Capital in the Twenty-First Century
... We focus on this group's structure to understand the relations among society's most important forms of capital. As social inequality has been on similar levels in the last decades as during the 'age of empire' (Hobsbawm, 1987;Piketty, 2014) and as present structures carry the 'weight of the past' (Savage, 2021), we study social change and capital accumulation from the early 20th century onwards by understanding how power is structured among effective agents at different periods. In doing so, we follow Savage's (2023) call for reviving 'big picture' sociology to offer historical accounts of broad social trends over a period of a century. ...
... Wealthy inheritors became increasingly capable of converting their economic advantages into dominant positions (Toft and Friedman, 2020). This trend illustrates a return to past logics, where wealth and other forms of economic capital have been as concentrated in the recent period as they were before the First World War (Piketty, 2014). Scholars have studied more recent national iterations of the field of power. ...
... This process was concomitant with a documented decrease in solidarity and integration in business, as the largest companies and the billionaires owning them had become increasingly effective in defending their own narrow interests and, much like before the Second World War, did not need network embeddedness any more (Mach et al., 2021;Mizruchi, 2013;Moran, 2008). This marked a return to past logics, as the current main object of struggle in the field of power resembles the one before 1945, when wealth and economic inequality was as high as in the present (Piketty, 2014). ...
In this article we delve into the elites’ evolving forms of power to study the relationship between social change and capital accumulation. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu’s notion of the field of power and relying on the identification of the field’s effective agents in Switzerland, we investigate the changing relations among the most important forms of capital. We use prosopographical data spanning six historical periods from 1910 to 2015 and thanks to multiple correspondence analysis we uncover the changing structure of the field of power. We show the dominance of economic and organisational network powers throughout history. While both forms of power opposed before the Second World War, they could be accumulated together between the 1950s and the 1980s but opposed again in the recent period. The article contributes to ‘big picture’ sociology, offering historical accounts of broad social trends and provides evidence of a recent return to past inequality logics.
... So, whilst in tourism economics the invisible hand of the market allocates resources according to demand and supply, critical theorists make visible the power of those with the most capital and disposable income in this process. For example, Piketty (2014) surfaces the frequently overlooked fact that capital and wealth have grown faster than income from labour in most economies, thus increasing the power of capital vs. labour and increasing inequality. His analysis refutes the prediction of the Kuznets curve (that growth will reduce inequality) and theories of the trickle-down effect. ...
... Applying the ideas of Piketty's (2014) "Capital in the Twenty-First Century" around income and wealth inequality to tourism offers a rich agenda for research. For example, analysis of the ownership patterns of major tourism assets, such as resorts and hotels, can reveal concentrations of ownership and consequent asymmetries of power in development. ...
Despite the many advances and successes of tourism economics, a number of major issues remain unseen by, immune to, and unaffected, or even exacerbated, by its approaches and prescriptions. To address this shortcoming, prompted by the 20th anniversary of the critical turn in tourism, this article proposes the addition of a more critical approach to the subject. It uses a rigorous conceptual method to assess tourism economics using a critical theory lens. It then sets out an agenda for a more critical economics of tourism. This requires the scrutiny of ideology, methodology, and power, and the development of alternative tools guided by the values of distributive justice and mindful of the constraints of sustainable development.
... Almost a century ago, Keynes (1936, p. 372) counted the 'arbitrary and inequitable distribution of wealth' as one of the 'outstanding faults of the economic society in which we live'. While Davies and Shorrocks (2000) in their survey article on the distribution of wealth could state that 'inequality has, on the whole, trended downwards in the twentieth century', in recent decades concern over rising concentration of wealth has again become one of the most troubling issues for economists such as Piketty (2014) or Stiglitz (2015a). In fact, while there is a rich empirical literature examining, both at a national level and globally, how the concentration of wealth has changed over time (e.g., Albers et al., 2022;Alvaredo et al., 2018;Blanchet & Toledano, 2023;Chatterjee et al., 2022;Zucman, 2019), and many differences between time periods and countries considered have been established, it may be regarded as a 'stylized fact' about the half century behind us that the concentration of wealth has been increasing considerably (Stiglitz 2016). ...
We consider an overlapping generations version of a model suggested by Fargione, Lehmann and Polasky that allows us to show, by means of simulations, that randomness of the rate of return on capital, combined with inheritance of capital and consumption being a concave function of wealth may lead to an increasing concentration of capital. We can also show that the average rate of return being higher than the growth rate of aggregate income, r>g, does not necessarily lead to increasing concentration and that there are cases where concentration of capital does increase while the opposite inequality, g>r, holds.
... • las reformas neoliberales que incluyeron en muchos casos procesos de privatización, desregulación y límite del gasto público y fiscal (Harvey, 2007); y • un proceso global de reconcentración de la riqueza, que de alguna manera revierte parte de los procesos redistributivos experimentados en el periodo de posguerra (Piketty, 2014) y perpetúa las condiciones de acumulación económica en un número importante de países de América Latina (De Rosa et al., 2020). ...
