The Prelude: Redistribution, Inequality and Debt Crisis

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historical context: neoliberalism -> tax competition between states to attract capital -> decline of wages as % of NI
then, financial crisis -> public debt -> austerity and private debt
thus even mainstream needed to problematise inequality (not for sake of justice but to ensure economic stability/growth)


        Stutzle, I. and Kaufmann, S. (2017). The Prelude: Redistribution, Inequality and Debt Crisis. In Stutzle, I. and Kaufmann, S. Thomas Piketty's 'Capital in the Twenty First Century': An Introduction. Verso, pp. 5-14

archive/so478

12

So, even before Thomas Piketty’s book, the topic of ‘inequality’ had arrived in the economic mainstream, and with the following line of argumentation: inequality and poverty are no longer regarded so much as a consequence of capitalist economic growth, but rather as a brake on such growth and as a problem for stability. [...] What stands at the centre of attention are no longer the problems that the poor have with capitalism, but the problems that the poor pose for capitalism and its growth. The demand that follows from this is no longer a fundamental change of economic system, but merely a correction of the existing one – and not a correction of wealth to the benefit of the poor, but a correction of poverty for the benefit of wealth. The goal is not a better life for people – such a better life is only supposed to be a means of making economic growth smoother and faster. [...]

this is a v good assessment

—p.12 by Ingo Stutzle, Stephen Kaufmann 6 years, 5 months ago

So, even before Thomas Piketty’s book, the topic of ‘inequality’ had arrived in the economic mainstream, and with the following line of argumentation: inequality and poverty are no longer regarded so much as a consequence of capitalist economic growth, but rather as a brake on such growth and as a problem for stability. [...] What stands at the centre of attention are no longer the problems that the poor have with capitalism, but the problems that the poor pose for capitalism and its growth. The demand that follows from this is no longer a fundamental change of economic system, but merely a correction of the existing one – and not a correction of wealth to the benefit of the poor, but a correction of poverty for the benefit of wealth. The goal is not a better life for people – such a better life is only supposed to be a means of making economic growth smoother and faster. [...]

this is a v good assessment

—p.12 by Ingo Stutzle, Stephen Kaufmann 6 years, 5 months ago

Thomas Piketty's 'Capital in the Twenty First Century': An Introduction
by Ingo Stutzle, Stephen Kaufmann

Thomas Piketty's 'Capital in the Twenty First Century': An Introduction
by Ingo Stutzle, Stephen Kaufmann

Thomas Piketty's 'Capital in the Twenty First Century': An Introduction
by Ingo Stutzle, Stephen Kaufmann