enter high status careers upon completion of their schooling? As inequalities of wealth and income have increased in industrialized nations over the past 30 years, have patterns of between-generation mobility changed?
In this volume, leading sociologists and economists present original findings and conceptual arguments in response to these questions. After assessing the range of mobility patterns observed in recent decades, the volume considers the mechanisms that generate mobility, focusing on both the training and skills that are rewarded in the labor market as well as the role of educational institutions in certifying graduates for professional positions. The volume concludes with chapters that assess the contexts of social mobility, examining the impact of macro-economic conditions and societal levels of inequality on social and economic mobility.
Book Description
The surge of inequality in income and wealth in the United States over the past twenty-five years has reversed the steady progress toward greater equality that had been underway throughout most of the twentieth century. This economic development has defied historical patterns and surprised many economists, producing vigorous debate. Inequality in America: What Role for Human Capital Policies? examines the ways in which human capital policies can address this important problem. Taking it as a given that potentially low-income workers would benefit from more human capital in the form of market skills and education, James Heckman and Alan Krueger discuss which policies would be most effective in providing it: should we devote more resources to the entire public school system, or to specialized programs like Head Start? Would relaxing credit restraints encourage more students to attend college? Does vocational training actually work? What is the best balance of private and public sector programs?
The book preserves the character of the symposium at which the papers were originally presented, recreating its atmosphere of lively debate. It begins with separate arguments by Krueger and Heckman (writing with Pedro Carneiro), which are followed by comments from other economists. Krueger and Heckman and Carneiro then offer separate responses to the comments and final rejoinders.
Customer Reviews:
The essential book in the "human capital" debate.......2005-09-11
This conversation/debate between two of the country's most distinguished economists focuses on one of the central questions in the design of social policy: How should government invest its resources in order to generate the biggest returns to the society? Should it focus mainly on very young children or should it underwrite a broad array of programs, from prenatal care through job training programs?
"Inequality in America" isn't for everyone--the use of statistical analyses and technical language will scare off some readers--but for the policy wonk, broadly construed, this is essential reading. (Even the non-wonk who is willing to do some hard intellectual work can learn a great deal.)The book is structured, not as a "two ships passing in the night" pair of arguments but rather as a series of point-counterpoint discussions; the authors offer no-holds-barred criticisms of one another's arguments, sometimes in acidic language (with commentators adding additional perspectives). This structure adds considerably to its value, for readers are provided with enough evidence and analysis to reach an informed conclusion.
My intellectual preferences generally run to the ethnographic rather than the economic, to contextualized narratives/cases rather than number-crunching, to work more readily accessible to a broader audience. But this is a powerful exception: I learned more from "Inequality in America" than from anything I've read in a long time.
technical, but okay.......2005-09-06
This book will appeal to economists who specialize in human capital policy, but by focusing on methodology is too technical. It was written by economists, which means that the book's main purpose is twofold: 1. vain attempts at the quantification of human and social psychology and 2. cheerleading for conservatism. The solutions are practical, but you get the sense the authors, all instructors at ivy league or very selective institutions, are divorced from reality and actually believe the reduction of complex social problems can be simply solved from an ivory tower.
Not surprisingly, Heckman and Carneiro (HC) advocate vouchers and choice as the solution, again as if just by adding market mechanisms into any social endeavor will magically lead to socially optimal outcomes, in this case equality. HC's first point is that there is a perception that something is wrong with education. They are correct on that point, although it may not be true. Other countries perform better than the U.S. on many assessments because they track students early into vocational and postsecondary settings. In the U.S., we have had to accept lower performance in exchange for access and increased levels choice.
The cause of lower performance, HC suggest, is that teachers have little incentives to produce knowledge. The same, of course, can be said about professors like HC. For instance, if you do a search on google, the Univ. of Chi. website, an academic search engine, or the Univ. of Chi. economics department, you will see no evidence that students in his class have ever learned anything (not that they haven't; there just isn't any evidence). Since Heckman is dealing with a group of highly motivated and academically prepared students, all he is doing is just not messing them up instead of actually contributing to their knowledge. Heckman's students would be much better off in an economics course at what HC call a "lower quality" institution, where instructors have to actually show evidence of learning and where the least academically prepared with the least advantages in life show actual growth in learning.
Indeed, Heckman himself has incentives to not care. He's got tenure, earns six figures, never gets evaluated on what students learn or needs to provide evidence of it. HC's argument is compelling, and all colleges and schools should be held accountable and demonstrate learning outcomes. But I doubt as professors HC would ever be willing to implement the same policies in their programs they advocate in their article (i.e. annual program reviews, annual publicly articulated assessment of learning, etc.). I think I smell a couple of chickenhawks...