Este libro invita a ahondar en el estudio de la riqueza en América Latina, un campo de conocimiento aún incipiente en las agendas regionales y que resulta indispensable para ampliar el debate sobre las desigualdades, el desarrollo sostenible y la justicia social. La primera sección del volumen, titulada “Economía de la riqueza”, analiza desde diferentes perspectivas los factores estructurales y los mecanismos institucionales que explican la producción y acumulación de riqueza en América Latina. La segunda parte, “Política de la riqueza”, profundiza en las constelaciones de poder y los principales actores de la política y la riqueza. La última sección, denominada “Cultura de la riqueza”, analiza un conjunto de dinámicas sociales y culturales que influyen en la reproducción y concentración de la riqueza en la región. Sus diferentes contribuciones revelan la importancia de estudiar la riqueza para comprender la persistencia de las jerarquías y desigualdades sociales, los graves problemas de sostenibilidad ecológica y la fragilidad de las democracias en la región.
... The inverse Ushaped Kuznets curve appeared consistent with experience at the time. However, as inequality has risen in the USA and other developed countries, a new wave of research has argued that there is no automatic decrease in inequality at the mature stage of economic development, with Piketty's (2014) Capital in the 21st Century being its most salient exponent. On the other hand, an important literature has looked into the impact of inequality on growth, with a negative association being the predominant, but not exclusive, finding (Berg et al. 2018). ...
Inequality is a crucial issue in Latin America and the Caribbean, alongside very low productivity gains over the last 60 years and low levels of investment and efficiency. Most literature, especially on the political economy determinants of these problems, has considered these issues individually. This article revisits the discussion on the political economy of redistribution (or lack thereof) in the region, embedding it in a broader political economy debate. We characterize the region and its countries in terms of the size of the public sector, the extent of fiscal redistribution and the efficiency of public action. We summarize various strands of literature that explain elements of the fiscal vector individually and provide a framework that combines elements from several strands, explaining why different countries exhibit different configurations of government size, redistribution and efficiency.
... Therefore, the political will of the government and efficient delivery systems are required to ensure the proper diffusion of knowledge and skills. These commitments are critical in fostering equitable growth, rather than relying solely on market mechanisms (Piketty 2014). The legitimacy of a democratic government, such as Malaysia is secured through the trust in fulfilling the social contracts as discussed above, as well as the general will of the Malaysian grassroots. ...
The Malaysian Shared Prosperity Vision 2030 (SPV2030) aims to achieve sustainable economic growth alongside fair, inclusive, and equitable development for the nation. Since independence, Malaysia has endeavoured to continuously strike a balance in aligning economic growth, moving ahead in the value chain as well as bridging development gaps in a multi-racial society. Previous research has commonly approached shared prosperity (SP) at a quantitative and macro level. This study fills the lacuna of knowledge in suggesting that it is imperative to understand the perceptions of the grassroots (individuals) at a micro level for policy implementation. This qualitative study employs a combination of focus groups and interviews. The extraction of themes was carried out using the Gioia methodology guided by the three dimensions stipulated in the SPV2030 policy document. They are: (1) development for all; (2) addressing wealth and income disparities; and (3) fostering a united, prosperous, and dignified nation. Generally, the respondents embrace inclusive growth. They hope that development will lead to greater social mobility and that a needs-based approach is adopted in areas such as education and healthcare. In addition, enhanced governance and sense of togetherness are perceived as major drivers in promoting a united, prosperous, and dignified nation. As part of the a priori findings, the respondents also identified major enablers of SPV2030 are better living standards, revamping of education, skills enhancement, technological empowerment, responsible citizenship and community participation, and government effectiveness. The conceptual framework of this study can be used as platform to spur future studies within the Asia Pacific region which share similar developmental settings as Malaysia in fostering future financial and social well-being through SP.
... Thomas Piketty (2014), in Capital in the Twenty-First Century, examined historical data on wealth distribution, demonstrating how economic inequality has grown over time. He argued that without progressive taxation and policies that redistribute wealth, poverty will persist and deepen, reinforcing social hierarchies. ...
... The proposition is an extended version of Piketty (2014) that claims that inequality between laborers and capitalists increases monotonically. ...
A substantial body of theoretical and empirical research has emerged to explore the relationship between the return on capital, economic growth, and inequality since Piketty and his coauthors offered a groundbreaking and comprehensive perspective on inequality. Bernardo, Martínez, and StockhammeA substantial body of theoretical and empirical research has emerged to explore the relationship between the return on capital, economic growth, and inequality since Piketty and his coauthors offered a groundbreaking and comprehensive perspective on inequality.Bernardo, Martínez, and Stockhammer (2014) lay out a post-Keynesian model to examine whether the condition ????????>???????? (where ???????? is the rate of return on capital and ???????? is the economic growth rate) necessarily brings about inequality. Jones (2015), by using an overlapping generations model, demonstrates that if ???????? and ???????? are constant values, degree of wealth inequality in the asset distribution depends on ????????−????????, and also that if ???????? adjusts to balance the supply and demand for capital, this difference converges to the population growth rate. Mankiw (2015) offers a recalibration of Piketty’s arguments by incorporating considerations such as consumption patterns, procreation, and taxation, to suggest that Piketty's pessimistic scenario is not consistent with historical evidence. Fujita (2015) contributes further by developing a theoretical model that distinguishes between real capital and financial capital to analyze how ????????>???????? affects the ratio of capital to income.This paper examines the issue from a different perspective. Specifically, it focuses on an economy consisting of laborers and capitalists transitioning from a barter-based system to a currency-based monetary system and demonstrates that inequality between laborers and capitalists does not increase in the short term, even when ????????>???????? holds.r (2014) lay out a post-Keynesian model to examine whether the condition r>g (where r is the rate of return on capital and g is the economic growth rate) necessarily brings about inequality. Jones (2015), by using an overlapping generations model, demonstrates that if r and g are constant values, degree of wealth inequality in the asset distribution depends on r-g, and also that if r adjusts to balance the supply and demand for capital, this difference converges to the population growth rate. Mankiw (2015) offers a recalibration of Piketty’s arguments by incorporating considerations such as consumption patterns, procreation, and taxation, to suggest that Piketty's pessimistic scenario is not consistent with historical evidence. Fujita (2015) contributes further by developing a theoretical model that distinguishes between real capital and financial capital to analyze how r>g affects the ratio of capital to income. This paper examines the issue from a different perspective. Specifically, it focuses on an economy consisting of laborers and capitalists transitioning from a barter-based system to a currency-based monetary system and demonstrates that inequality between laborers and capitalists does not increase in the short term, even when r>g holds.
