Inequality, Collective Action, and Democratization

2009 ◽  
Vol 42 (04) ◽  
pp. 661-666 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Keefer
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Working Classes ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Rich

Epic redistributive struggles between the rich and poor lie at the heart of prominent theories of economic development and the emergence of democracy (e.g., Boix 2003; Acemoglu and Robinson 2006). The poor pursue democracy to secure credible redistribution away from wealthy elites; elites, fearing redistribution, but also the costs of revolution, decide whether to repress these efforts or to surrender to them. These theories, and the historical examples of working classes exacting redistributive or political concessions from elites, have been interpreted as suggesting that inequality and redistributive struggles should be central features of development and democratization. Where inequality is high, democracy should be unlikely to emerge, or to emerge and be unstable. Because elites in unequal societies are unwilling to adopt institutions that encourage growth and investment (such as institutions that protect non-elites from predation by elites), incomes should be lower as well.

Amiya Kumar Bagchi. The Political Economy of Underdevelopment. London: Cambridge University Press. 1982. Reprint 1983. pp.viii+276. List of books for further reading; Index. Price: £ 8.50 (paperback edition).

1985 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-82
Author(s):  
Zia Ul Haq
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
Third World ◽  
Social Process ◽  
Growth Strategies ◽  
Cambridge University ◽  
Working Classes ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Rich ◽  
The Third World

Amiya Kumar Bagchi, an eminent economist of the modern Cambridge tradition, has produced a timely treatise, in a condensed form, on the development problems of the Third World countries. The author's general thesis is that economic development in the developing societies necessarily requires a radical transformation in the economic, social and political structures. As economic development is actually a social process, economic growth should not be narrowly defined as the growth of the stock of rich capitalists. Neither can their savings be equated to capital formation whose impact on income will presumably 'trickle down' to the working classes. Economic growth strategies must not aim at creating rich elites, because, according to the author, "maximizing the surplus in the hands of the rich in the Third World is not, however, necessarily a way of maximizing the rate of growth".

Class, Crime, and Cannibalism in The String of Pearls; or, The Demon Barber as Bourgeois Bogeyman

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 118-131
Author(s):  
Leah Richards
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Urban Poor ◽  
Lower Class ◽  
Class Conflict ◽  
Middle Classes ◽  
Working Classes ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Cultural Resonance ◽  
String Of Pearls

Although the tale of Sweeney Todd is one with significant cultural resonance, little has been written about the text itself, The String of Pearls. This article argues that the text engages with anxieties about class conflict through a narrative that enacts exaggerated versions of various interactions. In the nineteenth century, critics objected to the cheap fiction pejoratively known as penny dreadfuls, asserting that the genre’s exciting tales of bloodshed, villainy, and mayhem would seduce readers to lives of debauchery and crime, but I argue that this concern about cheap fiction was not for the preservation of the souls of the poor and working classes but rather for the preservation of the middle classes' own corporeal bodies and the system that privileged and protected them. While there is no question that the narrative enacts extreme manifestations of problems facing the urban poor—among them, contaminated or even poisonous foodstuffs and the perils of urban anonymity—it also features an intractable and rapacious lower class and a subversion of the master-servant dynamic on which the comforts of the middle class were constructed, and so, in addition to adventure, detection, and young love, The String of Pearls offers a dark revenge fantasy of class-based violence that the middle-class critics of the penny dreadful were perhaps justified in fearing. tl;dr: Eat the Rich!

DIFFERENTIAL FERTILITY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

2013 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 1048-1068 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hideki Nakamura ◽  
Yoshihiko Seoka
Keyword(s):  
Human Capital ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
Capital Stock ◽  
Initial Ratio ◽  
Differential Fertility ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Rich People ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Persistent Poverty

This paper considers differential fertility and analyzes how the fertility of people caught in poverty disturbs their escape from poverty. For escape from poverty, it is necessary that the average human capital stock exceed certain thresholds before the ratio of the number of poor to rich people increases more rapidly than the human capital level of rich people. Thus, the escape depends on a race between the accumulation of human capital by the rich and the accumulation of children by the poor. A high initial ratio of the number of poor to rich people would imply persistent poverty.

scholarly journals Contextualizing Community Economic Development

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 75
Author(s):  
Ahmad Gamal
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Urban Environment ◽  
Informal Employment ◽  
Community Economic Development ◽  
Population Composition ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Economic Context ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Unique Context

This paper is aimed at contextualizing the approach of Community Based Development as an alternative solution of communities to reduce dependency to the outer forces. It is conducted by examining a heavily urbanized area in Central Jakarta and to compare it with different scales of contexts. Kelurahan Cideng has very unique context since its urban environment has particular population composition of the dichotomic extremes: the poor and the rich as well as those involved in formal and informal employment. The study treats a national government’s policy of the integration of Posyandu, BKK and provincial initiative of PAUD as the interplay with the socio-economic context of Cideng.

