scholarly journals Feeling Uncomfortable: Young People's Emotional Responses to Neo-Liberal Explanations for Economic Inequality

2012 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 183-194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Smart
Keyword(s):  
Income Distribution ◽  
Economic Inequality ◽  
Great Part ◽  
Emotional Responses ◽  
Consumption Patterns ◽  
Fair Result ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
Different Levels

People's emotional and political responses to economic inequality are shaped by their beliefs about and interpretations of that inequality. Drawing on a series of group interviews with a total of 110 11 - 16 year olds across eight schools I show that participants spoke about economic inequality in terms of rich and poor, but tended to place themselves in the middle of the income distribution. Despite this self-placement, they often felt very strongly about experiences where economic inequality was visible in consumption patterns. Participants interpreted economic inequality using ideas of neo-liberal meritocracy to explain that the existence of economic inequality was the fair result of different skills or effort among the rich and the poor. But at the same time they used a more egalitarian interpretation to claim that that rich and poor were the ‘same kind of people’ and that luck played a great part in the different levels of wealth and possessions. This led them to argue that everyone should be treated the same and granted the same respect, regardless of whether they were rich or poor. These egalitarian sentiments were also drawn on to propose strategies to minimise situations where rich and poor might be treated differently, or to manage the difficult feelings and lack of respect that participants associated with situations of economic inequality. These proposals did not challenge the existence of economic inequality, but focussed on the justice of how people with different levels of wealth or possessions should be treated.

The effects of debt restructurings on income inequality in the developing world

2021 ◽  
pp. 135406612110014
Author(s):  
Glen Biglaiser ◽  
Ronald J. McGauvran
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Panel Data ◽  
Income Inequality ◽  
Income Distribution ◽  
Government Spending ◽  
Tax Reform ◽  
Social Spending ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Rich ◽  
The Impact

Developing countries, saddled with debts, often prefer investors absorb losses through debt restructurings. By not making full repayments, debtor governments could increase social spending, serving poorer constituents, and, in turn, lowering income inequality. Alternatively, debtor governments could reduce taxes and cut government spending, bolstering the assets of the rich at the expense of the poor. Using panel data for 71 developing countries from 1986 to 2016, we assess the effects of debt restructurings on societal income distribution. Specifically, we study the impact of debt restructurings on social spending, tax reform, and income inequality. We find that countries receiving debt restructurings tend to use their newly acquired economic flexibility to reduce taxes and lower social spending, worsening income inequality. The results are also robust to different model specifications. Our study contributes to the globalization and the poor debate, suggesting the economic harm caused to the less well-off following debt restructurings.

Adam Smith on What Is Wrong with Economic Inequality

2016 ◽  
Vol 110 (2) ◽  
pp. 342-352 ◽  
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.

scholarly journals Dynamics of reallocation within India’s income distribution

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anand Sahasranaman ◽  
Henrik Jeldtoft Jensen
Keyword(s):  
Income Distribution ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
Distribution Data ◽  
Recent Past ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Theoretical Predictions ◽  
Cast Doubt ◽  
Service Sectors ◽  
The Rich

AbstractIt is well known that inequality has been rising in India in the recent past, but the assumption has been that while the rich benefit more than proportionally from economic growth, the poor are also better off than before. Our modelled outcomes (using the RGBM framework) cast doubt on this proposition. We find that the income share dynamics are consistent with a negative reallocation since the early 2000s, i.e., the Indian income distribution possibly entered a regime of perverse redistribution of resources from the poor to the rich. Our model suggests that the historically low-income shares of the bottom decile (~ 1%) and bottom percentile (~ 0.03%) are possibly due to a decline in real incomes in the 2000s. We find qualified support for these theoretical predictions using income distribution data. We characterize these findings in the context of increasing informalization of the workforce in the formal manufacturing and service sectors as well as the growing economic insecurity of the agricultural workforce in India. Significant structural changes will be required to address this phenomenon.

scholarly journals Changes in Consumption Patterns and Employment under Alternative Income Distributions in Pakistan

1985 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aftab Ahmad Cheema ◽  
Muhammad Hussain Malik
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Edible Oils ◽  
Income Redistribution ◽  
Consumption Patterns ◽  
Employment Effects ◽  
Income Distributions ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Poor Households ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Additional Income

The demand and employment effects of alternative distributions of the existing as well as the additional income generated through growth of the economy have been analysed in this paper. The results show that income redistribution in favour of the low-income households would increase the demand for basic necessities like wheat, pulses, edible oils, etc., while the demand for certain other commodities would decrease. The results also show that the consumption levels of the poor households can be significantly increased with income redistribution without much adverse effects on the rich. The employment effects are found to be positive and substantial.

scholarly journals Urban Mission

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ardianto Lahagu
Keyword(s):  
Social Inequality ◽  
Economic Inequality ◽  
Word Of God ◽  
Urban Mission ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Rich ◽  
The Village ◽  
The City ◽  
The Church ◽  
Very High

The city side is often incomprehensible where there can be both grandeur and deterioration in life. Inadequate life, very high social inequality, and economic inequality make the rich getting richer and the poor worse off in poverty. When faced with a mission, often people think of a field in a remote area and alienated people, people who do not know outside life, people who are primitive, who are not educated, and people who have never heard the truth The word of God. Mission can not only be done in a remote village or area, but in a life that is not far away, many people who need the Truth, who are thirsty for the Word of God, those who are poor, abandoned, who do not have a decent living and do not believe, but it is often unthinkable by the church. So the mission is not only in the village but around the church itself many people need to be served. God has prepared many fields to cultivate and harvest, just how can those who believe even those who have been called respond?

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