... Although GDP is a widely used metric for evaluating a nation's economic output, its efficacy is limited when applied to broader societal and environmental objectives such as the SDGs. Significant criticisms of GDP include its omission of unpaid work that is often carried out by women, and the neglect of wealth and income disparities (Piketty, 2014;Dabla-Norris et al., 2015); its sole focus on economic output without capturing quality of life or well-being (Stiglitz et al., 2009); and its disregard for the environmental implications of economic activities (Griggs et al., 2013;Costanza et al., 2009;Oteng-Abayie et al., 2022). Economic growth has often been pursued to the detriment of environmental sustainability, but alternative metrics such as the Human Development Index (HDI), the Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI), and the Inclusive Wealth Index (IWI) have been proposed. ...
Since the 1970s the international economy has seen major changes. First, many countries in Asia have had very high growth rates and there are some common features in these experiences to the point that commentators speak of an Asian model of growth. Whether or not this approach can be replicated by other developing regions, many emerging countries are becoming important economic players and “new donors” in development cooperation. China is a special case; her economic growth has lifted millions of people out of poverty and has changed economic relations all over the world. Second, since 1980 inequalities have been rising; in many countries, both high income and developing ones, income distribution has worsened, and income and wealth are now highly concentrated in the top 10% and top 1%, respectively, of the population. Third, since the 2007–2008 Great Financial Crisis economic growth has slowed almost everywhere; even China has lost its pace. Is this a long run phenomenon? Fourth, large trade “imbalances”’ have emerged with no tendency to correct countries’ surpluses and deficits and many countries are moving toward protectionist policies. Fifth, most developing regions are experiencing huge migration outflows, particularly from South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. These facts might seriously hamper the progress toward sustainable development.
Blockchain-based emerging technologies such as decentralized finance (DeFi), cryptocurrencies, tokens, and smart contracts have introduced innovative frameworks for resource allocation and economic interactions. Ethereum, as the major technical network foundation of DeFi and tokenized assets, is becoming increasingly pivotal in facilitating an extension and alternative to traditional finance for many stakeholders, including those who are “unbanked”. Moreover, the recent transition of Ethereum from a proof-of-work (PoW) mechanism to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism and the Shanghai upgrade may significantly impact Ether (ETH) distribution. However, the status quo and dynamics of wealth distribution, especially after these changes in governance structure, remain unclear. By utilizing a rich dataset spanning the entire Ethereum history from July 2015 to December 2024, we analyze the balances across address groups of different sizes and the role of key economic activities and infrastructure components within Ethereum, such as exchanges, DeFi platforms, and staking. To provide detailed insights into ETH’s distributional equality, our approach combines descriptive, longitudinal, and causal inference analyses; a complete enumeration of more than 98 million unique wallet addresses; and novel on-chain analysis. Our findings show a substantial concentration of ETH within a small fraction of addresses, with approximately 0.3% of wallets holding nearly 95% of the total supply, despite the majority of wallets holding less than 0.1% ETH. However, the ETH distribution broadly resembles wealth distributions in traditional economies, with a log-normal body and Pareto-like tails. We assert that previous studies have overstated the concentration of ETH. Additionally, our dynamic analysis reveals a nuanced trend toward less concentration over time, driven by market cycles, increasing staking participation, and reinvestment in DeFi. These results challenge the notion of pervasive centralization. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of the current ETH distribution and its evolution over time. Therefore, this work provides an objective, data-driven basis for the ongoing discussion on wealth (in)equality in blockchain-based ecosystems, particularly in DeFi.
The eco-political perspective of financial literacy examines the interplay of finance, economics, and politics in shaping financial literacy's content, methodologies, and objectives. This paper critically analyzes stereotypes in financial education within both educational and financial sectors, highlighting overlooked aspects of financial literacy theories and practices in Nepal. Adopting a descriptive and analytical approach based on the neo-liberal financialization outlook of the 1970s, the study emphasizes how neo-liberalism has profoundly influenced human lives through money, finance, and banking. The paper identifies two key findings: a) Financial literacy initiatives' content, objectives, intentions, policies, priorities, processes, delivery mechanisms, and expected outcomes are heavily influenced by eco-political perspectives, and b) Non-commercialized financial education policies and curricula from the educational sector, along with autonomy-driven financial policy formulation from financial sector, are relatively appropriate. The paper concludes by rejecting stereotyped, commercialized, and uncritical financial literacy policies and initiatives. It advocates for a new discourse on the eco-political perspective of financial literacy initiatives to enable people to become financially literate and critical citizens.
