Author: Nitis Mukhopadhyay
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1000349187
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 177
Book Description
"Prof. Nitis Mukhopadhyay and Prof. Partha Pratim Sengupta, who edited this volume with great attention and rigor, have certainly carried out noteworthy activities." - Giovanni Maria Giorgi, University of Rome (Sapienza) "This book is an important contribution to the development of indices of disparity and dissatisfaction in the age of globalization and social strife." - Shelemyahu Zacks, SUNY-Binghamton "It will not be an overstatement when I say that the famous income inequality index or wealth inequality index, which is most widely accepted across the globe is named after Corrado Gini (1984-1965). ... I take this opportunity to heartily applaud the two co-editors for spending their valuable time and energy in putting together a wonderful collection of papers written by the acclaimed researchers on selected topics of interest today. I am very impressed, and I believe so will be its readers." - K.V. Mardia, University of Leeds Gini coefficient or Gini index was originally defined as a standardized measure of statistical dispersion intended to understand an income distribution. It has evolved into quantifying inequity in all kinds of distributions of wealth, gender parity, access to education and health services, environmental policies, and numerous other attributes of importance. Gini Inequality Index: Methods and Applications features original high-quality peer-reviewed chapters prepared by internationally acclaimed researchers. They provide innovative methodologies whether quantitative or qualitative, covering welfare economics, development economics, optimization/non-optimization, econometrics, air quality, statistical learning, inference, sample size determination, big data science, and some heuristics. Never before has such a wide dimension of leading research inspired by Gini's works and their applicability been collected in one edited volume. The volume also showcases modern approaches to the research of a number of very talented and upcoming younger contributors and collaborators. This feature will give readers a window with a distinct view of what emerging research in this field may entail in the near future.
Gini Inequality Index
Author: Nitis Mukhopadhyay
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1000349187
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 177
Book Description
"Prof. Nitis Mukhopadhyay and Prof. Partha Pratim Sengupta, who edited this volume with great attention and rigor, have certainly carried out noteworthy activities." - Giovanni Maria Giorgi, University of Rome (Sapienza) "This book is an important contribution to the development of indices of disparity and dissatisfaction in the age of globalization and social strife." - Shelemyahu Zacks, SUNY-Binghamton "It will not be an overstatement when I say that the famous income inequality index or wealth inequality index, which is most widely accepted across the globe is named after Corrado Gini (1984-1965). ... I take this opportunity to heartily applaud the two co-editors for spending their valuable time and energy in putting together a wonderful collection of papers written by the acclaimed researchers on selected topics of interest today. I am very impressed, and I believe so will be its readers." - K.V. Mardia, University of Leeds Gini coefficient or Gini index was originally defined as a standardized measure of statistical dispersion intended to understand an income distribution. It has evolved into quantifying inequity in all kinds of distributions of wealth, gender parity, access to education and health services, environmental policies, and numerous other attributes of importance. Gini Inequality Index: Methods and Applications features original high-quality peer-reviewed chapters prepared by internationally acclaimed researchers. They provide innovative methodologies whether quantitative or qualitative, covering welfare economics, development economics, optimization/non-optimization, econometrics, air quality, statistical learning, inference, sample size determination, big data science, and some heuristics. Never before has such a wide dimension of leading research inspired by Gini's works and their applicability been collected in one edited volume. The volume also showcases modern approaches to the research of a number of very talented and upcoming younger contributors and collaborators. This feature will give readers a window with a distinct view of what emerging research in this field may entail in the near future.
