Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

On Advanced Capitalism and the Determinants of the Change in Income Distribution: A Classical Interpretation

  • Chapter
Sraffa and the Reconstruction of Economic Theory: Volume One

Abstract

It is useful to start our analysis with the question of technological change, since it is in these terms that the general increase in inequality experienced by advanced capitalism over the last 30 years has, by consensus, been explained.

University of Rome La Sapienza. A preliminary version of this chapter has been presented also at the Conference ‘Crisis de la teoria ecónomica y politicas alternativas ante la crisis global’, held at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Facultad de Economia, 7–11 November 2011. I wish to thank A. Barba, I. Perrotini Hernandez, F. Serrano and other participants in that conference for comments. I wish also to thank an anonymous referee for helpful suggestions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Anderson, P. (2011) ‘Lula’s Brazil’, London Review of Books, 31 March: 3–12.

    Google Scholar 

  • Atkinson, A.B., Piketty, T. and Saez, E. (2011) ‘Top incomes in the long run of history’, Journal of Economic Literature, 49: 3–71.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Autor, D.H., Katz, L.F. and Krueger, A.B. (1998) ‘Computing inequality: have computers changed the labor market?’, Quarterly Journal of Economics, November: 1169–1213.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bagehot, W. (1978 [1873]) Lombard Street, in N. St John-Stevas (ed.) The Collected Works of Walter Bagehot, Vol. 9 (London: The Economist): pp. 171–82.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barba, A. and Pivetti, M. (2009) ‘Rising household debt: its causes and macroeconomic implications - a long period analysis’, Cambridge Journal of Economics, 33: 113–37.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barba, A. and Pivetti, M. (2011) ‘Changes in Income Distribution, Financial Disorder and Crisis’, in E. Brancaccio and G. Fontana (eds), The Global Economic Crisis. New Perspectives on the Critique of Economic Theory and Policy (Abingdon and New York: Routledge).

    Google Scholar 

  • Bodvarsson, O.B. and Van den Berg, H. (2009) The Economics of Immigration. Theory and Policy (Heidelberg, London and New York: Springer).

    Google Scholar 

  • Borjas, G.J. (2003) ‘The labor demand curve is downward sloping: re-examining the impact of immigration on the labor market’, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 118: 1335–74.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bosch, G., Mayhew, K. and Gautie, J. (2010) ‘Industrial Relations, Legal Regulations, and Wage Setting’, in J. Schmitt and J. Gautie (eds), Low-Wage Work in the United States and Europe (New York: Russell Sage).

    Google Scholar 

  • Card, D. and DiNardo, J.E. (2002) ‘Skill-biased technological change and rising wage inequality: some problems and puzzles’, Journal of Labor Economics, 20(4): 733–83.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Congressional Budget Office (2011) Trends in the Distribution of Household Income between 1979 and 2007, CBO Summary (Washington DC: US Congress, October).

    Google Scholar 

  • Dew-Becker, I. and Gordon, R.J. (2007) ‘Selected issues in the rise of income inequalities’, Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 2: 169–90.

    Google Scholar 

  • DiNardo, J.E. and Pischke, J.-S. (1997) ‘The returns to computer use revisited: have pencils changed the wage structure too?’, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 112: 291–303.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • House of Commons (Session 1979–80), Treasury and Civil Service Committee, Memoranda on Monetary Policy, 2 Vols (London: HMSO).

    Google Scholar 

  • Joint Economic Committee (2003) Economic Indicators, prepared for the Joint Economic Committee by the Council of Economic Advisers (Washington DC: USGPO, March).

    Google Scholar 

  • Juhn, C., Murphy, K.M. and Topel, R.H. (2002) ‘Current unemployment, historically contemplated’, Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 1: 79–116.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kennickell, A.B. (2009) ‘Ponds and Streams: Wealth and Income in the United States, 1989 to 2007’, Federal Reserve Board Finance and Economics Discussion Paper 2009–13.

    Google Scholar 

  • Keynes, J.M. (1933) ‘National Self-Sufficiency’, in D. Moggridge (ed.), The Collected Writings of John Maynard Keynes, Vol. XXI (London: Macmillan, 1982): pp. 233–46.

