1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910824577403321

Autore

Bowles Samuel

Titolo

The new economics of inequality and redistribution / / Samuel Bowles in collaboration with Christina Fong, Herbert Gintis, Arjun Jayadev, and Ugo Pagano [[electronic resource]]

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cambridge : , : Cambridge University Press, , 2012

ISBN

1-139-53999-X

1-107-23500-6

1-139-01298-3

1-283-52845-2

1-139-52721-5

9786613840905

1-139-52601-4

1-139-53187-5

1-139-53068-2

1-139-52840-8

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (xvii, 188 pages) : digital, PDF file(s)

Collana

Federico Caffe` lectures

Classificazione

BUS044000

Disciplina

339.2

Soggetti

Income distribution

Fairness

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Machine generated contents note: List of figures; List of tables; Preface; 1. The new economics of inequality and redistribution; 2. The economic cost of wealth inequality; 3. Feasible egalitarianism in a competitive world; 4. Cosmopolitans, parochials and the politics of social insurance; 5. Altruism, reciprocity, and the politics of egalitarian redistribution; 6. Conclusion; Appendices; Works cited; Index.

Sommario/riassunto

Economists warn that policies to level the economic playing field come with a hefty price tag. But this so-called 'equality-efficiency trade-off' has proven difficult to document. The data suggest, instead, that the extraordinary levels of economic inequality now experienced in many economies are detrimental to the economy. Moreover, recent economic



experiments and other evidence confirm that most citizens are committed to fairness and are willing to sacrifice to help those less fortunate than themselves. Incorporating the latest results from behavioral economics and the new microeconomics of credit and labor markets, Bowles shows that escalating economic disparity is not the unavoidable price of progress. Rather it is policy choice - often a very costly one. Here drawing on his experience both as a policy advisor and an academic economist, he offers an alternative direction, a novel and optimistic account of a more just and better working economy.