Thursday, March 28, 2024
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Inequality

in this issue

Juan Carlos Hidalgo. Policy analyst on Latin America at the Centre for Global Liberty and Prosperity at the Cato Institute in Washington, DC

The debate on inequality promises to dominate this year's political discussion. In Washington, President Obama made the issue the centrepiece of his State of the Union address. In Davos, political and business leaders at the World Economic Forum discussed the challenges of the growing disparity of income in developed countries. And in Havana, Latin American presidents stressed their commitment to fight this scourge during the CELAC summit.

Ezequiel Adamovsky. Doctor in History from University College London (UCL)

A few weeks ago in the newspaper Clarin responded to a writer who argued that liberalism was the "heart" of democracy. My argument, which was to the contrary, caused several replies to be fired from liberals who were offended. In this text I would like to extend the meaning of my discourse, making available to the public some of the arguments raised by specialists in the history of liberal tradition (generally very little known by the militants of that persuasion).

Jaime Atienza. Director of Campaigns and Citizenship at Oxfam Intermón

A year ago, 85 people had accumulated as much wealth as half of humanity. In a single year, there were only 80 people who together had as much as 3,500 million others. And in 2016, 1% of the world population will accumulate as much wealth as the remaining 99%; 70 million people have as much as 7,000 million. Carlos Slim, the richest man in the world, would need to live more than 200 years spending a million dollars a day to exhaust his fortune.
 
Sandra León. Doctor of Political Sciences and professor at the University of York (UK)

Inequality corrodes the European project. Thus preached an article in El País, referring to the overwhelming evidence of increasing inequality in Europe. It may that at this point in time the data on the economic gap between individuals and countries does not surprise anyone. The effects of the crisis on the gap between rich and poor are so glaring in the statistics as they are in the reality of every citizen who steps out onto the street. Impoverishment is the first and most direct consequence of the unequal distribution of the burdens imposed by austerity policies, but what are the consequences of inequality beyond poverty?
Nancy Folbre. Economist

While confessing her admiration for Thomas Piketty, American economist Nancy Folbre has three objections to his theories. What is the impact of labour inequalities on class conflicts? What part do gender-based differences play? And lastly, aren't economic inequalities between nations even more problematic than those between individuals?
Roberto Martínez Yllescas. OECD specialist in public policy and competitiveness

After realizing that the world has gone through the worst economic crisis since the Great Recession of 1929, conventional formulas of economic recovery -from a perspective dominated by macro-financial canon- suffer a corresponding crisis of credibility. This, in turn, translates into a growing scepticism about market equality and the rationality that sustains them. The consequences of the lacklustre growth of the last five years also leads to rethinking the foundations of the social pact that supports the foundation of the historically most robust economies in the West. Endemic unemployment, inequality and the accelerated erosion of confidence in the efficiency of economic institutions are only a symptom of a deeper dilemma between equity and growth.
Roberto Savio. Founder of the IPS news agency and publisher of Other News

In this column, which is published by Journalists in Spanish, Roberto Savio said that whilst the effects of the collapse of the financial system remain serious and forecasts for the future are bleak, a study by the International Monetary Fund has unexpectedly made an objection to a fundamental principle of liberal doctrine. According to the biggest organisation of workers, representative trade unions that increased government spending would help reduce inequality within countries.
J. Ruiz-Huerta. Professor of Applied Economics (Public Finance) University Rey Juan Carlos of Madrid and collaborator of the Alternatives Foundation

Concern about inequality has grown significantly after the crisis period suffered in the countries of southern Europe, particularly in Spain. During the earlier periods of expansion, it was not a central issue and of particular concern among citizens or among economists. Arguably even bewitched by the functioning of markets and competition and the continued growth of GDP, many economists believe that the subject of inequality was a minor issue, the subject of attention more appropriate to other scientific disciplines and not deserving of special attention from the economic point of view.
José Saturnino Martínez García. Degree in Political Science and Sociology (UCM)

The unit of study of social inequality are not individuals, they are households. Decisions on investment, spending or entering the labour market are made by people according to the characteristics of the households in which they live. The dynamics of the formation and reconfiguration of households can affect economic inequality and processes of poverty and social exclusion. For example, some argue that the increasing economic inequality experienced in recent decades in many OECD countries may be related to new ways of forming couples.

 

Carlos Mulas-Granados. Professor of Applied Economics at the Computense University

In the past five years, concerns about increasing income inequality have been at the centre of economic policy debates. There is one area though that has remained relatively unexplored. This is the area that deals with the relationship between the labour share of income and personal income inequality. Income inequality refers to the personal distribution of income, and the labour share refers to the remuneration of employees in total factor income (value added) in a given year. When one looks at these two series, the visual impact is striking. For example, between 1970 and 2012 the labour share in G7 countries declined on average by 12 percent while income inequality increased by 25 percent.

  

Carlos Mulas-Granados. Professor of Applied Economics at the Computense University

In the past five years, concerns about increasing income inequality have been at the centre of economic policy debates. There is one area though that has remained relatively unexplored. This is the area that deals with the relationship between the labour share of income and personal income inequality. Income inequality refers to the personal distribution of income, and the labour share refers to the remuneration of employees in total factor income (value added) in a given year. When one looks at these two series, the visual impact is striking. For example, between 1970 and 2012 the labour share in G7 countries declined on average by 12 percent while income inequality increased by 25 percent.

Juan Carlos Solano Lucas. Professor at the University of Murcia

We've spent years listening to the media and from various international and national agencies, that the state is inefficient, that it is more efficient that private companies manage public resources, that the Social State is not sustainable, entrepreneurs risk much, it is not feasible to maintain the welfare state, it is not even profitable, etc...

Antoni Aguilera Rodríguez. President of the Red Cross in Catalonia

Skills are the main criterion that should prevail when hiring. This is a statement which may seem common sense, but unfortunately, we have to repeat again and again, because the reality is quite different. In the twenty-first century, we still are forced to reiterate that people should not be discriminated against in the labour market for reasons of age, gender, origin or ideology.

 

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