Economics essay about Inequality

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IP3034 The Political Economy of Global Inequality

City, University of London Autumn Term 2019-2020

Lecture: 9:00-9:50, DLG20 (WED) Tutorial: 10:00-10:50 & 11:00-11:50 DLG 19, 12:00-12:50 D222 (WED)

Office Hours: 14:00-16:00, D507 (TUES)

Course Director: Sandy Hager Aims and Objectives This module explores wealth and income inequality from a historical and global perspective. In particular, the module examines inequality within countries, between countries and among citizens of the world. There is a general consensus that inequality within countries and among the world’s citizens has increased over the past few decades, while inequality between countries has decreased. What remains hotly contested within political economy are the precise causes and consequences of these changes in the global pattern of wealth and income distribution. The first half of the module is focused on the theories and empirical patterns of global inequality. The second half of the module then investigates the consequences of inequality and critically evaluates some of the policy initiatives aimed at tackling inequality. Teaching Methods The module has two essential components: the lecture and the tutorial. Neither is complete without the other, and indeed much heavy lifting will have to be done in tutorial. As such, completing the minimal reading for the course will be absolutely essential. Failure to read in a timely fashion will have a negative impact on performance. Tutorial preparation, attendance, and participation are therefore virtually mandatory. Assessment The course will be assessed by an in-class exam (30% of final mark) and a 3,500-word essay (70% of final mark).

OUTLINE

Week 1 (Sept 25) Why Inequality?

Week 2 (Oct 2) Theories

Week 3 (Oct 9) Patterns (I)

Week 4 (Oct 16) Patterns (II)

Week 5 (Oct 23) In-class Exam

Week 6 (Oct 30) Reading Week

Week 7 (Nov 6) Health

Week 8 (Nov 13) Crisis

Week 9 (Nov 20) Democracy

Week 10 (Nov 27) Solutions

Week 11 (Dec 4) Review

READING LIST

1. WHY INEQUALITY? Required Reading • Frankfurt, Harry G. 2015. Inequality Isn’t Immoral. Los Angeles Times 9 October.

• Milanovic, Branko. 2007. Why We All Care About Inequality (But Some of Us Are Loathe

to Admit It). Challenge 50(6): 109-120.

• Milanovic, Branko. 2016. Global Inequality: A New Approach for the Age of Globalization,

Cambridge MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Introduction, pp. 1-9.

2. THEORIES Required Reading • Hager, Sandy Brian. 2018. Varieties of Top Incomes? Socio-Economic Review advanced access:

1-24.

• Milanovic, Branko. 2012. The Haves and the Have-Nots: A Brief and Idiosyncratic History of Global

Inequality, New York: Basic Books, Vignette 1.10 ‘Two Students of Inequality: Vilfredo

Pareto and Simon Kuznets,’ pp. 83-91.

• Piketty, Thomas. 2014. Capital in the Twenty-First Century, translated by Arthur Goldhammer,

Cambridge MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Introduction, pp. 1-35.

Further Reading • Atkinson, Anthony B. 1997. Bringing Income Distribution in from the Cold. Economic

Journal 107(441): 297-321.

• Bronfenbrenner, Martin. Income Distribution Theory, London: Transaction Publishers.

• Diamond, Jared. 1998. Guns, Germs, and Steel: A Short History of Everybody for the Last 13,000

Years, London: Vintage.

• Fix, Blair. 2018. Hierarchy and the Power-Law Income Distribution. Journal of Computational

Social Science 1(2): 471-491.

• Galbraith, James K. 2016. Inequality: What Everyone Needs to Know, Oxford: Oxford

University Press, Chapter Two “Inequality in the History of Economic Thought,” pp. 12-

31.

• Hunt, E.K. and Lauztenheiser, Mark. 2011. History of Economic Thought: A Critical Perspective,

third edition, London: M.E. Sharpe.

• Kuznets, Simon. 1955. Economic Growth and Income Inequality. American Economic Review

45(1): 1-28.

• Persky, Joseph. 1992. Retrospectives: Pareto’s Law. Journal of Economic Perspectives 6(2): 181-

192.

• Robinson, Joan. 1962. Economic Philosophy, London: Pelican.

• Sandmo, Agnar. 2015. The Principle Problem in Political Economy: Income Distribution

in the History of Economic Thought. In A.B. Atkinson and F. Bourguignon (eds),

Handbook of Income Distribution, vol. 2A, first edition, Amsterdam: Elsevier, pp. 3-65.

3. PATTERNS (I) Required Reading • Milanovic, Branko. 2016. Global Inequality: A New Approach for the Age of Globalization,

Cambridge MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Chapter One ‘The Rise

of the Global Middle Class and Global Plutocrats,’ pp. 10-45, Chapter Two ‘Inequality

within Countries,’ pp. 46-117.

