Instead the market is shaped by our political process which creates the laws, regulations and institutions; which in turn all have distributive consequences. Where The Price of Inequality really excels is when Stiglitz delves into the causes of the widening inequality of the last quarter of a century. I have yet to see a hard-core economist explain how we can expand "wealth" distribution to the entire population, even with fairer tax codes, etc, in the face of higher intrinsic costs of production of all goods. ... One Reply to “Book Review: The Price of Inequality” richard adams says: November 25, 2012 at 10:33 am Interesting. I have just finished reading your book “The Price of Inequality”. Providing evidence that investment - not austerity - is vital for productivity, and offering realistic solutions for levelling the playing field and increasing social mobility, Stiglitz argues that reform of our economic and political systems is not just fairer, but is the only way to make markets work as they really should. Paperbacks: The Price of Inequality, By Joseph E Stiglitz Christopher Hirst. Rent seeking can be thought of as extracting gifts from the public or as income received not by creating wealth but by seizing it. The last 25 years or so have given rise to an immense increase in income and wealth inequality in the U.S. Stiglitz presents numerous statistics which portray exactly how much inequality has increased and how it compares in relation to other countries with similar economies and norms as the U.S. Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz explains why we are experiencing such destructively high levels of inequality - and why this is not inevitable. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. Please be respectful when making a comment and adhere to our Community Guidelines. Create a commenting name to join the debate, There are no Independent Premium comments yet - be the first to add your thoughts, There are no comments yet - be the first to add your thoughts. Thursday 23 May 2013 17:15. Leave a Reply Cancel reply. It is well understood that owners benefit from high unemployment in the short term, giving them leverage to lower wages or other forms of compensation without losing productivity. Paperbacks: The Price of Inequality, By Joseph E Stiglitz, You may not agree with our views, or other users’, but please respond to them respectfully, Swearing, personal abuse, racism, sexism, homophobia and other discriminatory or inciteful language is not acceptable, Do not impersonate other users or reveal private information about third parties, We reserve the right to delete inappropriate posts and ban offending users without notification. I enjoyed the attitude of truth seeking rather than dogma. The existing Open Comments threads will continue to exist for those who do not subscribe to Independent Premium. ADVERTISE IN THIS SPACE, The Price of Inequality: How Today’s Divided Society Endangers Our Future, Book Review: The Rude Guide to Mitt by Alex Pareene, Book Review: Entrepreneurial Nation by Ro Khanna. The Nobel Prize winner speaks authoritatively on the economic issues of rent seeking and market failures. Whether the country mainly responsible for global scandals ("in many ways London is at their centre") will pay heed to Stiglitz is questionable. The rhetoric of free markets and smaller government is at the forefront of American political debate and has sunk deeply into the consciousness of most American citizens, this even after the 2008 financial crisis which could be argued as the greatest failure of markets since the Great Depression. For myself, I can only conclude that there is indeed a class war going on, on the part of the rich to shut everyone else out. But who takes the long term any more? Stiglitz explains quite clearly that rent seeking takes several forms, some not as visible as others. In one way or another, they have to “co-opt” the rest of society to advance their agenda. In the long term of course this leads to societal breakdown if not outright revolution. The Price Of Inequality was published in paperback by Penguin UK in 2013. Individual’s interests can easily be subverted with proper ideological tactics. User Review - Flag as inappropriate.