The Unassuming Economist

From a book chapter by Ted Schrecker and Clare Bambra:

“‘The inequality machine is reshaping the planet’, wrote the editor of Le Monde Diplomatique in 2013. Rising inequality of income and wealth is one of the distinguishing characteristics of the neoliberal era; we provide descriptions first on a global scale and then on the national, noting the role of labour market transformations and the financial crisis. Poverty is a manifestation of inequality with especially negative consequences for health; we examine trends in the UK and the US, and contrast them with the simultaneous increases in wealth accumulation. We then provide three more focussed case examples: spatial inequalities in health in England; incarceration in the US; and unequal distribution of risks and benefits from the activities that generate climate change. We conclude with a review of evidence that economic inequality makes life worse for almost everyone in the societies affected, not just those at its sharp end.”