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1000349187
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 177
Book Description
"Prof. Nitis Mukhopadhyay and Prof. Partha Pratim Sengupta, who edited this volume with great attention and rigor, have certainly carried out noteworthy activities." - Giovanni Maria Giorgi, University of Rome (Sapienza) "This book is an important contribution to the development of indices of disparity and dissatisfaction in the age of globalization and social strife." - Shelemyahu Zacks, SUNY-Binghamton "It will not be an overstatement when I say that the famous income inequality index or wealth inequality index, which is most widely accepted across the globe is named after Corrado Gini (1984-1965). ... I take this opportunity to heartily applaud the two co-editors for spending their valuable time and energy in putting together a wonderful collection of papers written by the acclaimed researchers on selected topics of interest today. I am very impressed, and I believe so will be its readers." - K.V. Mardia, University of Leeds Gini coefficient or Gini index was originally defined as a standardized measure of statistical dispersion intended to understand an income distribution. It has evolved into quantifying inequity in all kinds of distributions of wealth, gender parity, access to education and health services, environmental policies, and numerous other attributes of importance. Gini Inequality Index: Methods and Applications features original high-quality peer-reviewed chapters prepared by internationally acclaimed researchers. They provide innovative methodologies whether quantitative or qualitative, covering welfare economics, development economics, optimization/non-optimization, econometrics, air quality, statistical learning, inference, sample size determination, big data science, and some heuristics. Never before has such a wide dimension of leading research inspired by Gini's works and their applicability been collected in one edited volume. The volume also showcases modern approaches to the research of a number of very talented and upcoming younger contributors and collaborators. This feature will give readers a window with a distinct view of what emerging research in this field may entail in the near future.
No Poverty
Author: Walter Leal Filho
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 9783319957135
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
The problems related to the process of industrialisation such as biodiversity depletion, climate change and a worsening of health and living conditions, especially but not only in developing countries, intensify. Therefore, there is an increasing need to search for integrated solutions to make development more sustainable. The United Nations has acknowledged the problem and approved the “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”. On 1st January 2016, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the Agenda officially came into force. These goals cover the three dimensions of sustainable development: economic growth, social inclusion and environmental protection. The Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals comprehensively addresses the SDGs in an integrated way. It encompasses 17 volumes, each devoted to one of the 17 SDGs. This volume addresses SDG 1, namely "End poverty in all its forms everywhere" and contains the description of a range of terms, which allows for a better understanding and fosters knowledge about it. Concretely, the defined targets are: Eradicate extreme poverty for all people everywhere, currently measured as people living on less than $1.25 a day Reduce at least by half the proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions Implement nationally appropriate social protection systems and measures for all, including floors, and achieve substantial coverage of the poor and the vulnerable Ensure that all men and women, in particular the poor and the vulnerable, have equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to basic services, ownership and control over land and other forms of property, inheritance, natural resources, appropriate new technology and financial services, including microfinance Build the resilience of the poor and those in vulnerable situations and reduce their exposure and vulnerability to climate-related extreme events and other economic, social and environmental shocks and disasters Ensure significant mobilization of resources from a variety of sources, including through enhanced development cooperation, in order to provide adequate and predictable means for developing countries, in particular least developed countries, to implement programmes and policies to end poverty in all its dimensions Create sound policy frameworks at the national, regional and international levels, based on pro-poor and gender-sensitive development strategies, to support accelerated investment in poverty eradication actions Editorial Board Sarah Ahmed, Bankole Osita Awuzie, Katarzyna Cichos, Fernanda Frankenberger, Usha Iyer-Raniga, Amanda Lange Salvia, Pinar Gökçin Özuyar, Kalterina Shulla, Ranjit Voola
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 9783319957135
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
