Inequality and Recession in Britain and the USA

Bibliographic Data

ID3884083
AuthorsGeorge Irvin (House of Representatives, corresponding author)
Year2011
Volume42
Issue1
Pages154-182
Publication date2011-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueDevelopment and Change (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0012-155X • E-ISSN: 1467-7660
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1467-7660.2010.01679.x
OpenAlexW1487039905
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited16

For two of the richest English-speaking countries, Britain and the United States, growing income inequality has been a persistent feature of the past thirty years, leading some economists to question the cosy assumption that as economic development proceeds, intra-country inequality must ultimately fall. Various hypotheses have been advanced to explain this phenomenon, the best known being that the technological revolution has driven a wedge between skilled and unskilled labour, but none is remotely convincing. Fundamentally, it is a question of political economy whether under conditions of stagnant real wages and a falling wage share, growth in deregulated, finance-driven economies can last. The argument advanced here is that probably it cannot. The profit squeeze of the 1970s having given way to a neoliberal wage squeeze, growth came to depend on asset bubble driven consumption and investment. The Great Recession of 2008 raises questions not merely about neoliberal beliefs, but about whether future capitalist growth can occur unless investment is socialized

Argument (complex analysis) · Consumption (sociology) · Development economics · Economic inequality · Economics · Falling (accident) · Financialization · Inequality · Investment (military) · Keynesian economics · Labour economics · Market economy · Political science · Politics · Real wages · Recession · Sociology · Wage · Economic Theory and Policy · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Political Economy and Marxism

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