politics, economy and employment & labour
The historic achievement of peace within a Europe of universal norms is belied by the external instability engendered by violent and incoherent interventions. The European Union is justly admired for making war among its members impossible. This is no small achievement in a continent which was in a state of semi-permanent warfare for the past […]
Why has migration become such a big problem? Many reasons can be adduced: the war in Syria, the integration of Eastern Europe, lack of new jobs in many Western countries following the Global Financial Crisis etc. But listing individual reasons is insufficient to understand it and think what to do about it. The origin of […]
I have already written before (in a tweet) that no one who travels through Western Europe, especially in Summer, can fail to be impressed by the wealth and beauty of the continent as well as by its quality of life. The latter is less obvious in the United States (despite its higher per capita income) […]
Why is inequality such a big issue? Why is it so corrosive to societies? I think it became a big issue, because essentially of the crisis. What the crisis did was make people realise that when, for example, their houses were repossessed, or they couldn’t repay the mortgage and so on, actually, they had to […]
One of the world’s leading inequality economists, Professor Branko Milanovic, presents a bold new account of the dynamics that drive inequality on a global scale. Drawing on vast data sets and cutting-edge research, he explains the benign and malign forces that cause the rise and fall of inequality within and among nations. He also reveals […]
Branko Milanovic, what is your diagnosis of global inequality as it stands and where do we stand in historical terms? Yes, let me start maybe with the historical terms first. Where we stand now is that since around 2000, global inequality has probably declined, and I have to say “probably” because obviously our data are […]
This is a different post from my normal posts. It is a primer and I must ask indulgence from many readers for whom this is all too well-known and obvious. Why do I write it then? Because recently I was several times surprised by the casualness with which people talk of “labour theory of value” apparently […]
Recent discussions about the “advent of robots” have some rather unusual features. The threat of robots replacing humans is seen as something truly novel, possibly changing our civilization and way of life. But in reality this is nothing new. Introduction of machinery to replace repetitive (or even more creative) labor has been applied on a […]
Today I read an article on shortages and economic collapse in Venezuela. The reason why there are huge lines in front of the stores was the same one known to any student of socialist economies: state stores sell heavily subsidized goods and the demand for such goods exceeds their supply. Then, many people buy much […]
Living in a post-modern city like New York has many advantages but some disadvantages too. Among the latter is the absence of bookstores. Practically the only bookstore that I go to in midtown Manhattan is owned by Kinokuniya, a Japanese company, and it carries some 90% Japanese books, whether in Japanese or in English, by […]
Let me start by enquiring about the importance assumed by inequality in the public debate during these last years. As we know, inequality has been marginalised both in academia and in politics – also and especially on the left, which should have been the most sensitive to social issues. Then, all at once, with the […]
Despite the unprecedented attention that income and wealth inequality has received in this year’s presidential campaign in the United States and in several recent elections in Europe, one cannot but have the impression that, for many centrist politicians, inequality is just a passing fad. Their belief is, I think, that once the economies return to […]