Book Description
Why some people are rich and others poor can be explained in a number of ways. Income and Wealth focuses on "who" gets "what" and "why." The who are those in the top, middle, and lower income groups. Why they are there is a function of a variety of factors, including education, employment, saving, investing, and taxation. What they get is cash income, leisure time, property, and other forms of wealth. This volume explains the dynamics of income generation, how it is measured, and how such dramatic disparities in distribution come about. Citing numerous cases of distortion in the popular press, and among academics, policymakers, and pundits, Reynolds exposes many popular myths concerning income and wealth, and presents a balanced perspective on this critical aspect of economics and social policy. The book first defines various characteristics of income, with an emphasis on the gap between the rich and the poor, and reviews several theories to explain the disparities. Subsequent chapters focus on such timely topics as the "vanishing" middle class and the sky-high salaries of CEOs, Hollywood stars, and athletes. The final chapters consider the implications of policies, such as the minimum wage, taxes, immigration, and trade quotas, and expand the discussion to consider international comparisons. Featuring graphs and charts, a glossary of key terms, and a listing of references and resources, Income and Wealth explains the intricate, and often controversial, effects of economic policies on individuals, families, and communities. Moreover, it demonstrates how the numbers can be manipulated by policymakers, pundits, journalists, and academics to promote various agendas, and shows readers how to recognize hyperbole and make better-informed decisions.
Customer Reviews:
Federal Reserve Study Disagrees with Author.......2007-06-22
The Federal Reserve, US Department of Treasury, publishes every three years a Consumer Finance Survey
that details the distribution of Wealth in the USA. This is the authoratative source. According to this study
half of the population owns 2.5% of the wealth of the country. One percent owns 33% of the wealth. Readers of this book should go to the most credible source of information, and also be familiar with the works of Edward Wolff and other scholars.
Should be required reading for all high school graduates.......2007-03-06
OK, maybe the book is a bit advanced for high schoolers (thanks to the stranglehold that the teachers' unions have on the public school system). But the main point is this--Reynolds lays out his case in plain English, in a manner accessible to anyone with an open mind, that so much of the economic commentary emanating from the "minds" of pundits and politicians is just pure BUNK.
The main themes of the book, which recur throughout, are these:
1) Most published reports of income/wealth inequality are based, at best, on incomplete measures, failing to account for government transfers (from "rich" to "poor") and for the painfully obvious fact that two-earner households tend to have higher household incomes than one-earner or (especially) zero-earner households.
2) "Static" analyses of income/wealth inequality fail to account for the simple fact that people's income and wealth tend to increase over time as they develop ever greater skills and as their 401K plans grow over the years.
Reynolds also points out the only effective ways to achieve "true" income/wealth inequality. Either have widespread poverty, so that nobody has anything, or have exorbitant tax rates so that nobody can keep anything.
This should be a very important book as we all decide what sort of President to elect in 2008.
BLUE COLLAR RESORCE.......2007-02-11
I consider myself a blue collar American now retired and with time to try to understand these economic conditions I find I have been living within. If you feel you are not understanding what you are reading or the media is telling you about as concerns inflation, unemployment, rich-poor income gaps, etc., then this is probably the book for you, too. I feel it is very clear and very complete, but I will have to read it again, mostly because it changed my mind on so many things, I want to be sure where I have been left in my opinions on these things. The price, which I consider high for a "blue collar" reader, may hold you back. It did me for a few weeks. But, I am glad I finally ordered it.
Suks...better book exists, cheaper 2.......2007-02-02
I bought this book thinking it was a get rich quick book...boy was I disappointed! It suxs.
If you're interested in money, who has how much, and why, I recommended the book by Andrew Hacker, which is cheaper, entitled "Money: Who Has How Much and Why" (1997). Data therein can be multiplied by 1.3 to give current inflation adjusted figures.
Get ready for a big surprise........2006-11-27
Conventional wisdom tells us that: (1) the vast majority of US households have experienced no increase in real income for more than a quarter century; (2) real wages have been stagnant for that same period; (3) low-wage burger-flippers have replaced high-paid factory jobs; (4) only the top one percent or ten percent have benefited significantly from rising productivity or asset prices; and (5) the once-robust middle class has been shrinking.