Las actitudes y comportamientos ante la desigualdad económica varían de una sociedad a otra, sin embargo el estudio transcultural de la desigualdad está todavía en sus primeros pasos. Considerando esto, realizamos una investigación experimental en dos sociedades, una de Europa (España, N = 332, M edad = 26.01, DT = 4.47, mujeres = 54,5%) y otra de Latinoamérica (Costa Rica, N = 338, M edad = 22.23, DT = 3.77, mujeres = 46,4%), con el objetivo de comparar la forma en que la inducción de orientaciones individualistas y colectivistas influye en el comportamiento frente a la desigualdad en la distribución de recursos. Encontramos que la inducción del individualismo y el colectivismo no obtuvo efectos en el comportamiento ante la desigualdad en España, excepto en una de las distribuciones en el juego del ultimátum (7:3). En Costa Rica encontramos que el priming individualista tuvo efecto en un mayor rechazo a la desigualdad en todas las distribuciones aplicadas. Contrario a lo esperado, en la muestra costarricense se dio un mayor rechazo a la desigualdad en comparación con la española. Estos resultados sugieren que, diferente a lo esperado, la sociedad relativamente más colectivista (Costa Rica) mostró un mayor rechazo a la desigualdad que la sociedad más individualista (España). Además, estos resultados no están influidos por el priming individualista, ya que al comparar los efectos sin considerar la estrategia de priming se obtiene un mayor rechazo a la desigualdad en la muestra de Costa Rica que en la de España.
The scientific objective of this study is to analyse and compare the convergence, divergence, or stagnation of selected regional labour markets indicators in the European Union, employing beta and sigma convergence concepts and the convergence club approach. By analysing seven labour market indicators from the Regional Competitiveness Index, we uncover a complex and heterogeneous landscape of labour market dynamics. Significant beta convergence is observed in three of the seven indicators, while the remaining four display stagnation. However, sigma convergence is not detected in any of the indicators; instead, two show divergence and five exhibit stagnation. Recognizing that these mixed results may stem from the fact that regions belong to distinct “convergence clubs” shaped by path dependency, we separately analyse post-socialist and capitalist regions. The convergence club approach proves useful in interpreting these varied patterns of convergence, divergence and stagnation in EU regional labour markets. Our findings suggest that while certain regions are converging on specific labour market indicators (e.g. gender balance in unemployment, long-term unemployment), others, particularly in terms of overall unemployment rates and labour productivity, are diverging. This underscores the high degree of heterogeneity within EU regional labour markets, driven by structural, institutional and historical factors.
The study highlights that labour market convergence is not an automatic process but one that necessitates strategic, long-term interventions. Policy responses must be tailored and sensitive to the unique circumstances and historical trajectories of each region, aiming not only to reduce immediate disparities but to foster sustainable development that aligns with the overarching goals of economic convergence across the European Union.
Purpose: is to develop the main provisions of the concept of creating adaptive tools for the economic management system aimed at achieving a compromise between economic efficiency and social justice that arises during the gradual transformation of the economy to increase its efficiency.
Methods: the main study methods used in the preparation of this article were the fundamentals of the theory of strategic analysis systems, the program-target approach, methods of mathematical logic and set theory.
Results: is to identify the reasons for the discrepancy between the expected economic efficiency of the "distributive methods" of the market economy and the social conditions of the development of society, which was especially evident at the initial stage of reforms. The possibilities of building harmonization tools with the joint participation of the state and the population based on the formation of a long-term development strategy based on innovation and technology are shown. It is noted that it is impossible to harmonize effective economic development and ensure social justice in society without adopting and implementing a sustainable development strategy.
Conclusions and Relevance : the relationship between economic efficiency and social justice, the most important components of socioeconomic systems, is determined and regulated by the State. It is reflected by development tools based on the interaction of ruling forces within the political system that has developed in the country. The sustainability of socio-economic development is achieved through a compromise between the State, business and society. The proposed tools for harmonizing the economic interests of the State and business in order to achieve social justice are based on increasing the opportunities for involving progressive layers of civil society in public administration, in the selection and adjustment of the state's strategic policy.
The subject of inequality and its geographical dimensions has seen a surge of interest in recent years. However, existing work tends to study inequality through single spatial scales, even though processes driving inequality operate at and across multiple scales. This article, therefore, investigates how inequality at the regional and local scale relates to phases of economic development in Sweden over three decades. The findings point towards a diverging trend of inequality between the regional and local scale, with a noticeable shift at the turn of the millennium. While the last decades were characterized by a slight regional convergence, inequality at the local scale continued to increase. Accounting for different regional contexts, economic growth and local inequality were most pronounced in the larger urban areas. Surprisingly, though, in the last decade, employment grew in urban areas without an increase in local inequality. In contrast, peripheral and sparsely populated regions experienced a rise in inequality without significant employment growth. This suggests that the link between economic development and inequality is not universal but dependent on, among others, the nature of structural change in the economy and institutional preconditions.
We revisit Marshall’s scissors analogy to the theory of value in economics and his discussion of human actors and other determinants of value creation. We build critically upon Marshall and related literature in economics and organisations to propose a novel post-classical human organisation and praxis theory of value. The theory reinstates the role of entrepreneurs, managers and workers discussed by Marshall and incorporates and develops key Marshallian ideas on organisation, knowledge and innovation, increasing returns to scale, inter-firm cooperation and (in) industrial districts, and their subsequent developments. In so doing the post-classical theory of value helps address limitations of extant theories and provides opportunities for theory development and implications for public policy.
