What Is Happening Now? | Lecture 4 | Inequality 101 with Branko Milanovic & Arjun Jayadev

What is happening to global inequality now? In this fourth lecture in the Institute for New Economic Thinking’s “Inequality 101” series, Branko Milanovic continues his exploration of global inequality into the contemporary neoliberal era.

Inequality, in many ways, may be the biggest question of our times. And yet it is a topic that is still underexplored in conventional economics curricula. In this five-part lecture series from the Institute for New Economic Thinking, economists Arjun Jayadev ( @AzimPremjiUniversity ) and Branko Milanovic ( @GradCenterCUNY ) break down what inequality is, how we measure it, why it exists, and how to address it.

[longnewton]

The data clearly shows that the rich have benefitted hugely from market liberalization and globalization. They’ve designed a system that enriches them and they keep most of the wealth created themselves. Redistributing this wealth is essential and the case is unarguable. We might also consider reversing globalization or at least change it so the proceeds are shared.

[punditpounder]

excellent excellent distillation of the data. With respect to the reshuffling of income distribution, that when one group moves from 20th percentile to the 40th, somebody else had to move "down" from the their existing 40th percentile. While this is true, it does not mean that group of people has lost purchasing power. If a person in the 40th percentile can only afford a used car, but somebody who could not afford a car at all suddenly leap frogs to the 50th percentile to the ability to afford a luxury car, the 40th percentile person will be reshuffled down but they will not lose their ability afford a used car. In other words, as global incomes rise, the purchasing power distance between each card in the deck narrows. What will the world look like when the world poverty level rises to the US poverty level? Will the poor in the US come to have less purchasing power than they do now? No. I drive a 2004 Nissan 350Z sports car. My low level millionaire friend (net worth about $2.5 million) drives a 2012 Porsche Carrera. We both drive sports cars. It's no longer the case in the US of the rich owning sports cars while the lesser classes don't, it's now a case of what level of sports car do both classes drive.

[moodister]

Right off the bat, anyone calculating income averages between billionaires and anyone else, is lying to you.