The Returns to Power: A Political Theory of Economic Inequality

The book "The Returns to Power" examines the rise of extreme economic inequality in the United States since the late 1970s by comparing it to the effects of market reforms in transition countries such as Russia, China, and Germany. It argues that the US embraced deregulation and market-based solutions around the same time as China and Russia, leading to increasing inequality in all three nations. The book concludes with an analysis of the political dangers posed by high inequality and calls for a new public philosophy of liberal capitalism and liberal democracy to restore political equality and inclusive growth.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 432 pages
Publication date: 05 July 2023
Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc

Since the late 1970s, when the economic liberalization wave began, inequality has increased dramatically worldwide. In The Returns to Power, Thomas F. Remington investigates the rise of extreme economic inequality in the United States since the late 1970s by comparing it to the effects of market reforms in transition countries such as Russia, China, and Germany. Using an unconventional comparative framework, he brings together the latest scholarship in economics and political science and draws on Russian, Chinese, and German-language sources. As he demonstrates, the United States embraced deregulation and market-based solutions around the same time that China and Russia implemented major privatization and liberalization reforms. The long-term result was increasing inequality in all three nations. To illustrate why, Remington contrasts the effects of these policies with the postwar economic recovery program in Germany, which succeeded in protecting market competition within the framework of a social market economy that provides widely shared prosperity, high growth, and robust democracy. The book concludes with an analysis of the political dangers posed by high inequality and calls for a new public philosophy of liberal capitalism and liberal democracy that would restore political equality and inclusive growth by strengthening political and market competition, expanding the provision of public goods, and broadening social insurance protection.

An ambitious account of why political and economic inequality has increased so much in recent times, The Returns to Power's emphasis on policy variation across democracies also reminds us that it.

Weight: 626g
Dimension: 156 x 235 x 25 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780197685969