Many countries have experienced increasing income inequality alongside rising housing prices over the past few decades. As housing prices continue to climb, the resulting growth in property-based income is expected to further widen the wealth gap. This study examines the linear and nonlinear impact of housing prices on income inequality. Sample data cover 40 countries between 1980 and 2019, and a generalized method of moments and quantile regression are applied. The main findings are as the followings: first, long-run housing prices demonstrate a nonlinear effect on income inequality, where the influence of increasing long-run housing prices lessens over time. In contrast, short-run increases in housing prices are associated with a reduction in income inequality. Second, higher long-run housing prices in middle-income countries would have a larger worsening effect on income inequality, while higher short-run housing prices in high-income countries have a better improving effect on income inequality. Finally, based on the results of quantile regression, the study reveals the impacts of housing prices across different levels of income inequality. Comparing the effect of housing prices on income inequality at different level of income inequality, it is positive at a low level but negative at a middle level in both short run and long run. If income inequality is at a high level, the effect is negative in the long run but positive in the short run. When long-run housing prices continue to rise, policymakers should take appropriate measures to curb the rise of housing prices to avoid worsening income inequality.
This article studies the narratives of counter-urbanization as presented in contemporary South Korean documentaries. In recent decades, there has been a surge of ethnographic media productions with a return-to-nature theme, highlighting urban-to-rural migration. What appears as a Thoreauesque pursuit of pastoral life in the woods reveals the traumatic aftereffects of the 1960s-80s rapid industrialization as well as the 1990s Asian Financial Crisis that resulted in layoffs, bankruptcies, homelessness, and migration. This article analyzes a selection of counter-urbanist documentaries through the dual lens of social class and masculinity, especially considering South Korea's hypermasculine industrialization and neoliberal ethos of survivalist individualism. It also examines cross-generational perspectives on counter-urbanization to recover human agency.
Field experiments are a useful empirical tool that can be deployed in any sub-discipline—including institutional economics—to enhance the sub-discipline’s empirical insights. However, we here argue that there exist fundamental barriers to the use of field experiments in understanding the impact of institutions on economic growth. Despite these obstacles, we present some significant scholarly contributions that merit exposition, while also proposing some future methods for using field experiments within institutional economics. While field experiments may be limited in answering questions in institutional economics with macroeconomic outcomes, there is great potential in employing field experiments to answer micro-founded questions.
This manuscript addresses the socio-economic challenges arising from technological advancements, focusing on their role in widening wealth inequality. It introduces the concept of ‘Re_cognition Income’ as a mechanism for fair wealth redistribution, aimed at fostering social equity in a rapidly evolving digital landscape. By examining historical shifts from Proprietary to Financial Capitalism and the emerging Participatory Capitalism paradigm, the study provides a comprehensive framework for understanding these transformations. The methodology integrates historical analysis with socio-economic theory to identify key triggers of paradigm shifts and their implications for wealth distribution. Through this approach, the study aims to support policymakers in formulating strategies that ensure the inclusive sharing of technological benefits, promoting a sustainable and just society.
This paper examines, via the concept of moral assemblage, the function of assessment as a tool for moral accountability and legit-imation. Moral assemblages consist of disciplinary institutions, technologies , and practices, intertwined with elements of moral relationality, such as blame and shame, trust and risk, recognition and misrecognition, and care and safeguarding. The focus of this analysis is the Danish education system, which has undergone significant upheavals and changes in terms of assessment and accountability, including the moral foundations underlying these shifts in recent years. Empirically, the paper draws on policy documents , radio interviews, debate papers, and interviews with key actors at school, local, and national levels in Denmark. By drawing conclusions about the evolving moral foundations surrounding accountability-driven assessment policies, this paper enhances our understanding of how changes in accountability and assessment systems-even within a liberal and decentralised education system reflect moral considerations in the context of increased demands for legitimation and system control.
Urbanization is often perceived as a driver of economic progress and modernization. However, for the marginalized poor, cities frequently become sites of exclusion, systemic oppression, and extreme hardship. Dominique Lapierre’s The City of Joy presents a powerful literary exploration of urban dystopia, depicting the struggles of slum dwellers in Anand Nagar, Calcutta. While the novel exposes the harsh realities of poverty, discrimination, and systemic exploitation, it also portrays resilience and collective survival, challenging traditional dystopian narratives. This study examines The City of Joy through a socio-literary lens, focusing on how urban dystopia operates as a mechanism of both oppression and hope. The research analyzes the dual portrayal of despair and endurance in the novel, investigating how Lapierre critiques economic disparity, social injustice, and survival mechanisms within the urban dystopian framework. Employing a qualitative and textual analysis approach, the study draws on dystopian literary theory, Marxist criticism, urban studies, and resilience theory to contextualize the novel’s themes. Key theoretical insights from Bauman on “wasted lives” (2011), Harvey on urban capitalism (2003), and Appadurai on slum resilience (2001) inform this analysis. Findings indicate that The City of Joy presents a multidimensional perspective on urban dystopia, portraying the city as both a site of severe oppression and extraordinary human endurance. The novel illustrates how the economic underclass is systematically excluded yet persists through solidarity, adaptation, and hope. The study highlights that while the novel critiques capitalist urbanization and social hierarchies, it also reveals the transformative power of human agency and communal resilience. It further reframes the urban dystopian narrative by juxtaposing deprivation with perseverance, offering a poignant critique of systemic inequalities while celebrating the unbreakable human spirit. This study contributes to the discourse on literature’s role in representing and resisting urban poverty, emphasizing how storytelling can illuminate both oppression and survival in contemporary cities.