Just about everybody treats those assertions as if they are facts. That includes politicians on both sides, talking-head partisans, economics correspondents, and columnists--many with undisguised or thinly-veiled political agendas. They are supposed to be the experts, and the masses (like me) have to trust them; after all, our busy lives permit us only a limited amount of time for paying attention to politicians and the press. When the experts are nearly unanimous, that's a good signal that the five conventional wisdom assertions have to be true . . . isn't it?
That brings us to the big surprise, which Alan Reynolds sums up clearly and concisely: "Not one of those statements is even remotely close to being true."
This book is one of the best debunkings of conventional wisdom I've come across in a decade. It is a step-by-step dismantling of conventional wisdom about income and wealth distribution. Alan Reynolds does it methodically, one point at a time--using direct quotes from people who make those assertions, clear logic explaining what's wrong or misleading about those assertions, and facts and figures from easily-checkable references to official, government-published sources (such as the Statistical Abstract of the United States, the Bureau of Economic Analysis, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Why, then, do so many people seem to accept the false conventional wisdom without question? I have a guess: Each of us likes to think the person we heard it from must have done their homework; otherwise they wouldn't be talking like that. Let's face it, assumptions like that save us a lot of work. In this case, however, I now realize that, by trusting conventional wisdom, I was being too lazy--and I strongly suspect that most of our country's so-called "economics correspondents" are guilty of the same thing I was.
I am thankful that Alan Reynolds is one who actually did the homework on this subject, then wrote a book laying out his findings. His attitude is one we should all adopt: "I accept nothing as an article of faith. I want to hear the logic and see the evidence. And you should demand nothing less. In the absence of logic and evidence, you should not give a hoot about my opinion. Reality is not a matter of opinion."
And I'll steal one more passage from his book: "No matter what one thinks ought to be done about taxes, spending, unions, immigration, minimum wage laws, and so on, the first thing that needs to be done is to get the facts right. If that happens, there will still be plenty of room for lively debates about all sorts of public policies. And they will be *honest* debates."
This book will always be within an arm's reach of my workstation. I highly recommend it, especially to anyone thinking about writing on the subject of income or wealth "distribution" in the United States of America.
Get this book, and get ready for a big surprise.
Book Description
Leading American scholars and activists explore the question our leaders have been working overtime to ignore.
"The middle class and working poor are told that what's happening to them is the consequence of Adam Smith's 'Invisible Hand.' This is a lie."—from the introduction by Bill Moyers
Since the 1970s, the U.S. economy has been sending more and more of its rewards to fewer and fewer people. Once seen as a global exemplar of egalitarianism and middle-class opportunity, America has become the most unequal of developed nations—a land where corporate leaders earn hundreds of times the pay of average workers, and the only population group growing faster than millionaires is the uninsured. Statistics aside, this quarter-century-long trend has changed the texture of American life in ways that threaten our deepest values.
Drawing on the best and latest research, the contributors explore issues such as the real story the numbers tell about how America has changed; dimensions of inequality (education, health, and opportunity); causes of inequality—looking past the usual suspects of technology, trade, and immigration; the persistence of racial disparities; the erosion of democracy and community; and inequality as a moral and religious problem. Not just a catalog of inequality's ills, the book concludes with a plausible and hopeful policy path—beyond redistribution—to a more just and humane economy.
Contributors include: Barbara Ehrenreich, Robert M. Franklin, Stanley B. Greenberg, William Greider, Lawrence R. Jacobs, Christopher Jencks, David Cay Johnston, Robert Kuttner, Betsy Leondar-Wright, Judith L. Lichtman, Meizhu Lui, Miles Rapoport, Jonathan Rowe, Theda Skocpol, Eric Wanner, David Williams.
Customer Reviews:
Inequality is worldwide. Is it human evil or human nature?.......2006-06-10
The message of "Inequality Matters" is that inequality is a man-made phenomenon, especially egregious in the United States, that demands to be redressed through public policy.
There are several questions at play here. Is the observed inequality a result of moral failings - greedy rich or lazy poor - or simply of the way society functions? Are inequalities inexorably tied to issues of minority status? Is it peculiar to the United States, or is it a theme that plays itself out, albeit with different nuances, in every society? Was Jesus' observation that "the poor will always be with you" simply a reflection on the dynamics of the way society works? Have public policy solutions been tried, and how have they fared?
Inequality can be observed in every ethnically diverse society worldwide. The caboclos of Brazil, the criollos of Argentina, the North African immigrants of the French banlieus, the Turks in Germany, and the West Indians in Great Britain manifest the same kind of economic inequality as Blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans in our society. Though the authors do not attempt to do so, it might be more instructive to analyze societies in which there is relative equality.
