The Political Economy of Inequality

by Ackerman, Frank; Goodwin, Neva R.; Doudherty, Laurie; Gallagher, Kevin

• ISBN13: 9781559637978
• ISBN10: 1559637978
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-03-01
• Publisher: Island Pr

Summary

The disparity in wealth both within and between nations has grown rapidly in recent years, and is becoming an increasingly significant issue in attempts to deal with environmental problems -- from international negotiations over climate change to local concerns about environmental justice.The Political Economy of Inequalityoffers an in-depth examination of the economic theory behind the causes, consequences, and cures for inequality. The volume brings together disparate analyses of inequality in economic and related fields, identifies areas where more work is most needed, and lays the groundwork for an integrated understanding of the causes and consequences of inequality in the United States and the world.Sections cover: the distribution of earnings the distribution of wealth celebrity and CEO incomes the effects of corporate power poverty, inequality, and power household roles and family structure skills, technology, and education categorical inequalities, such as those based on race, gender, or ethnicity inequality on a global scale the welfare state The book is the fifth in the six-volume Frontier Issues in Economic Thoughtseries. Each volume offers two- to three-page summaries of the most notable articles and chapters in a "frontier" area where important new work is being done but has not yet been incorporated into the standard definition of economics. Introductory essays by the editors review the field, cite other literature that was not summarized, and situate the summarized articles within an overview of the subject.As with the other volumes in the series, The Political Economy of Inequalityoffers an invaluable overview of an emerging field of economics and is a unique reference for students and scholars concerned with economic policy, social economics, work and labor issues, international and sustainable development, or related topics.