Innovation is crucial for transformative social change that addresses growing poverty levels and widening inequalities within and between countries. Innovation measures and indicators suitable for assessing and directing progress towards achieving these goals are yet to be developed.
Much of the research that informs innovation measurement is based on conditions in highly industrialized economies, with a focus on specific sectors, formal businesses, and technology-based innovation. This is a concern, considering that for countries in the global South, the informal sector forms a significant part of the economy, and innovation tends to take non-technological and incremental forms. We have very little experience researching and measuring innovation in these settings. The available evidence suggests that traditional methods of business innovation surveys alone may not be suitable to elicit the kind of data required.
This chapter traces trends in the field of innovation measurement as it adapts to changing conceptualizations of innovation and of conditions of countries in the global South. Using the example of the measurement of innovation in the informal sector in South Africa, the chapter reflects on how African researchers have taken on the challenge. It describes experimentation with novel participatory methodologies, grounded in the lived realities of social actors that have been traditionally marginalized from formal systems of innovation, from the formal economy, and from decision-making processes. The main contribution is to demonstrate the value and limitations of this approach for the field of innovation measurement for directing and assessing progress towards transformative social change.
This paper proposes a novel non‐parametric strategy to test ‘Piketty's third law,' postulating that a positive gap between the rate of return on capital () and the economy's growth rate () is associated with increased income inequality. The strategy is based on a decomposition of inequality changes over time that allows investigating the existence of a distributive effect of the gap and its relative importance with respect to other drivers of income inequality changes over time. Applying this strategy to data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics on the last 50 years, we find support for the existence of Piketty's law in the evolution of income inequality in the United States. Whereas factors other than Piketty's income dynamics predominantly drive overall inequality, the gap accounts for approximately 10% of the trend in income inequality in the medium‐ and long‐term.
The income gap stemming from disparities in asset ownership is a significant contributor to economic inequality and social polarization. Asset income is derived from the growth and realization of these assets, with financial investment serving as the key mechanism for transforming household assets into asset-generated income. Institutionalized wealth accumulation mechanisms play a vital role in facilitating household asset growth through the influence of risk preferences.The Housing Provident Fund (HPF), an integral component of China’s social welfare and security system, is one such policy aimed at promoting asset building. This study employs linear regression and ordered logit regression, using cross-sectional data from the 2019 China Household Finance Survey (CHFS), to investigate the relationship between HPF possession, risk attitude, and financial investment engagement. To ensure robustness, a bootstrap mediation analysis is conducted to evaluate the mediating role of household heads’ risk attitudes in this relationship. The results indicate that HPF possession is positively associated with financial investment engagement (β = 0.091, p < 0.001) and the risk preferences of household heads (β = 0.130, p < 0.01). Moreover, household heads’ risk preferences partially mediate the relationship between HPF possession and financial investment engagement, with an indirect effect of 0.011 (10.3%, p < 0.05).
I think it’s absolutely important in terms of thinking the new development model that we need when we are talking about several challenges that are there. I think as all of you would agree, the technology, positioning of technology, and the policy that we require for technology, it works in an ecosystem.
Este libro invita a ahondar en el estudio de la riqueza en América Latina, un campo de conocimiento aún incipiente en las agendas regionales y que resulta indispensable para ampliar el debate sobre las desigualdades, el desarrollo sostenible y la justicia social. La primera sección del volumen, titulada “Economía de la riqueza”, analiza desde diferentes perspectivas los factores estructurales y los mecanismos institucionales que explican la producción y acumulación de riqueza en América Latina. La segunda parte, “Política de la riqueza”, profundiza en las constelaciones de poder y los principales actores de la política y la riqueza. La última sección, denominada “Cultura de la riqueza”, analiza un conjunto de dinámicas sociales y culturales que influyen en la reproducción y concentración de la riqueza en la región. Sus diferentes contribuciones revelan la importancia de estudiar la riqueza para comprender la persistencia de las jerarquías y desigualdades sociales, los graves problemas de sostenibilidad ecológica y la fragilidad de las democracias en la región.
This article introduces the new International Tax Institutions (ITI) database, a unique collection of the most relevant statutory tax indicators for the whole world. It includes taxes on corporate and personal (earned and capital) income, consumption taxes, as well as anti-tax avoidance rules (thin-capitalization and earnings-stripping rules, CFC rules and transfer pricing regulations). Our main objective is to provide a broad overview on key features, (time- and cross-sectional) variation, and regularities in the data, with a focus on international tax issues. We present a vast number of new variables – such as effective tax and institutional measures – that allow for a comprehensive description and comparison of countries’ taxes and tax systems.
The process of urbanisation manifests itself in various forms of inequality, for instance, in income levels, access to health care, education and labour market and housing conditions. The economic and social inequality is also visible in the social spaces of the city in the form of residential segregation. Enclaves of communities, slums and gated communities are some of the prominent forms of segregation of social space in the cities. At the same time, private cities are also emerging as spaces of consumption and repositing wealth. Inequality and segregation in this situation entail tension and conflicts both in latent and manifested forms. As a result, various forms of crime and violence become an integral part of urban life. This chapter focuses on inequality and segregation as an emerging feature of exclusionary urbanisation and its linkages with crime and violence. The chapter indicates that the securitisation of the city using technology like sensors, cameras, drones and GPS has entered into the production and planning of the urban spaces of cities ignoring human and social issues.
