The Price of Inequality
How Today’s Divided Society Endangers Our Future
About the book
Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz argues that inequality in the United States is driven less by globalization or technology than by politics. The wealthy, he contends, use their influence over legislation and regulation to secure monopolies, favorable government treatment and low taxes, a pattern of rent-seeking that entrenches their position and drags down productivity. Stiglitz examines how inequality affects the economy, democracy and the justice system, and criticizes moves such as cutting the estate tax and deregulating campaign contributions. He accepts competitive markets but insists they need regulation, and proposes a concrete program for a fairer economy. He wrote it during the uprisings in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt and at the height of the Occupy movement.
Bill Gates said he had mixed feelings about it but credited Stiglitz with clearly laying out the issues of inequality and the economic forces behind them.
We hope you love the books people recommend! Just so you know, The CEO Library may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page.
This book has 1 recommendation
Bill Gates (CEO/Microsoft)
I have mixed feelings about The Price of Inequality: How Today’s Divided Society Endangers Our Future by Joseph E. Stiglitz. Stiglitz’s contributions are important in that he really does a good job of articulating the issues of inequality and the economic factors that underlie it. He raises important questions about whether it’s getting harder for people in the U.S. to move up the economic ladder. He makes a pretty rational case for keeping things like the estate tax and for increasing taxes as part of how you close the budget deficit. On these ideas, I found a lot of common ground with Stiglitz. But he seems to think that government is totally benign, and he is very skeptical of the private sector. The private sector’s obligations and its relative contributions to the economy are an interesting topic for discussion. But Stiglitz seems to demonize the category as a whole. I wonder if many of his policy solutions would make things worse by incentivizing business to put even more money and effort into currying favor with Washington.
Get this book on Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Apple Books