Where the Other Three-Quarters Live: U.S. Mortgage Finance and Economic Inequality

Materialism and sich are the driving spirit of the community in achieving economic and financial security that saves a holistic and socially just welfare. This can be seen from the lives of people in materialistic developed countries, where the level of social stress is higher, economic inequality widens, horizontal conflict is rife. This research uses Pierre Felix Bourdieu's social theory in seeing people trust the expenditure of material with other values, such as spiritual and cultural values that are no less urgent as elements of social welfare development. This study found that materialism on the one hand has a positive effect, where people are encouraged to use material standards in measuring the level of welfare they expect. On the other hand, materialism closes the presence of values such as spirituality, local wisdom and agriculture in completing more holistic welfare standards.

Download Full-text

An Evaluation of “Does Economic Inequality Breed Political Conflict?” Studies

World Politics ◽

10.2307/2010526 ◽

1989 ◽

Vol 41 (4) ◽

pp. 431-470 ◽

Cited By ~ 161

Author(s):

Mark Irving Lichbach

Keyword(s):

Statistical Modeling ◽

Economic Inequality ◽

Political Conflict ◽

The Other ◽

Theory Building ◽

Formal Modeling ◽

Conflict Studies ◽

Rational Actor ◽

Empirical Tests ◽

Crucial Test

Contradictory findings, that economic inequality may have a positive, negative, or no impact on political conflict, are a puzzle for conflict studies. Three approaches have been used t o explain the inconsistent findings of the EI-PC (Economic Inequality-Political Conflict) nexus: statistical modeling, formal modeling, and theory building. Because analysts have tended to possess different research skills, these three approaches have been employed in isolation from one another. Singly, however, all three approaches have proved deficient and are unlikely to solve the EI-PC puzzle. The most fruitful approach is to combine the assumptions of the theory builders and the deductive approach of the formal modelers with the various empirical tests of the statistical modelers. Such an approach to the EI-PC puzzle produces a crucial test of the Deprived Actor and Rational Actor theories of conflict. The approach is also our best hope for solving the other long-standing puzzles in conflict studies.

Download Full-text

Adam Smith on What Is Wrong with Economic Inequality

American Political Science Review ◽

10.1017/s0003055416000113 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 110 (2) ◽

pp. 342-352 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

DENNIS C. RASMUSSEN

Keyword(s):

Adam Smith ◽

Economic Inequality ◽

Political Stability ◽

The Other ◽

Commercial Society ◽

The Poor ◽

Other Hand ◽

The Rich ◽

The One ◽

High Degree

This article explores Adam Smith's attitude toward economic inequality, as distinct from the problem of poverty, and argues that he regarded it as a double-edged sword. On the one hand, as has often been recognized, Smith saw a high degree of economic inequality as an inevitable result of a flourishing commercial society, and he considered a certain amount of such inequality to be positively useful as a means of encouraging productivity and bolstering political stability. On the other hand, it has seldom been noticed that Smith also expressed deep worries about some of the other effects of extreme economic inequality—worries that are, moreover, interestingly different from those that dominate contemporary discourse. In Smith's view, extreme economic inequality leads people to sympathize more fully and readily with the rich than the poor, and this distortion in our sympathies in turn undermines both morality and happiness.

Download Full-text

Europe’s Migration Experience and Its Effects on Economic Inequality

Europe's Income, Wealth, Consumption, and Inequality ◽

10.1093/oso/9780197545706.003.0014 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 486-515

Author(s):

Martin Guzi ◽

Martin Kahanec ◽

Magdalena M. Ulceluse

Keyword(s):

European Union ◽

Economic Development ◽

Literature Review ◽

Economic Inequality ◽

Historical Context ◽

The Other ◽

Skilled Migration ◽

Skilled Immigrants ◽

Past Half Century ◽

Past Half

This chapter provides the historical context for the past half-century in Europe, focusing specifically on the link between migration and economic development and inequality. The literature review suggests that there are several channels through which migration affects economic inequality between countries in one or the other direction, and it may decrease inequality within countries. The net effects are an open empirical question and are likely to depend on the institutional and policy context, sources and destinations of migration, and its type. The authors undertake an empirical analysis and find that immigration has contributed to reducing inequality within the 25 European Union (EU) countries over the 2003–2017 period. As the EU has attracted mostly high-skilled immigrants throughout this period, the authors’ results are consistent with the ameliorating effect of high-skilled migration on within-country inequality, as predicted by theory.

Download Full-text

Coalitions, Carrots, and Sticks: Economic Inequality and Authoritarian States

Political Science and Politics ◽

10.1017/s1049096509990096 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 42 (04) ◽

pp. 667-672 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Mary Gallagher ◽

Jonathan K. Hanson

Keyword(s):

Economic Inequality ◽

The Other ◽

Regime Type ◽

Political Factors ◽

Growing Body ◽

Authoritarian Politics

As the other articles in this symposium demonstrate, a country's level of economic inequality is a function of a complex set of historical, geographic, economic, and political factors. Given this complexity, it is unsurprising that a country's regime type by itself does not tell us much about its level of economic inequality. The predictions of the linear tax model aside (Meltzer and Richard 1981), democracies and non-democracies do not differ greatly in terms of their level and variation in inequality. Research focusing on democracies has helped identify some the sources of this variation, but inequality in authoritarian states remains relatively understudied. The growing body of work on authoritarian politics, however, provides a foundation for research in this area.

