Tag Archives: income inequality
Competition Challenges in the Digital Economy
From Brookings (with Nirav Patel): Slow productivity growth and rising income inequality have shaped the world economy in a time of rapid technological change. A variety of explanations have emerged to help us understand these related trends, but one overarching theme is the decline in competition. The combination of increasingly concentrated markets, rising market power of large firms, and […]
Will social and/or class inequality ever change?
My answer on Quora: If we were to define class inequality as income inequality, then history tells us that it is indeed likely to change. The reasons for those changes is where the real story is. Branko Milanovic in his book Global Inequality presents two key factors that can reduce high levels of inequality: malign and benign factors. Malign factors lowered income inequality in the […]
When is “good for the economy” not “good for the people”?
My answer on Quora: Let’s begin with a narrow view, then zoom out. With a very narrow view, I can think of an example or two, but they don’t amount to much. In the end, there is no durable example of something that is good for the economy but not good for the broad majority […]
What are the effects of monopolies?
My answer on Quora: In general, monopolies are bad for consumers (higher prices and less choice), bad for workers (potentially lower wages) and suppliers, and bad for overall economic growth (less investment). These results arise when a monopoly does everything it can to solidify its monopoly power so that it keeps all the profits in […]
A Better Job Adjusting
The winners and losers of globalization has been an especially popular news headline in the last year or two. Much can be made of whether or not globalization per se is the culprit of the shrinking middle classes of the U.S. and other advanced economies, and the rising middle classes of China and other developing economies. The pace and ease in […]
Karim Foda 