Global Inequality: The Implications of Thomas Piketty'sCapital in the 21stCentury (original) (raw)

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Perspectives of Inequality: A Piketty - Boo Study

A cross linking study of Piketty's Capital and Ideology and Boo's Behind the Beautiful Flowers. The theme of ‘inequality’ continues to remain one of the most researched, discussed and debated topics in developmental economics. Despite all the work and literature, economists, social scientists and policy makers have not yet been able to develop a strong understanding of this complex and multifaceted theme. Questions such as ‘why are some countries poorer than others?’ or ‘what policies can alleviate inequality?’ continue to intrigue us as much as ever before. When Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and writer, Katherine Boo, set out to write her award winning non-fiction book titled “Behind The Beautiful Forevers”, she too was motivated by such similar questions like “What is the infrastructure of opportunity in this society? Whose capabilities are given wing by the market and a government’s economic and social policy? Whose capabilities are squandered? By what means might that ribby child grow up to be less poor?”. In an attempt to answer them, she spent three and a half years with the downtrodden and the most afflicted by economic inequality - the inhabitants of Mumbai’s Annawadi slum. In our quest to understand the complicated theme of inequality, we thought that her book, which is a window into its various subtleties and implications, would be a good starting point. As we ardently followed the lives of the Annawadi slum dwellers, we found ourselves deeply tangled in a web of various other themes of developmental economics which are crucial to our understanding of economic inequality in society. We explored the lives of the young garbage collectors, the garbage recyclers, the competing slumlords, the small-time entrepreneurs of Annawadi involved in odd businesses, we actually found ourselves dealing with ideas like globalization, female labour force participation, mortality rates, global financial crises, foreign aid, policy implications, inheritance, education, healthcare etc and their direct realization in the lives of ordinary citizens. In order to dig a little deeper into these ideas and understand the nuances involved, we complemented our reading of Boo’s “Behind the Beautiful Forevers” with Thomas Piketty’s “Capital and Ideology”. Katherine Boo focuses on the everyday suffering of the slum inhabitants and their day to day struggles with an almost clinical precision which also offers insights into events of recent history such as the Mumbai Terrorist Attacks and the Global Financial Crisis of 2008. On the other hand, Thomas Piketty gives an in-depth reasoning along with an insightful evaluation of the reasons behind the kind of inequality that has existed in the past and the inequality that exists globally today despite the strenuous efforts of policy makers and society reformers to improve the well-being of the people in the lower brackets of living standards. Piketty’s “Capital and Ideology” not only provides an extremely insightful reasoning but also questions the ideologies - political, religious structures, class, the history of the world wars, the changing power dynamics over the decades, and a lot more that have actually impacted the inequality struggles. In short, while Boo details the everyday hardships of the Annawadi slum dwellers, Piketty provides us with a background on why the Annawadians find themselves in this predicament.

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The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the views of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank and its affiliated organizations, or those of the Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent.

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Global economic inequality is the worldwide divergence of financial resources among nations, but also among households and individuals, or among classes, genders, and other socially defined groups. Debates about economic inequality worldwide, its characteristics, causes, and consequences, are at the heart of contemporary political, scholarly, and policy debates. In a world of unprecedented wealth, in which some have billions of dollars and many are starving, global economic inequality concerns fundamental questions about power, justice, and equity. Different disciplines, including economics, sociology, political science, and philosophy use various theories and approaches to measure, describe, and explain patterns and trends in economic inequality worldwide. These arguments are informed by normative assessments about inequality's moral justifications, as well as broad debates about the relationship between global economic inequality and capitalism.

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One of the most vehement criticisms to the current global era refers to the issue of huge income disparities within and between countries. At present, global inequality is higher than it was 200 years ago but, at the same time, up to COVID 19, the Gini index marks the first time since the Industrial Revolution that it stopped rising. This downward trajectory has been driven by a decline in between-country inequality —the main explanatory factor for global income disparities— partially offset by a rise in within-country inequality. The downward trend between countries should not be unexpected, since low-income countries in Asia, particularly China, have experienced growth rates substantially above the world average in the context of a rapid industrialization process. The pandemic has revealed and worsened preexisting inequalities in both within and between countries, so that global inequality also appears to have increased since its outbreak.

Global Inequality in the Current Era*1

Ensayos de Economía, 32 (61), 2022

One of the most vehement criticisms to the current global era refers to the issue of huge income disparities within and between countries. At present, global inequality is higher than it was 200 years ago but, at the same time, up to COVID 19, the Gini index marks the fi rst time since the Industrial Revolution that it stopped rising. This downward trajectory has been driven by a decline in between-country inequality-the main explanatory factor for global income disparities-partially off set by a rise in within-country inequality. The downward trend between countries should not be unexpected, since low-income countries in Asia, particularly China, have experienced growth rates substantially above the world average in the context of a rapid industrialization process. The pandemic has revealed and worsened preexisting inequalities in both within and between countries, so that global inequality also appears to have increased since its outbreak.