The problems related to the process of industrialisation such as biodiversity depletion, climate change and a worsening of health and living conditions, especially but not only in developing countries, intensify. Therefore, there is an increasing need to search for integrated solutions to make development more sustainable. The United Nations has acknowledged the problem and approved the “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”. On 1st January 2016, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the Agenda officially came into force. These goals cover the three dimensions of sustainable development: economic growth, social inclusion and environmental protection. The Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals comprehensively addresses the SDGs in an integrated way. It encompasses 17 volumes, each devoted to one of the 17 SDGs. This volume addresses SDG 1, namely "End poverty in all its forms everywhere" and contains the description of a range of terms, which allows for a better understanding and fosters knowledge about it. Concretely, the defined targets are: Eradicate extreme poverty for all people everywhere, currently measured as people living on less than $1.25 a day Reduce at least by half the proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions Implement nationally appropriate social protection systems and measures for all, including floors, and achieve substantial coverage of the poor and the vulnerable Ensure that all men and women, in particular the poor and the vulnerable, have equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to basic services, ownership and control over land and other forms of property, inheritance, natural resources, appropriate new technology and financial services, including microfinance Build the resilience of the poor and those in vulnerable situations and reduce their exposure and vulnerability to climate-related extreme events and other economic, social and environmental shocks and disasters Ensure significant mobilization of resources from a variety of sources, including through enhanced development cooperation, in order to provide adequate and predictable means for developing countries, in particular least developed countries, to implement programmes and policies to end poverty in all its dimensions Create sound policy frameworks at the national, regional and international levels, based on pro-poor and gender-sensitive development strategies, to support accelerated investment in poverty eradication actions Editorial Board Sarah Ahmed, Bankole Osita Awuzie, Katarzyna Cichos, Fernanda Frankenberger, Usha Iyer-Raniga, Amanda Lange Salvia, Pinar Gökçin Özuyar, Kalterina Shulla, Ranjit Voola
Top Incomes
Author: A. B. Atkinson
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199286892
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 799
Book Description
This volume brings together an exciting range of new studies of top incomes in a wide range of countries from around the world. The studies use data from income tax records to cast light on the dramatic changes that have taken place at the top of the income distribution. The results cover 22 countries and have a long time span, going back to 1875.
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199286892
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 799
Book Description
This volume brings together an exciting range of new studies of top incomes in a wide range of countries from around the world. The studies use data from income tax records to cast light on the dramatic changes that have taken place at the top of the income distribution. The results cover 22 countries and have a long time span, going back to 1875.
Ten Thousand Years of Inequality
Author: Timothy A. Kohler
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
ISBN: 0816537747
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 353
Book Description
"Field-defining research that will set the standard for understanding inequality in archaeological contexts"--Provided by publisher.
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
ISBN: 0816537747
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 353
Book Description
"Field-defining research that will set the standard for understanding inequality in archaeological contexts"--Provided by publisher.
Measuring Inequality
Author: Frank Alan Cowell
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780191808654
Category : Income distribution
Languages : en
Pages : 233
Book Description
This text examines the underlying principles of inequality measurement and its relation to welfare economics, distributional analysis, and information theory. The book covers modern theoretical developments in inequality analysis, as well as showing how the way we think about inequality today has been shaped by classic contributions in economics and related disciplines.
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780191808654
Category : Income distribution
Languages : en
Pages : 233
Book Description
This text examines the underlying principles of inequality measurement and its relation to welfare economics, distributional analysis, and information theory. The book covers modern theoretical developments in inequality analysis, as well as showing how the way we think about inequality today has been shaped by classic contributions in economics and related disciplines.
Global Income Inequality
Author: Branko Milanovi?
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN:
Category : Equality
Languages : en
Pages : 35
Book Description
"The paper presents a nontechnical summary of the current state of debate on the measurement and implications of global inequality (inequality between citizens of the world). It discusses the relationship between globalization and global inequality. And it shows why global inequality matters and proposes a scheme for global redistribution. "--World Bank web site.
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN:
Category : Equality
Languages : en
Pages : 35
Book Description
"The paper presents a nontechnical summary of the current state of debate on the measurement and implications of global inequality (inequality between citizens of the world). It discusses the relationship between globalization and global inequality. And it shows why global inequality matters and proposes a scheme for global redistribution. "--World Bank web site.
Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2020
Author: World Bank
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 1464816034
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 288
Book Description
This edition of the biennial Poverty and Shared Prosperity report brings sobering news. The COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic and its associated economic crisis, compounded by the effects of armed conflict and climate change, are reversing hard-won gains in poverty reduction and shared prosperity. The fight to end poverty has suffered its worst setback in decades after more than 20 years of progress. The goal of ending extreme poverty by 2030, already at risk before the pandemic, is now beyond reach in the absence of swift, significant, and sustained action, and the objective of advancing shared prosperity—raising the incomes of the poorest 40 percent in each country—will be much more difficult. Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2020: Reversals of Fortune presents new estimates of COVID-19's impacts on global poverty and shared prosperity. Harnessing fresh data from frontline surveys and economic simulations, it shows that pandemic-related job losses and deprivation worldwide are hitting already poor and vulnerable people hard, while also shifting the profile of global poverty to include millions of 'new poor.' Original analysis included in the report shows that the new poor are more urban, better educated, and less likely to work in agriculture than those living in extreme poverty before COVID-19. It also gives new estimates of the impact of conflict and climate change, and how they overlap. These results are important for targeting policies to safeguard lives and livelihoods. It shows how some countries are acting to reverse the crisis, protect those most vulnerable, and promote a resilient recovery. These findings call for urgent action. If the global response fails the world's poorest and most vulnerable people now, the losses they have experienced to date will be minimal compared with what lies ahead. Success over the long term will require much more than stopping COVID-19. As efforts to curb the disease and its economic fallout intensify, the interrupted development agenda in low- and middle-income countries must be put back on track. Recovering from today's reversals of fortune requires tackling the economic crisis unleashed by COVID-19 with a commitment proportional to the crisis itself. In doing so, countries can also plant the seeds for dealing with the long-term development challenges of promoting inclusive growth, capital accumulation, and risk prevention—particularly the risks of conflict and climate change.
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 1464816034
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 288
Book Description
This edition of the biennial Poverty and Shared Prosperity report brings sobering news. The COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic and its associated economic crisis, compounded by the effects of armed conflict and climate change, are reversing hard-won gains in poverty reduction and shared prosperity. The fight to end poverty has suffered its worst setback in decades after more than 20 years of progress. The goal of ending extreme poverty by 2030, already at risk before the pandemic, is now beyond reach in the absence of swift, significant, and sustained action, and the objective of advancing shared prosperity—raising the incomes of the poorest 40 percent in each country—will be much more difficult. Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2020: Reversals of Fortune presents new estimates of COVID-19's impacts on global poverty and shared prosperity. Harnessing fresh data from frontline surveys and economic simulations, it shows that pandemic-related job losses and deprivation worldwide are hitting already poor and vulnerable people hard, while also shifting the profile of global poverty to include millions of 'new poor.' Original analysis included in the report shows that the new poor are more urban, better educated, and less likely to work in agriculture than those living in extreme poverty before COVID-19. It also gives new estimates of the impact of conflict and climate change, and how they overlap. These results are important for targeting policies to safeguard lives and livelihoods. It shows how some countries are acting to reverse the crisis, protect those most vulnerable, and promote a resilient recovery. These findings call for urgent action. If the global response fails the world's poorest and most vulnerable people now, the losses they have experienced to date will be minimal compared with what lies ahead. Success over the long term will require much more than stopping COVID-19. As efforts to curb the disease and its economic fallout intensify, the interrupted development agenda in low- and middle-income countries must be put back on track. Recovering from today's reversals of fortune requires tackling the economic crisis unleashed by COVID-19 with a commitment proportional to the crisis itself. In doing so, countries can also plant the seeds for dealing with the long-term development challenges of promoting inclusive growth, capital accumulation, and risk prevention—particularly the risks of conflict and climate change.
