Economists long ago tried to justify the vast inequalities that seemed so troubling in the mid-19th century—inequalities that are but a pale shadow of what we are seeing in America today. The justification they came up with was called “marginal-productivity theory.” In a nutshell, this theory associated higher incomes with higher productivity and a greater contribution to society. It is a theory that has always been cherished by the rich. Evidence for its validity, however, remains thin. The corporate executives who helped bring on the recession of the past three years—whose contribution to our society, and to their own companies, has been massively negative—went on to receive large bonuses.
Friday, April 8, 2011
Of the 1%, by the 1%...
Stiglitz has a piece in Vanity Fair (here) blasting neoliberalism. It's worth reading. Here's an excerpt, blasting the bullshit marginal-productivity theory of distribution:
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