Further Reading • Alvaredo, Facundo, Atkinson, Anthony B., Piketty, Thomas, and Saez, Emmauel. 2013.

The Top 1 Percent in International and Historical Perspective. Journal of Economic Perspectives

27(3): 3-20.

• Anand, Sudhir and Segal, Paul. 2015. The Global Distribution of Income. In A.B. Atkinson

and F. Bourguignon (eds), Handbook of Income Distribution, vol. 2A, first edition, Amsterdam:

Elsevier, pp. 937-979.

• Atkinson, Anthony B. and Piketty, Thomas (eds). 2010. Top Incomes: A Global Perspective

Oxford: Oxford University Press.

• Atkinson, Anthony B., Piketty, Thomas and Saez, Emmanuel. 2011. Top Incomes in the

Long Run of History. Journal of Economic Literature 49(1): 3-71.

• Bourguignon, François. 2015. The Globalization of Inequality, translated by Thomas Scott-

Railton, Princeton: Princeton University Press, Chapter Two ‘Are Countries Becoming

More Unequal?’ pp. 47-73.

• Hardoon, Deborah. 2017 An Economy for the 99%. Oxfam Briefing Paper 1-48.

• Hardoon, Deborah, Ayele, Sophia and Fuentes-Nieva, Ricardo. 2016. An Economy for the

1%. Oxfam Briefing Paper no. 210: 1-43.

• Huber, Evelyne, Huo, Jingjing and Stephens, John D. 2017. Power, Policy, and Top

Income Shares. Socio-Economic Review advanced access: 1-23.

• Kenworthy, Lane. 2017. Why the Surge in Income Inequality? Contemporary Sociology: A

Journal of Reviews 46: 1-9.

• Piketty, Thomas and Saez, Emmanuel. 2014. Inequality in the Long Run. Science 344(6186):

838-843.

• Piketty, Thomas, Saez, Emmanuel and Zucman, Gabriel. 2017. Distributional National

Accounts: Methods and Estimates for the United States. Quarterly Journal of Economics 133(2):

553-609.

• Stilwell, Frank. 2019. The Political Economy of Inequality, Cambridge: Polity Press, Chapter

Four ‘Shifting Shares,’ pp. 54-70.

4. PATTERNS (II)

Required Reading • Bourguignon, François. 2015. The Globalization of Inequality, translated by Thomas Scott-

Railton, Princeton: Princeton University Press, Chapter One ‘Global Inequality’ pp. 9-40.

• Milanovic, Branko. 2016. Global Inequality: A New Approach for the Age of Globalization,

Cambridge MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Chapter Three ‘Inequality

among Countries,’ pp. 118-154.

Further Reading • Assouad, Lydia, Chancel, Lucas and Morgan, Marc. 2018. Extreme Inequality: Evidence

from Brazil, India, the Middle East, and South Africa. AEA Papers and Proceedings 108: 119-

123.

• Bergesen, John and Bata, Michelle. 2002. Global and National Inequality: Are They

Connected? Journal of World-Systems Research 8(1): 130-144.

• Collier, Paul. 2008. The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be

Done About It, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

• Davis, Mike. 2017. Late Victorian Holocausts: El Niño Famines and the Making of the Third World,

London: Verso.

• Fanon, Frantz. 1961 [2001]. The Wretched of the Earth, translated from the French by

Constance Farrington, London: Penguin Classics.

• Hickel, Jason. 2018. The Divide: A Brief Guide to Global Inequality and Its Solutions, London:

Windmill Books.

• Kharas, Homi. 2010. The Emerging Middle Class in Developing Countries. OECD

Development Centre Working Papers No. 285: 1-61.

• Li, Shi, Sato, Hiroshi and Sicular, Terry (eds). 2013. Rising Inequality in China: Challenges to a

Harmonious Society, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

• Lakner, Christoph. 2017. Global Inequality. In H. Boushey, J.B. Delong and M. Steinbaum

(eds), After Piketty: The Agenda for Economics and Inequality, Cambridge MA: Harvard

University Press, pp. 259-279.

• Milanovic, Branko. 2011. Worlds Apart: Measuring International and Global Inequality,

Princeton: Princeton University Press.

• Milanovic, Branko. 2012. The Haves and the Have-Nots: A Brief and Idiosyncratic History of Global

Inequality, New York: Basic Books, Chapter Two ‘Unequal Nations,’ pp. 95-148.

• Piketty, Thomas, Yang, Li and Zucman, Gabriel. 2019. Capital Accumulation, Private

Property, and Rising Inequality in China, 1978-2015. American Economic Review 109(7): 2469-

2496.

• Ravaillon, Martin. 2010. The Developing World’s Bulging (But Vulnerable) Middle Class.

