Clearly, economic inequality is a highly complex phenomenon, affected by a wide variety of factors – many of which we do not fully understand, much less control. Given this, we should be wary of the kinds of radical policies that some politicians are promoting today. Their impact is unpredictable, and that may end up doing […]
Nearly two decades after the collapse of apartheid, South Africa is a pluralistic democracy with a robust free press, an independent judiciary, and a commitment to the rule of law. The country’s mixed economy is the largest–and arguably least risky for investors–on the continent, with deep capital markets and highly developed financial services. Yet despite the […]
China‘s new leaders have interpreted recent unrest as being fueled by anger about inequality. But most Chinese find the gap between rich and poor relatively unproblematic. If the Xi administration hopes to settle the country, it needs to starts focusing on the real reasons citizens are taking to the streets: injustice and corruption. Read Here […]
Recent political debate in the United States and other advanced capitalist democracies has been dominated by two issues: the rise of economic inequality and the scale of government intervention to address it. As the 2012 U.S. presidential election and the battles over the “fiscal cliff” have demonstrated, the central focus of the left today is […]
No decade in history has experienced such an increase in urban population as the last. From Tokyo-Yokohama, the world’s largest urban area (population: 37 million) to Godegård, Sweden, which may be the smallest (population: 200), urban areas added 700 million people between 2000 and 2010. Nearly one in 10 of the world’s new urban residents were in […]
On Friday, China’s National Bureau of Statistics announced that income inequality in the country exceeds a warning level set by the United Nations. China’s publication of its Gini coefficient – a widely used measure of economic equity – drew attention for a number of reasons. For one, China has not published its Gini coefficient since 2000. More […]
looking beyond borders 