Sybil

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Disraeli
Keyword(s):  
Social Problems ◽  
Living Conditions ◽  
Reading Public ◽  
Victorian England ◽  
Working Classes ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Rich

Sybil, or The Two Nations is one of the finest novels to depict the social problems of class-ridden Victorian England. The book's publication in 1845 created a sensation, for its immediacy and readability brought the plight of the working classes sharply to the attention of the reading public. The ‘two nations’ of the alternative title are the rich and poor, so disparate in their opportunities and living conditions, and so hostile to each other. that they seem almost to belong to different countries. The gulf between them is given a poignant focus by the central romantic plot concerning the love of Charles Egremont, a member of the landlord class, for Sybil, the poor daughter of a militant Chartist leader.

Global Environment and International Inequality

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henry Shue
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Natural Environment ◽  
Global Environment ◽  
Economic Welfare ◽  
Industrial Activity ◽  
International Inequality ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Theories Of Justice ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Rich Countries

My aim is to establish that three commonsense principles of fairness, none of them dependent upon controversial philosophical theories of justice, give rise to the same conclusion about the allocation of the costs of protecting the environment. Poor states and rich states have long dealt with each other primarily upon unequal terms. The imposition of unequal terms has been relatively easy for the rich states because they have rarely needed to ask for the voluntary cooperation of the less powerful poor states. Now the rich countries have realized that their own industrial activity has been destroying the ozone in the earth’s atmosphere and has been making far and away the greatest contribution to global warming. They would like the poor states to avoid adopting the same form of industrialization by which they themselves became rich. It is increasingly clear that if poor states pursue their own economic development with the same disregard for the natural environment and the economic welfare of other states that rich states displayed in the past during their development, everyone will continue to suffer the effects of environmental destruction. Consequently, it is at least conceivable that rich states might now be willing to consider dealing cooperatively on equitable terms with poor states in a manner that gives due weight to both the economic development of poor states and the preservation of the natural environment. If we are to have any hope of pursuing equitable cooperation, we must try to arrive at a consensus about what equity means. And we need to define equity not as a vague abstraction but concretely and specifically in the context of both development of the economy in poor states and preservation of the environment everywhere. What diplomats and lawyers call equity incorporates important aspects of what ordinary people everywhere call fairness. The concept of fairness is neither Eastern nor Western, Northern nor Southern, but universal. People everywhere understand what it means to ask whether an arrangement is fair or biased toward some parties over other parties.

scholarly journals PARADIGMA PEMBANGUNAN EKONOMI; SATU ANALISIS TINJAUAN ULANG DARI PERSPEKTIF EKONOMI ISLAM

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
SYAMSURI SYAMSURI
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Economic System ◽  
Economic Theories ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Socialist Economic ◽  
Development Concept ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Economics Analysis ◽  
Development Perspective