Table of Contents

Authors of Original Articles	xix
Foreword	xxiii
Derek Bok
Acknowledgments	xxvii
Volume Introduction	xxix
Neva Goodwin
Frank Ackerman
PART I Unequal Earnings: Theory versus Reality
Overview Essay	1	(9)
Frank Ackerman
Bringing Income Distribution In from the Cold	10	(4)
Anthony B. Atkinson
Wage Polarization in the U.S. and the ``Flexibility'' Debate	14	(4)
Bennett Harrison
Barry Bluestone
Wielding the Stick	18	(3)
David M. Gordon
Rising Wage Inequality: The U.S. versus Other Advanced Countries	21	(4)
Richard B. Freeman
Lawrence F. Katz
Inequality, Unemployment, Inflation, and Growth	25	(4)
James K. Galbraith
Trends in the Level and Distribution of U.S. Living Standards: 1973-1993	29	(4)
Gary Burtless
PART II The Distribution of Wealth and Power
Overview Essay	33	(9)
Frank Ackerman
International Comparisons of Wealth Inequality	42	(3)
Edward N. Wolff
Long-Term Trends in American Wealth Inequality	45	(3)
Jeffrey G. Williamson
Peter H. Lindert
A Story of Two Nations: Race and Wealth	48	(4)
Melvin L. Oliver
Thomas M. Shapiro
The Corporate Community and the Upper Class	52	(4)
G. William Domhoff
Structures of Corporate Control	56	(5)
John Scott
PART III New Paths to the Top: CEO and Celebrity Compensation
Overview Essay	61	(16)
Frank Ackerman
How Winner-Take-All Markets Arise and The Growth of Winner-Take-All Markets	77	(3)
Robert H. Frank
Philip J. Cook
The Cost of Talent: Summing Up	80	(4)
Derek Bok
Management Compensation Plans---Panacea or Placebo?	84	(4)
Michael T. Jacobs
Top Executive Pay: Tournament or Teamwork?	88	(3)
Brian G. M. Main
Charles A. O'Reilly III
James Wade
Why Do Pro Athletes Make So Much Money?	91	(4)
James Quirk
Rodney D. Fort
Marginal Revenue and Labor Strife in Major League Baseball	95	(4)
Dale R. Oorlog
PART IV Corporate Power: Why Does It Matter?
Overview Essay	99	(13)
Neva Goodwin
Economy: The Political Foundations of Production and Exchange	112	(4)
Samuel Bowles
Herbert Gintis
Business Unity, Business Power	116	(3)
Dan Clawson
Alan Neustadtl
Denise Scott
Bigness and Social Efficiency: A Case Study of the U.S. Auto Industry	119	(4)
Walter Adams
James W. Brock
The Dark Side of Flexible Production	123	(4)
Bennett Harrison
Power, Accumulation, and Crisis: The Rise and Demise of the Postwar Social Structure of Accumulation	127	(3)
David M. Gordon
Thomas E. Weisskopf
Samuel Bowles
The Mobilization of Corporate Conservatism	130	(4)
Jerome L. Himmelstein
Markets and Politics	134	(4)
Robert Kuttner
The Solution: A Better Scorecard and What the Scorecard Should Contain	138	(5)
Ralph Estes
PART V Poverty, Inequality, and Power
Overview Essay	143	(8)
Frank Ackerman
Income, Deprivation, and Poverty and Implications for Conceptualizing and Measuring Poverty	151	(4)
Brain Nolan
Christopher T. Whelan
The Age of Extremes: Concentrated Affluence and Poverty in the Twenty-First Century	155	(3)
Douglas S. Massey
Social Exclusion: Toward an Analytical and Operational Framework	158	(4)
Ajit S. Bhalla
Frederic Lapeyre
Poor Relief and the Dramaturgy of Work	162	(4)
Frances Fox Piven
Richard Cloward
Not Markets Alone: Enriching the Discussion of Income Distribution	166	(5)
Chris Tilly
Randy Albelda
PART VI Intrahousehold Dynamics and Changing Household Composition
Overview Essay	171	(11)
Laurie Dougherty
Trade, Merger, and Employment: Economic Theory on Marriage	182	(4)
Elaine McCrate
Gender Coalitions: Extrafamily Influences in Intrafamily Inequality	186	(4)
Nancy Folbre
Renegotiating the Marital Contract: Intrahousehold Patterns of Money Allocation and Women's Subordination Among Domestic Outworkers in Mexico City	190	(4)
Martha Roldan
Incomes, Expenditures, and Health Outcomes: Evidence on Intrahousehold Resource Allocation	194	(3)
Duncan Thomas
The Marginalization of Black Men: Impact on Family Structure	197	(4)
William A. Darity, Jr.
Samuel L. Myers, Jr.
Single Mothers in Sweden: Why Is Poverty Less Severe?	201	(4)
Siv Gustafsson
PART VII Technology, Skills, and Education
Overview Essay	205	(9)
Laurie Dougherty
Institutional Failure and the American Worker: The Collapse of Low-Skill Wages	214	(3)
David R. Howell
Technology and Changes in Skill Structure: Evidence from an International Panel of Industries	217	(4)
Stephen Machin
Annette Ryan
John Van Reenan
The ``Skill-oriented'' Strategies of German Trade Unions: Their Impact on Efficiency and Equality Objectives	221	(3)
Birgit Mahnkopf
Access to Education	224	(4)
Ajit S. Bhalla
The Economics of Justice in Education	228	(3)
Henry M. Levin
Making the Grade: Educational Stratification in the United States, 1925-1989	231	(4)
Michael Hout
Adrian E. Raftery
Eleanor O. Bell
PART VIII Categorical Inequality
Overview Essay	235	(14)
Laurie Dougherty
Race and Gender Wage Gaps in the Market for Recent College Graduates	249	(3)
Catherine J. Weinberger
Intergroup Disparity: Economic Theory and Social Science Evidence	252	(3)
William A. Darity, Jr.
What's Fairness Got To Do With It? Environmental Justice and the Siting of Locally Undesirable Land Uses	255	(4)
Vicki Been
Tracking Racial Bias	259	(3)
Jerome G. Miller
The Impact of Economic Change on Minorities and Migrants in Western Europe	262	(4)
Ian Gordon
The Political Economy of Gender and Economic Progress and Gender Equality	266	(4)
Claudia Goldin
The Gender Pay Gap	270	(4)
Francine D. Blau
Social Construction of Skill: Gender, Power, and Comparable Worth	274	(3)
Ronnie J. Steinberg
Racial Antagonisms and Race-Based Social Policy	277	(4)
William Julius Wilson
The Future of Affirmative Action: Reclaiming the Innovative Ideal	281	(6)
Susan Sturm
Lani Guinier
PART IX World Income Inequality and the Poverty of Nations
Overview Essay	287	(12)
Kevin Gallagher
Divergence, Big Time	299	(4)
Lant Pritchett
Globalization and Inequality, Past and Present	303	(3)
Jeffrey G. Williamson
Income Distribution and Poverty: An Interregional Comparison	306	(3)
Kwan S. Kim
Income Inequality and Development: The 1970s and 1980s Compared	309	(4)
Irma Adelman
Nobuhiko Fuwa
The Relationship Between Wage Inequality and International Trade	313	(3)
George J. Borjas
Valerie A. Ramey
Openness and Wage Inequality in Developing Countries: The Latin American Challenge to East Asian Conventional Wisdom	316	(4)
Adrian Wood
The Distributional Impact of Privatization in Developing Countries	320	(3)
Paul Cook
Colin Kirkpatrick
Income Distribution in Developing Economies: Conceptual, Data, and Policy Issues in Broad-Based Growth	323	(4)
Gary Fields
PART X Responses to Inequality: The Welfare State
Overview Essay	327	(12)
Frank Ackerman
Is There an Explanation? Alternative Models of the Labor Market and the Minimum Wage	339	(4)
David Card
Alan B. Krueger
Generating Equality and Eliminating Poverty, the Swedish Way	343	(4)
Anders Bjorklund
Richard B. Freeman
How Social Democracy Worked: Labor-Market Institutions	347	(4)
Karl Ove Moene
Michael Wallerstein
The American Paradox: High Income and High Child Poverty	351	(3)
Sheldon Danziger
Sandra Danziger
Jonathan Stern
Who Paid for the Canadian Welfare State during 1955-1988?	354	(3)
Ardeshir Sepehri
Robert Chernomas
On Targeting and Family Benefits	357	(4)
Anthony B. Atkinson
Bibliography	361	(16)
Subject Index	377	(24)
Name Index	401