Tribal peoples experience equality in material goods. There are very few to go around. However, any time a source of revenue such as oil, casinos or tourism appears, inequality seems to rear its head. Chiefs get rich. It has happened all over the Americas and Africa where westerners have introduced money to pay local people for resources. I saw it first hand living among the Kayapo Indians in the state of Para. The cash income the tribes got from gold and mahogany went to airplanes, junkets and prostitutes for the chiefs, and the rest of the tribe complained bitterly about the inequality.
The Europe of the fifties and sixties was quite socialist and egalitarian. There were, of course, the rich, but the social safety net provided adequately for the poor. That safety net has frayed, as has the societal consensus, with the influx of immigrants and the observation that the taxes of the Caucasian rich were flowing to social benefits for the non-Caucasian poor.
America has elevated individualism, or rather, narrow self interest, to be acknowledged as our greatest virtue. Perversely, these writers see self-interest to be a virtue in those who do not succeed but a vice in those such as the owners of Wal-Mart, everybody's whipping boy, who do. They cheer the Horatio Algers as they rise from the slums, but condemn them for being rich.
It is no surprise to me that on average the groups within society who do better than mine, namely the Jews and the North Asians, have longer histories of civilization than mine. They learned (or evolved) to succeed in highly complex societies. Today, members of every traditional society on earth are being asked to play the Western European economic game. Is it any surprise that we, with thousands of years' practice, do a bit better than the newcomers? The tragedy is that the world is too connected for Africans and Native Americans to remain tribal. An anthropologist friend laments that missionaries in the Amazon are training "princes of the forest to be peons in Manaus." But they are, and the Indians voluntarily emigrate to Manaus. For what it's worth, New York Times' science writer Nicholas Wade provides an insightful account of how the tribes of mankind have evolved since the dawn of agriculture in his recent "Before the Dawn." It is also worth mentioning Amy Chua's analysis in "Worlds on Fire" of those minorities such as the Chinese and Jews who seem always to do better than their host societies.
Communism was relatively egalitarian. Chinese all wore Mao jackets. Most people were poor. Walt Kelly had his Russian character claim "the shortage will be divided among the peasants" and his Castro character say "they will dine on the Cuban delicacy, azucar y tobaco." The disappearance of egalitarianism has been one of the most traumatic transitions since the end of the Cold War. East Germans have had difficulty adjusting to a society in which there are more profound differences. Russia and China now have billionaires, affluent middle classes, and hoards of left-behinds. Inequality may be inevitable in a market economy.
Marxism, European socialism and our own Great Society were valiant attempts to curb social inequality. Marxism failed everywhere it was attempted, Europe is becoming more polarized by inequality, and in 1994 a Democratic President signed legislation to undo much of the welfare state that had been put in place twenty years earlier by another Democrat. Why is inequality so intractable? This book touches on a couple of theses.
Free people operate in a free labor market. The level of compensation a person's labor will command is a function of that person's education, ability, and personal attributes such as congeniality and attractiveness. Race, class and gender may also play a role, but such a role could only be statistically proven by controlling for the first-mentioned factors. Liberals have not attempted this statistical analysis, and conservatives who have (not surprisingly) find that race, class and gender play little role.
The poor assume the burden of children more often and at earlier ages. Given that in every society these fecund poor are more likely than others to be minorities, some degree of inequality is built in. This isn't "blaming the victim." It is an observation of fact.
Education is supposed to be the great equalizer, the facilitator of social mobility. Bill Moyers is certainly correct in his observation that the schools that the poor attend are certainly worse than those of the affluent. They are worse materially, as he acknowledges. Their teachers have less preparation. As almost any teacher will tell you, there is more to the story. Poor kids more often don't want to be in school, are disruptive, are violent, and don't learn. They are served by a legion of teachers whose skills are not adequate to get them transferred to better schools, and a handful of saints who feel a social mission. I know many of those saints. They labor long and savor their few victories, kids rescued from poverty. And I know saints who have left disillusioned, scared and physically injured. The collapse of school discipline (read "Judging School Discipline") has done the poor inestimable harm. The great disruptions of school busing (read "Forced Justice") and decades of bipartisan programs in the Elementary and Secondary Schools Act, the latest incarnation of which is NCLB, have made almost no statistically measurable impact. New York City is now throwing billions of dollars at the problem. Will it work? History says, probably not.
It is amusing to find one author, Robert Frank, complain that the middle class must commute in unsafe, 2500 pound Honda Civics which can be ground under the wheels of a Navigator or Excursion. He is allied with Rush Limbaugh in advocating "for sheer self defense, you might want a bulkier - and costlier - car." I write this as a guy who drives a 2800lb Prius, the object of Limbaugh's constant derision.