World Development 38(4): 445-454.

• Stilwell, Frank. 2019. The Political Economy of Inequality, Cambridge: Polity Press, Chapter

Three ‘Scales and Shapes of Inequality,’ 41-58.

• Sutherland, Dylan and Yao, Shujie. 2011. Income Inequality in China over 30 Years of

Reforms. Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy, and Society 4(1): 91-104.

5. IN-CLASS EXAM & DATA WORKSHOP Required Reading • Ferreira, Francisco H.G., Lustig, Nora and Teles, Daniel. 2015. Appraising Cross-National

Income Inequality Databases: An Introduction. Journal of Economic Inequality 13(4): 497-526.

6. READING WEEK • [no assigned readings] 7. HEALTH: BODY, MIND, PLANET Required Reading • Chancel, Lucas and Piketty, Thomas. 2015. Carbon and Inequality: From Kyoto to Paris.

Paris School of Economics, 3 November: 1-48.

• Wilkinson, Richard G. and Pickett, Kate E. 2018. The Inner Level: How More Equal Societies

Reduce Stress, Restore Sanity and Improve Everyone’s Wellbeing, London: Penguin, Preface, pp.

xvii-xxiii, Chapter One ‘This is Not a Self-help Book’ pp. 1-30.

Further Reading • Baland, Jean-Marie, Bardhan, Pranad and Bowles, Samuel (eds). 2007. Inequality, Cooperation,

and Environmental Sustainability, New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

• Boyce, James K. 1994. Inequality as a Cause of Environmental Degradation. Ecological

Economics 11(3): 169-178.

• Boyce, James K. 2019. Economics for People and the Planet: Inequality in the Era of Climate Change,

London: Anthem Press.

• Case, Anne and Deaton, Angus. 2015. Rising Morbidity and Mortality in Midlife among

White Non-Hispanic Americans in the 21st Century. Proceedings of the National Academy of

Sciences 112(49): 15078-15083

• Deaton, Angus. 2013. The Great Escape: Health, Wealth, and the Origins of Inequality, Princeton:

Princeton University Press.

• Di Muzio, Tim. 2015. The Plutonomy of the 1%: Dominant Ownership and Conspicuous

Consumption in the New Gilded Age. Millennium-Journal of International Studies 43(2): 492-

510.

• Elgar, Frank J. and Aitken, Nicole. 2011. Income Inequality, Trust and Homicide in 33

Countries. European Journal of Public Health 21(2): 241-246.

• Kashwan, Prakash. 2017. Inequality, Democracy, and the Environment: A Cross-National

Analysis. Ecological Economics 131: 139-151.

• Knight, Kyle W., Schor, Juliet B. and Jorgensen, Andrew K. 2017. Wealth Inequality and

Carbon Emissions in High-Income Countries. Social Currents 4(5): 403-12.

• Leigh, Andrew, Jencks, Christopher and Smeeding, Timothy M. 2015. Health and

Economic Inequality. In W. Salverda, B. Nolan, and T.M. Smeeding (eds), The Oxford

Handbook of Economic Inequality, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 384-405.

• O’Donnell, Owen, Van Doorslaer, Eddy and Van Ourti, Tom. 2015. Health and Inequality.

In A.B. Atkinson and F. Bourguignon (eds), Handbook of Income Distribution, vol. 2A, first

edition, Amsterdam: Elsevier, pp. 3-65.

• Raworth, Kate. 2017. Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist,

London: Penguin.

• Roberts, J. Timmins. 2001. Global Inequality and Climate Change. Society & Natural

Resources 14(6): 501-509.

• Salazar, Deborah J., Clauson, Stacy, Abel, Troy D. and Clauson, Aran. 2019. Race, Income,

and Environmental Inequality in the United States, 1990-2014. Social Science Quarterly 100(3):

592-603.

• Stilwell, Frank. 2019. The Political Economy of Inequality, Cambridge: Polity Press, Chapter

Nine ‘Towards Happier Societies?’ 159-173.

• Wilkinson, Richard G. and Pikett, Kate E. 2010. The Spirit Level: Why Equality is Better for

Everyone, London: Penguin.

8. CRISIS Required Reading • Goda, Thomas, Onaran, Özlem and Stockhammer, Engelbert. 2017. Income Inequality

and Wealth Concentration in the Recent Crisis. Development and Change 48(1): 3-27.

• Rajan, Raghuram G. 2010. Fault Lines: How Hidden Fractures Still Threaten the World Economy,

Princeton: Princeton University Press, Chapter One ‘Let Them Eat Credit,’ pp. 21-45.

• Van Treeck, Till. 2014. Did Inequality Cause the US Financial Crisis? Journal of Economic

Surveys 28(3): 421-448.