The Great Polarization : : How Ideas, Power, and Policies Drive Inequality / / ed. by Rudiger von Arnim, Joseph E. Stiglitz.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Columbia University Press Complete eBook-Package 2022
• MitwirkendeR: Arnim, Rudiger L. von,; Baker, Dean,; Barrales-Ruiz, Jose,; Braunstein, Elissa,; Crain, Marion,; Duménil, Gérard,; Ertürk, Korkut A.,; Hamilton, Darrick,; Han, Eunice,; Levien, Michael,; Lévy, Dominique,; Maloney, Thomas N.,; Mendieta-Muñoz, Ivan,; Mishel, Lawrence,; Ocampo, José Antonio,; Ott, Julia,; Paret, Marcel,; Rada, Codrina,; Scharfenaker, Ellis,; Schiavone, Ansel,; Schneider, Markus,; Seguino, Stephanie,; Stiglitz, Joseph E.,
• HerausgeberIn: Arnim, Rudiger von,; Stiglitz, Joseph E.,
• Place / Publishing House: New York, NY : : Columbia University Press, , [2022]; ©2022
• Year of Publication: 2022
• Language: English
• Series: Initiative for Policy Dialogue at Columbia: Challenges in Development and Globalization
• Physical Description: 1 online resource :; 58 b&w figures

Inequality of income and wealth has skyrocketed since the 1970s. As the super-rich have grasped the vast majority of the gains from economic growth, labor’s share of income has declined. The middle class has stagnated, and those at the bottom have become even worse off. Persistent structural discrimination on the basis of race and gender exacerbates these economic disparities.The Great Polarization brings together scholars from disparate fields to examine the causes and consequences of this dramatic rise in inequality. Contributors demonstrate that institutions, norms, policy, and political power—not the “natural” operation of the market—determine the distribution of wealth and income. The book underscores the role of ideas and ideologies, showing how neoclassical economics and related beliefs have functioned in public debates to justify inequality. Together, these essays bear out an inescapable conclusion: inequality is a choice. The rules of the economy have been rewritten to favor those at the top, entrenching the imbalances of power that widen the gap between the very rich and everyone else.Contributors reconsider the data on inequality, examine the policies that have led to this predicament, and outline potential ways forward. Using both theoretical and empirical analysis and drawing on the knowledge of experts in policy, political economy, economics, and other disciplines, The Great Polarization offers a kaleidoscopic view of the processes that have shaped today’s stark hierarchies.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- INITIATIVE FOR POLICY DIALOGUE AT COLUMBIA: CHALLENGES IN DEVELOPMENT AND GLOBALIZATION -- CONTENTS -- INTRODUCTION -- PART I America’s Growing Inequality -- CHAPTER 1 Alternative Theories of Inequality CAUSES, CONSEQUENCES, AND POLICIES -- PART II Recasting the Evidence in a New Light -- CHAPTER 2 Labor Market Segmentation and the Distribution of Income -- CHAPTER 3 The Cost of Gender Inequality STRUCTURAL CHANGE AND THE LABOR SHARE OF INCOME -- CHAPTER 4 The Postwar Trajectory of the U.S. Labor Share STRUCTURAL CHANGE AND SECULAR STAGNATION -- CHAPTER 5 The Changing Patterns of Income Inequality in the United States, 1917–2017 -- PART III Policy Matters: Labor Markets, Education, Tax, and Intellectual Property -- CHAPTER 6 Policy Decisions’ Role in Wage Suppression and Inequality -- CHAPTER 7 “Leave Something for the Risk-Takers” HOW THE DEMOCRATS REBUILT STRUCTURAL RACISM AND HASTENED THE GREAT POLARIZATION, 1964–1978 -- CHAPTER 8 Teachers’ Unions and Public Education During the Great Polarization -- CHAPTER 9 Is Intellectual Property the Root of All Evil? PATENTS, COPYRIGHTS, AND INEQUALITY -- PART IV The Political Economy of Inequality: Political Context and the Way Forward -- CHAPTER 10 The Economic Discourse on Income Inequality -- CHAPTER 11 Redistribution and Social Exclusion in the United States and Germany -- CHAPTER 12 A Race-Conscious Economic Rights Approach to Providing Economic Security For All -- CHAPTER 13 Law and the Collective Struggle for Economic Justice -- CONTRIBUTORS -- INDEX