Handbook of Income Distribution
Author: Anthony B. Atkinson
Publisher: North Holland
ISBN: 9780444816313
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 938
Book Description
Distributional issues may not have always been among the main concerns of the economic profession. Today, in the beginning of the 2000s, the position is different. During the last quarter of a century, economic growth proved to be unsteady and rather slow on average. The situation of those at the bottom ceased to improve regularly as in the preceding fast growth and full-employment period. Europe has seen prolonged unemployment and there has been widening wage dispersion in a number of OECD countries. Rising affluence in rich countries coexists, in a number of such countries, with the persistence of poverty. As a consequence, it is difficult nowadays to think of an issue ranking high in the public economic debate without some strong explicit distributive implications. Monetary policy, fiscal policy, taxes, monetary or trade union, privatisation, price and competition regulation, the future of the Welfare State are all issues which are now often perceived as conflictual because of their strong redistributive content. Economists have responded quickly to the renewed general interest in distribution, and the contents of this Handbook are very different from those which would have been included had it been written ten or twenty years ago. It has now become common to have income distribution variables playing a pivotal role in economic models. The recent interest in the relationship between growth and distribution is a good example of this. The surge of political economy in the contemporary literature is also a route by which distribution is coming to re-occupy the place it deserves. Within economics itself, the development of models of imperfect information and informational asymmetries have not only provided a means of resolving the puzzle as to why identical workers get paid different amounts, but have also caused reconsideration of the efficiency of market outcomes. These models indicate that there may not necessarily be an efficiency/equity trade-off; it may be possible to make progress on both fronts. The introduction and subsequent 14 chapters of this Handbook cover in detail all these new developments, insisting at the same time on how they tie with the previous literature on income distribution. The overall perspective is intentionally broad. As with landscapes, adopting various points of view on a given issue may often be the only way of perceiving its essence or reality. Accordingly, income distribution issues in the various chapters of this volume are considered under their theoretical or their empirical side, under a normative or a positive angle, in connection with redistribution policy, in a micro or macro-economic context, in different institutional settings, at various point of space, in a historical or contemporaneous perspective. Specialized readers will go directly to the chapter dealing with the issue or using the approach they are interested in. For them, this Handbook will be a clear and sure reference. To more patient readers who will go through various chapters of this volume, this Handbook should provide the multi-faceted view that seems necessary for a deep understanding of most issues in the field of distribution. For more information on the Handbooks in Economics series, please see our home page on http://www.elsevier.nl/locate/hes
Publisher: North Holland
ISBN: 9780444816313
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 938
Book Description
Distributional issues may not have always been among the main concerns of the economic profession. Today, in the beginning of the 2000s, the position is different. During the last quarter of a century, economic growth proved to be unsteady and rather slow on average. The situation of those at the bottom ceased to improve regularly as in the preceding fast growth and full-employment period. Europe has seen prolonged unemployment and there has been widening wage dispersion in a number of OECD countries. Rising affluence in rich countries coexists, in a number of such countries, with the persistence of poverty. As a consequence, it is difficult nowadays to think of an issue ranking high in the public economic debate without some strong explicit distributive implications. Monetary policy, fiscal policy, taxes, monetary or trade union, privatisation, price and competition regulation, the future of the Welfare State are all issues which are now often perceived as conflictual because of their strong redistributive content. Economists have responded quickly to the renewed general interest in distribution, and the contents of this Handbook are very different from those which would have been included had it been written ten or twenty years ago. It has now become common to have income distribution variables playing a pivotal role in economic models. The recent interest in the relationship between growth and distribution is a good example of this. The surge of political economy in the contemporary literature is also a route by which distribution is coming to re-occupy the place it deserves. Within economics itself, the development of models of imperfect information and informational asymmetries have not only provided a means of resolving the puzzle as to why identical workers get paid different amounts, but have also caused reconsideration of the efficiency of market outcomes. These models indicate that there may not necessarily be an efficiency/equity trade-off; it may be possible to make progress on both fronts. The introduction and subsequent 14 chapters of this Handbook cover in detail all these new developments, insisting at the same time on how they tie with the previous literature on income distribution. The overall perspective is intentionally broad. As with landscapes, adopting various points of view on a given issue may often be the only way of perceiving its essence or reality. Accordingly, income distribution issues in the various chapters of this volume are considered under their theoretical or their empirical side, under a normative or a positive angle, in connection with redistribution policy, in a micro or macro-economic context, in different institutional settings, at various point of space, in a historical or contemporaneous perspective. Specialized readers will go directly to the chapter dealing with the issue or using the approach they are interested in. For them, this Handbook will be a clear and sure reference. To more patient readers who will go through various chapters of this volume, this Handbook should provide the multi-faceted view that seems necessary for a deep understanding of most issues in the field of distribution. For more information on the Handbooks in Economics series, please see our home page on http://www.elsevier.nl/locate/hes
How was Life?
