The Politics Of Economic Inequality In Developing Countries

Inequalities of wealth and income have a significant impact for the achievement of economic, political and human development in developing counties. This book argues that a high level of economic inequality undermines a country's growth potential, retards the development of social capital, and encourages corruption.

"Compared to third world poverty (absolute deprivation), economic inequality (relative deprivation) in developing countries has received little attention. In this book, Philip Nel shows that economic inequality has great significance for the achievement of economic, political and human development in developing countries. He argues that a high level of inequality undermines a country's growth potential, retards the development of social capital and trust, encourages corruption and conflict, and jeopardizes the opportunities for consistent regime development. As inequality continues to worsen in most parts of the developing world, this book provides a timely study on its causes and consequences."--Book cover.

Inequality has emerged as a key development challenge. It holds implications for economic growth and redistribution and translates into power asymmetries that can endanger human rights, create conflict, and embed social exclusion and chronic poverty. For these reasons, it underpins intense public and academic debates and has become a dominant policy concern within many countries and in all multilateral agencies. It is at the core of the 17 goals of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This book contributes to this important discussion by presenting assessments of the measurement and analysis of global inequality by leading inequality scholars, aligning these to comprehensive reviews of inequality trends in five of the world's largest developing countries - Brazil, China, India, Mexico, and South Africa.

This report revisits the theoretical concepts of inequalities including their measurements, analyzes their global trends, presents the policy makers' perception of inequalities in 15 countries and identifies various policy options in combating this major development challenge of our time. The report makes the basic point that in spite of the impressive progress humanity has made on many fronts over the decades, it still remains deeply divided. In that context, it is intended to help development actors, citizens, and policy makers contribute to global dialogues and initiate conversations in their own countries about the drivers and extent of inequalities, their impact, and the ways in which they can be curbed.

During the last few decades, the gap between the incomes, wealth and living standards of rich and poor people has increased in most countries. Economic inequality has become a defining issue of our age. In this book, leading political economist Frank Stilwell provides a comprehensive overview of the nature, causes, and consequences of this growing divide. He shows how we can understand inequalities of wealth and incomes, globally and nationally, examines the scale of the problem and explains how it affects our wellbeing. He also shows that, although governments are often committed to ‘growth at all costs’ and ‘trickle down’ economics, there are alternative public policies that could be used to narrow the gap between rich and poor. Stilwell’s engaging and clear guide to the issues will be indispensable reading for all students, general readers and scholars interested in inequality in political economy, economics, public policy and beyond.

Comprehensive analysis of economic inequality in developed countries. The contributors give their view on the state-of-the-art scientific research in their fields and add their own visions of future research.

In the last two decades of the 20th century, we witnessed a dramatic growth in social inequalities within and among countries. This has had a most negative impact on the health and quality of life of large sectors of the populations in the developed and underdeveloped world. This volume analyzes the reasons for this increase in inequalities and its consequences for the well-being of populations. Scholars from a variety of disciplines and countries analyze the different dimensions of this topic.

Inequalities in incomes and wealth have increased in advanced countries, making our economies less dynamic, our societies more unjust and our political processes less democratic. As a result, reducing inequalities is now a major economic, social and political challenge. This book provides a concise yet comprehensive overview of the economics of inequality. Until recently economic inequality has been the object of limited research efforts, attracting only modest attention in the political arena; despite important advances in the knowledge of its dimensions, a convincing understanding of the mechanisms at its roots is still lacking. This book summarizes the topic and provides an interpretation of the mechanisms responsible for increased disparities. Building on this analysis the book argues for an integrated set of policies addressing the roots of inequalities in incomes and wealth Explaining Inequality will be of interest to students, researchers and practitioners concerned with inequality, economic and public policy and political economy.

This book examines how a society that is trapped in stagnation might initiate and sustain economic and political development. In this context, progress requires the reform of existing arrangements, along with the complementary evolution of informal institutions. It involves enhancing state capacity, balancing broad avenues for political input, and limiting concentrated private and public power. This juggling act can only be accomplished by resolving collective-action problems (CAPs), which arise when individuals pursue interests that generate undesirable outcomes for society at large. Merging and extending key perspectives on CAPs, inequality, and development, this book constructs a flexible framework to investigate these complex issues. By probing four basic hypotheses related to knowledge production, distribution, power, and innovation, William D. Ferguson offers an analytical foundation for comparing and evaluating approaches to development policy. Navigating the theoretical terrain that lies between simplistic hierarchies of causality and idiosyncratic case studies, this book promises an analytical lens for examining the interactions between inequality and development. Scholars and researchers across economic development and political economy will find it to be a highly useful guide.

Increasing concern has been expressed by Third World leaders and international organizations alike over the growing gap between rich and poor nations. Between 1950 and 1980 alone, the per capita income gap between low-income and industrialized countries grew from $3,677 to $9,648. In addition, within the developing nations themselves, an ever-widening gap separates the rich from the poor. Other evidence suggests that middle-income countries may be gaining on the rich countries. Some research shows that the gap in education and health is narrowing rather rapidly, and studies of domestic inequality have revealed that growth with equity has occurred in a number of developing nations that have committed themselves to such a policy. This volume presents the evidence for both sides of the debate. It begins by stating the conventional wisdom–that international and internal gaps are widening–and goes on to examine the major explanations offered, which focus on culture, urban bias, dependency, and world-system analysis. The book then presents empirical studies on the existence and causes of the gap, as well as key case studies that challenge the conventional wisdom. Unique in its objectivity, this text does not seek to serve either side of the debate, but instead draws upon the best research in the field to highlight major issues and to present studies that have subjected the differing perspectives to rigorous empirical analysis. It will prove especially useful in courses on Third World development, political economy, comparative politics, development economics, the sociology of development, and related topics.