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Distribution Matters
Article

Distribution Matters

Binyamin Appelbaum
Finance & Development , 2020
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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Analytical
  • Overview

Recommendation

Many contend that financial inequality contributes to slower GDP growth and reduced economic vigor. Count business journalist Binyamin Appelbaum in this camp. Appelbaum ably dissects the issues of income and wealth inequality in this incisive critique of the current state of economic thinking, honing in on how economists guide policy prescriptions. Business leaders and policy analysts will find this a thoughtful reflection on the distributional elements of economic dynamism.

Summary

Economists are increasingly questioning the use of economic efficiency as the main criterion in macroeconomic policy.

Beginning in the 1960s, top-level policy advisers promoted the concept of economic efficiency as a way to protect citizens from a “free-for-all” of unrestrained capitalist interests. But mainstream economists had long considered distributional issues – including inequality – as belonging solely to the political sphere.

Many experts continue to embrace the primacy of efficiency in public policy and the virtuousness of disengagement from distributional issues. They do so despite...

About the Author

Binyamin Appelbaum, the author of The Economists’ Hour, writes about business and economics for The New York Times.

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