The bottom line is that the inequalities documented here are very real. They are certainly not unique to America. They are probably a function of how complex societies work, certainly not the mere result of a malign self-interest on the part of the rich.
Unequal Representation but Good Essays .......2006-02-11
"Inequality Matters" is a collection of 22 essays by different authors about the growing gap between the rich of America and the rest of us. The best is Bill Moyers' opening -- and passionate -- shot at the "plunder of public trust" and the "spectacle of corruption" that is the present day situation of the United States.
All of the essays which follow are convincing on the growing gap betweeen rich and poor in areas such as education, retirement, wages, taxes, and health. This is perhaps the most important long-term issue facing American society.
The weakness of the book is that it is one-sided, a liberal feast on the faults of the conservatives and corporations. I agree with the liberals, but I would like to see some responses from conservatives. (Not that any conservative would venture like a Christian into this arena of leonine liberals. And, would that liberals were a bit more like lions and a little less like liberals!) You won't find any attempt at balance. It illustrates another problem in the U.S: the liberals talk to only liberals and the conservatives talk only to conservatives. But without an opportunity for the other side to answer back you can't be sure how biased or incorrect the essays may be. So read the book because it's good, but also read a conservative book before you take to the street promoting "class warfare" and a crusade against the rich. After reading both sides -- you'll take to the streets.
Smallchief
Inequality Matters -- and How!.......2006-01-04
Midway through 2004, veteran journalist James Lardner, with the help of the Demos think tank in New York, put together the first national conference directly focused on economic inequality - the gap between America's rich and everyone else - since that gap started widening in the late 1970s.
This Inequality Matters conference drew several hundred people to New York University for a weekend of robust discussion and debate. But few outside NYU's conference rooms ever noticed. America's ever more unequal business as usual rolled on unabated.
Here's hoping that Inequality Matters the book can do what Inequality Matters the conference could not - trigger a long-overdue bit of national introspection over the incredible concentration of income and wealth we Americans have witnessed ever since Jimmy Carter begat Ronald Reagan.
Today's conventional wisdom, of course, simply denies that this concentration of wealth makes any difference. So long as "even a have-not can have a VCR and a cellphone," argue the apologists for inequality who saturate our politics and our media, what possible reason could we have to worry about whether our richest are getting fantastically richer?
Inequality Matters the book takes on this question, in a series of essays inspired by Inequality Matters the conference. Ably edited by James Lardner and Demos senior fellow David Smith, this book's pages abound in insights - on everything from housing and health to happiness - that even regular readers of progressive books and periodicals will find fresh and provocative.
One example: Communities with the widest income gaps between top and middle, Cornell economist Robert Frank points out in his contribution, turn out to display "significantly higher personal bankruptcy rates, divorce rates, and average commute times."
Apologists for inequality, beware! With the publication of Inequality Matters, your case - that we need not worry about the wealth of the wealthy - has never seemed more dim-witted. Or dangerous.
Excerpted from a longer review that appears in the January 2, 2006 edition of Too Much (www.toomuchonline.org)
Book Description
What is global inequality? How can it be measured? What are the major trends and patterns? What are the implications of global inequality for the world economy and multilateral governance? What role does and should inequality play in national and international policy-making? In this comprehensive overview, the authors address these key questions. They examine all the major issues that need to be confronted in conceptualising, measuring and analysing contemporary patterns of global inequality. In addition, they explore the implications of these patterns for politics and public policy. In explaining the complex global patterns of social stratification, they highlight an intensive debate about whether and to what extent inequality matters. The book also addresses this debate, and seeks to set out the major alternative positions. The book's authors include many of the most distinguished figures in the field including David Dollar, Gosta Esping-Andersen, Nancy Fraser, James K. Galbraith, Ravi Kanbur, Branko Milanovic, Thomas W. Pogge, Bob Sutcliffe, Grahame F. Thompson, Anthony J. Venables, and Robert H. Wade. This book will be of great interest to students in politics, sociology and international relations as well as to all those interested in this key topic.
Customer Reviews:
thoughtful discussion of trends.......2007-02-08
The book is a thoughtful collection of essays by various authors bewailing the perils of inequality across the world. This is suggested to be caused or exacerbated by globalisation. While the latter has certainly raised many hundreds of millions up from poverty, much still remains to be done. The chapters remind the reader that well over a billion people exist in grinding deprivation.
The consequences are speculated about, as a warning to the better off in the world. Perhaps failed states, that become breeding grounds of instability and incubators of terrorism.
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