Inequality is not inevitable: Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz on economic inequality in the US

Inequality is not inevitable: Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz on economic inequality in the US
Inequality is not inevitable: Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz on economic inequality in the US
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The News Minute| June 30, 2014| 01:00 pm IST

Economist Joseph Stiglitz, writing for The Great Divide- a New York Times series, writes about the rise of inequality in the United States. Stiglitz makes a reference to Thomas Piketty’s book ‘Capital in the 21st Century’ and explains how inequality has been entrenched over the years.

Joseph Stiglitz’s article moves beyond the dominant notion of inequality being inherent to capitalism and provides alternative explanations for the prevalence of inequality in the United States today.

Stiglitz says that almost a quarter of American children younger than 5 live in poverty, and with America doing so little for its poor, the deprivations of one generation are being visited upon the next.
“If it is not the inexorable laws of economics that have led to America’s great divide, what is it? The straightforward answer: our policies and our politics,” explains the article.

‘Inequality is not inevitable’ traces the evolution of USA’s welfare policies from the onset of the Cold War and explains why certain decisions were made and more importantly, that it is not too late to change them.

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