Abstract. Paradigm of Economic Development; Perspective of Islamic Economics Analysis. The capitalist economic system has failed because the rich exploiting the poor and a socialist economic system justifies the poor seize property of the rich. This problem becomes an important issue for the Muslim economists. Paradigm both the liberal system is exploitative, unfair and treats people not as people. Not pay attention to moral values and akhlaqs, a dichotomy between religion and economics, make man a slave of development and not development for human. This paper is a reflection phenomenon of damage to the environment, social inequality and poverty not been abated. So the liberal economic theories and concepts need to be reviewed by presenting a new economic development concept that comes from revelation that is the Quran and hadith. Finally, from the discussion can be concluded that economic development can not be achieved except with implementing Islamic guidance in everything. And the nature of development must necessarily multi-dimensional, included the gratification of physical and ruh. Economic development must also be able to create a balance between individual interests and the interests of society, kindness balanced and consistent according the rules of Islam. Measure of the success of development if the concept of caliphate, ‘adalah, and tazkiyah can meet all basic needs of every human being and nature conservation around for the long term future generations.Abstrak. Paradigma Pembangunan Ekonomi; Satu Analisis Tinjauan Ulang Dari Perspektif Ekonomi Islam. Kegagalan sistem ekonomi kapitalis yang membenarkan orang kaya mengeksploitasi orang miskin, dan sistem sosialis membenarkan orang miskin merampas harta orang kaya menjadi satu isu penting bagi para ekonom muslim. Paradigma kedua sistem liberal tersebut bersifat eksploitatif dan tidak fair serta memperlakukan manusia bukan sebagai manusia. Mengesampingkan nilai moral dan akhlak, memisahkan antara agama dengan ekonomi, dan menjadikan manusia hamba pembangunan, bukan pembangunan untuk manusia. Makalah ini merupakan satu refleksi fenomena dari kerusakan alam, ketimpangan sosial, kemiskinan yang tidak berkunjung reda. Sehingga teori dan konsep ekonomi liberal perlu ditinjau ulang dengan menyajikan satu konsep pembangunan ekonomi baru yang bersumber dari wahyu yaitu al-Quran maupun hadith. Akhirnya dari pembahasan dapat disimpulkan bahwa pembangunan ekonomi tidak akan dapat dicapai melainkan dengan menjalankan ajaran Islam secara kaffah, dan sifat pembangunan mestilah multi dimensi yang merangkumi pemuasan secara fisik maupun ruh. Termasuk pembangunan ekonomi juga mesti dapat menciptakan keseimbangan antara kepentingan individu dan kepentingan masyarakat, kebaikan yang seimbang dan konsisten sesuai kaedah-kaedah agama Islam. Tolak ukur keberhasilan pembangunan ini apabila tuntutan khilafah, ‘adalah dan tazkiyah dapat memenuhi seluruh keperluan dasar setiap insan dan pelestarian alam sekitar untuk jangka panjang generasi selanjutnya.

scholarly journals Do Real Depreciations Reduce the Income Gap between the Rich and the Poor?

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 266
Author(s):  
Guangjun Qu
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Reverse Causality ◽  
Gini Coefficients ◽  
Income Gap ◽  
Currency Depreciation ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Rich ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Distribution Of Income

This study concentrates on the effect of real depreciations of a currency on one key aspect of economic development, the distribution of income. Based upon the recent availability of a real depreciation index and two databases on Gini coefficients, we investigate how real depreciations affect levels and changes in the distribution of income. The panel evidence of more than  158 countries indicates that real depreciations are associated with a decline in levels of income gap between the rich and the poor. They, however, have no statistically significant association with changes in the distribution of income. Therefore, the relationship between real depreciations and levels of the distribution of income is likely to stem from reverse causality. Our main findings may help policymakers who attempt to use a currency depreciation policy fully realize that the policy at least does not hurt the poor.

scholarly journals The Wind of Change: Maritime Technology, Trade, and Economic Development

2017 ◽  
Vol 107 (9) ◽  
pp. 2821-2854 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luigi Pascali
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Trade Integration ◽  
Shipping Industry ◽  
Trade Routes ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The World ◽  
Maritime Technology ◽  
Shipping Costs ◽  
Economic Divergence ◽  
The Rich

The 1870–1913 period marked the birth of the first era of trade globalization. How did this tremendous increase in trade affect economic development? This work isolates a causality channel by exploiting the fact that the introduction of the steamship in the shipping industry produced an asymmetric change in trade distances among countries. Before this invention, trade routes depended on wind patterns. The steamship reduced shipping costs and time in a disproportionate manner across countries and trade routes. Using this source of variation and novel data on shipping, trade, and development, I find that (i) the adoption of the steamship had a major impact on patterns of trade worldwide; (ii) only a small number of countries, characterized by more inclusive institutions, benefited from trade integration; and (iii) globalization was the major driver of the economic divergence between the rich and the poor portions of the world in the years 1850–1900. (JEL F14, F43, F63, L92, N70, O33)

scholarly journals Economic Development Paper

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diana Annisa
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
Income Inequality ◽  
Income Distribution ◽  
High Growth ◽  
Relative Poverty ◽  
Low Level ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Distribution Of Income

The main problems in economic development are increasing economic growth, eliminating poverty and eliminating poverty. In some destination countries it is sometimes a dilemma between emphasizing economic growth or reducing inequality in income distribution (Deininger and Olinto, 2000). High growth does not necessarily guarantee that the inequality of income distribution will be low.Poverty and income inequality are two things that are being intensely emphasized by the government's growth. Inequality is closely related to poverty because fundamentally inequality is an indicator of relative poverty, namely the gap between the rich and the poor. The low level of inequality, or the more even distribution of income, is certainly one of the important agendas of economic development.To measure economic inequality can be seen using the Gini ratio. Gini ratio is an indicator of income distribution level indicated by a coefficient of zero to one, which means the higher the coefficient, the more uneven distribution of income of the population.

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