Ongelijkheid en interdependentie. Ontwikkelingen in welstandsverhoudingen

Samenvatting

Since the end of the 1970s socioeconomic inequality in the Western welfare states has increased, particularly in the US. From 1978 to 1990 the number of Americans under the official poverty line increased from 11.4% to 13.5%. The poor became especially visible in the minority neighborhoods of big cities. Analysis reveals that while the amount of gross national product earned as investment income fell over recent decades, the amount earned in the form of welfare increased. Real wages have increased, but only among highly paid workers. It is shown how the internationalization of the industrial system led to an upsurge in investment income over wage income, concluding that, when nations emphasize economic self-sufficiency, as in the pre-WWI period, economic conditions tend to improve for the workers; in contrast, globalization of the economy leads to pressures to slash wages. 84 References. M. Meeks