Download Full-text

FURNACES: VISIONS OF THE AMERICAN DREAM AND NIGHTMARE IN BRADDOCK

Folia linguistica et litteraria ◽

10.31902/fll.31.2020.6 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol XI (31) ◽

pp. 69-75

Author(s):

John C. Spurlock

Keyword(s):

Economic Development ◽

20Th Century ◽

American Dream ◽

Economic Inequality ◽

The Other ◽

The Novel ◽

Three Generations ◽

The Social

Two works of fiction, one a novel, the other a movie, provide a harrowing journey from the American Dream to the American nightmare. Appearing about 70 years apart, Out of this Furnace (by Thomas Bell) and Out of the Furnace (directed by Scott Cooper) closely examine the lives of steelworking families in Braddock, Pennsylvania. The novel shows the hopes and aspirations of Slovak immigrants slowly improving their material lot over three generations. The movie fast forwards through two more generations to show Braddock in terminal decline, a victim of deindustrialization and all the social ills of America’s economic inequality. Taken together these works reveal the arc of American economic development in the 20th century as experienced in the lives of those who experienced it most directly.

Download Full-text

Inequality: Should We Care?

Inequality ◽

10.1093/wentk/9780190250461.003.0001 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

James K. Galbraith

Keyword(s):

Economic Inequality ◽

The Other ◽

Other Hand ◽

Economic Sphere ◽

Everyday Reality

What Is Economic Inequality? Equality—”we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal”; “equal justice under law”; liberté, egalité, fraternité—is an ideal. Inequality, on the other hand, is our everyday reality, especially in the economic sphere. We sometimes deplore...

Download Full-text

Beijing Bubble, Beijing Bust: Inequality, Trade, and Capital Inflow into China

Journal of Current Chinese Affairs ◽

10.1177/186810260903800201 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 38 (2) ◽

pp. 3-26 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

James K. Galbraith ◽

Sara Hsu ◽

Wenjie Zhang

Keyword(s):

Capital Flows ◽

Economic Inequality ◽

Capital Inflow ◽

The Other ◽

Manufacturing Employment ◽

Massive Growth ◽

Present Decade

This paper explores the relationships between inequality, trade, and capital flows into China since the early 1990s and particularly in the first years of the present decade. We show that the rise in economic inequality in China has more to do directly with the activities associated with China's financial and building boom, notably in Beijing, than with the massive growth in manufacturing employment and in Chinese exports since China joined the WTO in 2001. Nevertheless, it is likely that a flow of profits from the export boom did feed the speculative fires in the capital and elsewhere, and therefore it should be no surprise that the fall of one should be linked to the fall of the other, in a particularly painful reduction of economic inequality.

Download Full-text

Socio-Economic Inequality and Cultural Fragmentation in Western Societies

Comparative Sociology ◽

10.1163/156913308x289078 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 7 (2) ◽

pp. 179-214

Author(s):

Jan Germen Janmaat

Keyword(s):

Social Capital ◽

Economic Inequality ◽

The Other ◽

Democratic Values ◽

World Value Survey ◽

Democratic Attitudes ◽

The World ◽

Key Factor ◽

Cross National ◽

Economic Inequalities

AbstractThis article examines the relation between socio-economic inequality and disparities of democratic values in Western societies. It discusses three perspectives on democratic attitudes and values – rising inequality, social capital, and postmaterialism – and explores to what extent cross-national patterns and trends in value disparities are in agreement with the predicted outcomes of these perspectives. Use is made of the World Value Survey and the European Value Study to explore these value disparities. The results do not provide unequivocal support for any of the three perspectives. The patterns on some values are in line with the rising inequality perspective, while those on others are consistent with the other two perspectives. Low and high incomes have come to drift apart on democratic values, which is what the rising inequalities perspective would expect. But these widening disparities are unrelated to socio-economic inequalities. It is proposed that socio-economic inequalities primarily affect mean levels of democratic values while individualism is the key factor producing value divergence.

Download Full-text

Should Republicans be Cosmopolitans?

Global Justice : Theory Practice Rhetoric ◽

10.21248/gjn.9.1.100 ◽

1970 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Frank Lovett

Keyword(s):

Domestic Politics ◽

Economic Inequality ◽

The Other ◽

Global Politics ◽

The One ◽

Contemporary Liberalism ◽

The Relationship ◽

At Home

Contemporary liberalism and republicanism present clearly distinct programs for domestic politics, but the same cannot be said when it comes to global politics: the burgeoning literature on global republicanism has reproduced the divide between cosmopolitan and associational views familiar from long-standing debates among liberal egalitarians. Should republicans be cosmopolitans? Despite presence of a range of views in the literature, there is an emerging consensus that the best answer is no. This paper aims to resist the emerging consensus, arguing that republicans should be cosmopolitans. The considerations offered against cosmopolitanism generally rest on an incomplete understanding of the relationship between economic inequality or poverty on the one hand, and domination on the other. Insofar as republicans agree that promoting freedom from domination should be our central political aim, they should regard the reduction of economic inequality and poverty at home and abroad as equally pressing.

Download Full-text