The reversal of the trend towards the decline in income inequality in the last four decades in most countries has created favorable grounds for the rise of nationalist and anti-globalization sentiments. Economic failures of countries, groups of people and individuals are among important factors that cause nationalism. The rise of nationalism in many countries in recent decades, as measured by the decline in the “pride in your own country” indicator from the World Values Survey, is statistically significantly related to the change in income inequality (Gini coefficient) within the country. When globalization is properly managed, it is good for growth and income distribution and does not lead to nationalism. But if it is accompanied by the decline in real incomes for large masses of people, nationalist political forces have additional arguments for instigating anti-globalization and isolationist sentiments. The rise in income inequality within major countries since the 1980s poses a threat not only to social stability, but also to globalization.
The disparity between the Global South and the Global North has gained prominence in classifying countries according to economic, social, and governance characteristics rather than historical links. Historically, the Global North has long been regarded as the dominant group of nations, far outperforming Global South countries; however, several Global South nations now surpass and outperform the Global North nations in multiple measures. Traditional measures like GDP per capita often overlook the intricate leadership dynamics essential for understanding developments in both regions. This study presents a novel approach to evaluating global leadership transitions, including economic performance, social mobility, and governance structures, by expanding on the Global South Leadership (GSL) Index. By averaging scores of 18 indices for 192 countries, scatter plots are created to identify relationships and trends between Global North and South countries and among the regions within. This study extrapolates why some Global South countries are overperforming and others are underperforming, and the ones that have overcome obstacles and become role models for other Global South, as well as for Global North countries.
Over the past several decades, the world has witnessed growing concerns over the global economic landscape whether it is on an individual or an enterprise level. On an individual front, despite various schemes and focus on reducing income and social inequalities a majority of the world is witnessing a K-shaped dynamic where the wealthy (Top 1%) are benefiting from asset appreciation, while people in middle and lower-income groups are confronting higher costs and financial strains even to maintain their quality of life. On a similar note, some companies have unilateral control over an overwhelming amount of cash, assets, and other resources, making the situation a lot more complex, resulting in the current world scenario. So, where is Adam Smith’s invisible hand to stabilise the market and bring the economy to an equilibrium? And what are the corrective measures that can be taken to deal with this gap?
For a century, the Ethiopian city Jigjiga was known as a dusty hub of cross-border smuggling and a hotbed of rebellion on Ethiopia's eastern frontier. After 2010, it transformed into a post-conflict boomtown, becoming one of Africa's fastest-growing cities and attracting Somali return-migrants from across the globe. This study examines Jigjiga's astonishing transformation through the eyes of its cross-border traders, urban businesspeople, and officials. Daniel K. Thompson follows traders and return-migrants across borders to where their lives collide in the city. Analysing their strategies of mobility and exchange, this study reveals how Ethiopia's federal politics, Euro-American concerns about terrorism, and local business aspirations have intertwined to reshape links between border-making and city-making in the Horn of Africa. To understand this distinctive brand of urbanism, Thompson follows globalized connections and reveals how urbanites in Africa and beyond participate in the “urban borderwork” of constructing, as well as contesting, today's border management regimes.
This study analyses the impact of the Family Hope Program (PKH) in the Special Region of Yogyakarta. This conditional cash transfer initiative aims to reduce poverty by improving access to education, health, and social welfare for low-income households. The study evaluates the impact of PKH on households’ education expenditure and participation, showing that although education participation rates are higher among PKH beneficiaries, they spend less on education due to budget constraints. The study also examines the socioeconomic factors that influence poverty in Yogyakarta, emphasizing the role of education in reducing economic inequality. In addition, the study examines the social safety net (JPS) program in Yogyakarta, using the PSM econometric model to assess its impact on household welfare. The findings highlight the need for increased education budgets and targeted interventions to improve education quality and access for poor families.
In response to the growing challenge of inequality around the world, the United Nations in 2015 adopted the 2030 agenda for sustainable development, a set of seventeen (17) sustainable development goals (SDGs). Chief amongst them is the goal to reduce inequalities among and within countries by reducing income inequalities: SDG1. To enable effective implementation of the goal, the United Nations calls for a global partnership, involving the public and private sectors. Placing its core emphasis on the Nigerian private sector, this article examines, from a doctrinal and analytical perspective, the strategic contributions institutional investors in Nigeria can make in combating inequality. The article identifies ‘Responsible Investment’, a growing international phenomenon, as one of the veritableinstruments that can be engaged in bridging the inequality gap prevalent in the country.
This paper presents a new data set that measures inequality levels in the city-state of Delos at two different points in time during the period of its independence (314-167 BCE). We propose a new approach for quantifying ancient inequality and its evolution by relying on inscriptions that indicate property data and artisanal remunerations. A probabilistic approach is adopted to assess the uncertainty of the estimates and their sensitivity to assumptions. This paper finds that there was a decrease in wealth inequality of about 20% between the early and late periods of independence. We hypothesize that the main reason for the socioeconomic changes is to be found in the new political status of autonomy that occurred in 314 BCE and resulted in a greater share of wealth being held by the middle class.