Author: J. L. van Zanden
Publisher: OCDE
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 276
Book Description
How was life in 1820 and how has it improved since then? What are the long-term trends in global well-being? Trends in real GDP per capita may not fully reflect changes in other dimensions of well-being, such as life expectancy, educational attainment, personal security, and gender inequality. The product of collaboration between the OECD, the OECD Development Centre, and the CLIOINFRA project, this report represents the work of a group of economic historians to systematically chart long-term changes in the dimensions of global wellbeing and inequality, making use of the best sources and expertise currently available and the most recent research carried out within the discipline. The historical evidence reviewed in the report is organized on ten different dimensions of well-being that mirror those used by the OECD in its report, How's Life? (www.oecd.org/howslife): per capita GDP, real wages, educational attainment, life expectancy, height, personal security, political institutions, environmental quality, income inequality, and gender inequality
Publisher: OCDE
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 276
Book Description
How was life in 1820 and how has it improved since then? What are the long-term trends in global well-being? Trends in real GDP per capita may not fully reflect changes in other dimensions of well-being, such as life expectancy, educational attainment, personal security, and gender inequality. The product of collaboration between the OECD, the OECD Development Centre, and the CLIOINFRA project, this report represents the work of a group of economic historians to systematically chart long-term changes in the dimensions of global wellbeing and inequality, making use of the best sources and expertise currently available and the most recent research carried out within the discipline. The historical evidence reviewed in the report is organized on ten different dimensions of well-being that mirror those used by the OECD in its report, How's Life? (www.oecd.org/howslife): per capita GDP, real wages, educational attainment, life expectancy, height, personal security, political institutions, environmental quality, income inequality, and gender inequality
The Killing Fields of Inequality
Author: Göran Therborn
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0745679919
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 199
Book Description
Inequality is not just about the size of our wallets. It is a socio-cultural order which, for most of us, reduces our capabilities to function as human beings, our health, our dignity, our sense of self, as well as our resources to act and participate in the world. This book shows that inequality is literally a killing field, with millions of people dying premature deaths because of it. These lethal effects of inequality operate not only in the poor world, but also, and increasingly, in rich countries, as Therborn demonstrates with data ranging from the US, the UK, Finland and elsewhere. Even when they survive inequality, millions of human lives are stunted by the humiliations and degradations of inequality linked to gender, race and ethnicity, and class. But this book is about experiences of equalization too, highlighting moments and processes of equalization in different parts of the world - from India and other parts of Asia, from the Americas, as well as from Europe. South Africa illustrates the toughest challenges. The killing fields of inequality can be avoided: this book shows how. Clear, succinct, wide-ranging in scope and empirical in its approach, this timely book by one of the world’s leading social scientists will appeal to a wide readership.
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0745679919
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 199
Book Description
Inequality is not just about the size of our wallets. It is a socio-cultural order which, for most of us, reduces our capabilities to function as human beings, our health, our dignity, our sense of self, as well as our resources to act and participate in the world. This book shows that inequality is literally a killing field, with millions of people dying premature deaths because of it. These lethal effects of inequality operate not only in the poor world, but also, and increasingly, in rich countries, as Therborn demonstrates with data ranging from the US, the UK, Finland and elsewhere. Even when they survive inequality, millions of human lives are stunted by the humiliations and degradations of inequality linked to gender, race and ethnicity, and class. But this book is about experiences of equalization too, highlighting moments and processes of equalization in different parts of the world - from India and other parts of Asia, from the Americas, as well as from Europe. South Africa illustrates the toughest challenges. The killing fields of inequality can be avoided: this book shows how. Clear, succinct, wide-ranging in scope and empirical in its approach, this timely book by one of the world’s leading social scientists will appeal to a wide readership.