#628 Branko Milanović: Capitalism, and Global Inequality
RECORDED ON FEBRUARY 16th 2022.
Dr. Branko Milanović is Presidential Professor at the Graduate Center and a senior fellow at the Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality at The City University of New York (CUNY). Dr. Milanović’s main area of work is income inequality, in individual countries and globally, as well as historically, among pre-industrial societies (Roman Empire, Byzantium, and France before the Revolution), and even inequality in soccer. His books include “The Haves and the Have-nots: A Brief and Idiosyncratic History of Global Inequality”, “Global Inequality: A New Approach for the Age of Globalization”, and “Capitalism, Alone”.
In this episode, we focus on “Capitalism, Alone”. We start by defining capitalism, and distinguishing mainly between political capitalism and liberal meritocratic capitalism. We talk about China’s political capitalism, and the historical role of communism. We get into economic inequality, and discuss how it is measured, recent trends, what drives it, if it is a problem, and how to reduce it. We discuss specifically Universal Basic Income as a proposed solution. Finally, we ask if capitalism has been a net-positive for global society, and if it is possible to predict its future.
Time Links:
Intro
Capitalism, and its varieties
“Capital-rich” and “labor-rich” people
China’s political capitalism
The historical role of communism
Measuring economic inequality
Trends in economic inequality
What drives economic inequality?
Is economic inequality a problem?
How to reduce inequality
Universal Basic Income
Has capitalism been a net-positive?
The future of capitalism
Follow Dr. Milanović’s work!
Follow Dr. Milanović’s work:
Faculty page: https://bit.ly/3BnC2Fb
Blog: https://bit.ly/3BogTM0
Substack: https://bit.ly/3Ly0Znb
Books on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2WtDJS6
Capitalism, Alone: https://amzn.to/3aRONNc
Twitter handle: @BrankoMilan