Este estudio analiza las estrategias fiscales implementadas en economías emergentes para reducir la desigualdad social, destacando su impacto en la redistribución del ingreso y la equidad fiscal. A través de una revisión sistemática basada en la metodología PRISMA, se examinan estudios recientes que evidencian la efectividad de sistemas tributarios progresivos y programas de transferencias monetarias condicionadas. Los resultados indican que, si bien estas estrategias contribuyen a reducir la brecha de ingresos, su éxito depende de la solidez institucional, la transparencia en la gestión de recursos y la capacidad de los gobiernos para mitigar la evasión y elusión fiscal. Además, se identifica que la calidad institucional y la cooperación internacional son factores determinantes para garantizar la sostenibilidad de las políticas fiscales redistributivas. La investigación concluye que un enfoque integral, que combine políticas tributarias equitativas, gasto público eficiente y mecanismos de gobernanza sólidos, es esencial para lograr una reducción efectiva de la desigualdad social en economías emergentes.
This chapter continues the analysis of those mechanisms in liberal democracy that appear to connect the two main components of political relations, the state and civil society. Here the focus is on political parties, and to a lesser degree on lobbies, referenda, and the ombudsoffice. There is, moreover, a set of informal processes that has always existed but now much expanded and so they cannot be ignored. “Shadow links” is the label these processes have been given, and they include state creditors, credit rating agencies, corporate consultancies, mass media, global regulators such as the IMF and the World Bank, corporatized state agencies, and ‘revolving doors,’ among other forms of quasi-legal influencing.
Understanding the drivers of economy-wide productivity growth has long been of interest to academics and policy makers. In this paper, we contribute to the literature by conducting a comprehensive analysis of the impact of technical change and catch-up on economic development in European regions. In doing so, we differentiate the internal productivity growth of each sector from the external spillover effect across both regions and sectors. As our study is much more granular than previous studies, we provide fundamental information for regional and national agencies to design effective policy measures aiming to stimulate regions' economic growth. We model the spatial interdependencies among the European regions using inter-regional and inter-sectoral input-output tables from the EUREGIO database. Our empirical application shows that the trade-related spillover effects cannot be disregarded, and that neglecting them would hide part of the explanation behind changes in productivity across regions. We conduct various counterfactual analyses to demonstrate this augmented impact of the trade network. We also simulate the regional TFP improvements due to digitalization, as well as the propagation effects of the financial crisis and the downturn in the construction sector. These analyses reveal how more traditional approaches that overlook these indirect effects tend to underestimate the true impact of positive and negative shocks on regional productivity growth. Our findings could serve policymakers as the ground for building a categorization of regions based on their presence in trade networks.
This paper provides a critical study of the twofold National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) policy: as a student loan (1999-2017) and as a student grant (2018-current). This review is located in the broader public higher education policy landscape adopted in postcolonial South Africa concerning student access. Two theories frame the study: Fanon's postcolonial theory and Bourdieu's symbolic violence theory. The data being analysed is generated from personal experiences, policy document reviews, and interviews. We make three findings: NSFAS was initially designed from a market-orientated doctrine by a postcolonial and liberal welfare state; its implementation crisis subjects students to symbolic violence; and it has systematically improved and matured since 2018, but still has remaining challenges that disable it from delivering the promise of higher education transformation. This contribution extends perspective concerning policy options and existing research on higher education studies.
Eşitsizliğe etki eden faktörlerden biri olduğu ileri sürülen savunma harcamaları, ilgili literatürde kısıtlı bir alan kaplamaktadır. Türkiye’nin bulunduğu coğrafyadan kaynaklı olarak karşı karşıya kaldığı güvenlik risklerini azaltmak için savunma harcaması yapmak zorunda olması ve ülke içinde artan gelir eşitsizliği nedeniyle savunma harcamaları ve eşitsizlik bağının anlaşılması önem arz etmektedir. Bu çalışmada, 1988-2023 döneminde Türkiye’de savunma harcamaları, sefalet endeksi, büyüme ve kurumsal kalitenin gelir eşitsizliğine etkisi araştırılmıştır. RALS-ADL eşbütünleşme yönteminin kullanıldığı çalışmada uzun dönem ilişkisi doğrulanmıştır. Uzun dönem esneklikleri, büyüme ile eşitsizlik arasında düz U şekilli bir ilişkinin olduğunu göstermiştir. Ayrıca sefalet endeksi ve savunma harcamalarının eşitsizliği arttırdığı ve kurumsal kalitenin etkisinin anlamsız olduğu tespit edilmiştir. Düz U şekilli ilişkinin varlığı büyümenin uzun vadede eşitsizlik yaratacağını ifade etmektedir. Buna ek olarak eşitsizliğin artan savunma harcamaları ve yüksek enflasyonist süreçle daha da derinleşebileceği öngörülmektedir. Kurumsal kalite düzeyinin eşitleyici etkiden uzak olması da yine Türkiye açısından olumsuz bir tablo ortaya koymaktadır. Düşük gelirli kesime yönelik sosyal koruma harcamalarının arttırılmasının yanında, savunma harcamalarında etkinliğin sağlanması ve makroekonomik politikaların piyasalar üzerinde enflasyonist baskı yaratmayacak şekilde tasarlanması gerekmektedir.
This paper studies the age-group-specific evolutions of inequality of total income among highly and less educated females and males at ages 26–85 from 2005 to 2018 in the United States. In particular, it presents time series of Gini coefficients and associated decompositions by different income components to highlight the contributions of different income sources to inequality in different age groups over time. The results indicate, among others, that especially an increasing number of individuals with zero incomes contributed to the observed increases of inequality among less educated females and males aged 26–45 and 26–55 after the Great Recession, respectively.
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any references for this publication.