    Google Scholar 

  • Keynes, J.M. (1980 [1944]) Speech before the House of Lords, 23 May 1944, in D. Moggridge (ed.), The Collected Writings of John Maynard Keynes, Vol. XXVI (London: Macmillan): ch. 1.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kopczuc, W. and Saez, E. (2004) ‘Top wealth shares in the United States, 1916–2000: evidence from estate tax returns’, National Tax Journal, 57: 445–87.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marx, K. (1887) Capital: A Critique of Political Economy, Vol. I (London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1954).

    Google Scholar 

  • Mishel, L., Bernstein, J. and Boushley, H. (2003) The State of Working America, 2002–03 (Ithaca NY: Cornell University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Mishel, L., Bernstein, J. and Shierholz, H. (2009) The State of Working America, 2008–09 (Ithaca NY: Cornell University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • OECD (2008) Growing Unequal? Income Distribution and Poverty in OECD Countries (Paris: OECD Publications).

    Google Scholar 

  • OECD (2011) Divided We Stand: Why Inequality Keeps Rising (Paris: OECD Publications).

    Google Scholar 

  • Parker, J.A. and Vissing-Jorgensen, A. (2010) ‘The increase in income cyclicality of high-income households and its relation to the rise in top incomes shares’, Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Fall: 1–55.

    Google Scholar 

  • Piketty, T. and Saez, E. (2003) ‘Income inequality in the United States, 1913–1998’, Quarterly Journal of Economics, CXVIII(1): 1–39.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pivetti, M. (1991) An Essay on Money and Distribution (London: Macmillan).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Pivetti, M. (1993) ‘Bretton Woods through the lens of state-of-the-art macrotheory and the European Monetary System’, Contributions to Political Economy, 12: 99–110.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pivetti, M. (1999) ‘High Public Debt and Inflation: On the “Disciplinary” View of European Monetary Union’, in G. Mongiovi and F. Petri (eds), Value, Distribution and Capital. Essays in honour of Pierangelo Garegnani (London and New York: Routledge).

    Google Scholar 

  • Pivetti, M. (2004) ‘Capitalismo “Incontrastato” e Benessere Sociale: Analisi di un Improbabile Binomio’, in B. Jossa (ed.), Il Futuro del Capitalismo (Bologna: Il Mulino).

    Google Scholar 

  • Pivetti, M. (2011) ‘Le Strategie dell’Integrazione Europea e il loro Impatto sull’Italia’, in L. Paggi (ed.), Un’altra Italia in un’altra Europa. Mercato e Interesse Nazionale (Roma: Carocci).

    Google Scholar 

  • Rocha, G.M. (2010) ‘Le Brésil à l’Heure du Bilan Social. Bourse et Favelas Plébiscitent “Lula”’, Le Monde Diplomatique, September, 21.

    Google Scholar 

  • Salverda, W. and Mayhew, K. (2009) ‘Capitalist economies and wage inequality’, Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 25(1): 126–54.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Samuelson, P. (1964) Economics: An Introductory Analysis, 6th edn (New York: McGraw-Hill).

    Google Scholar 

  • Sharpe, M. (2011) ‘”Big money”, A review of J.S. Hacker and P. Pierson, Winner- Take-All Politics: How Washington Made the Rich Richer and Turned its Back on the Middle Class (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2010)’, in Challenge, 54(1): 121–5.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stigler, G.J. (1947) The Theory of Prices (New York: Macmillan).

    Google Scholar 

  • Tregenna, F. (2009) ‘The fat years: the structure and profitability of the US banking sector in the pre-crisis period’, Cambridge Journal of Economics: 609–32.

    Google Scholar 

  • US Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration, US Census Bureau (2011) Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2010 (Washington DC: USGPO, September).

    Google Scholar 

  • Wade, R. (2011) ‘The economy has not solved its problems’, Challenge, 54(2): 5–41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wicksell, K. (1934 [1901]) Lectures on Political Economy, Vol. 1, General Theory (London: Routledge & Kegan).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. Massimo Pivetti
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Roma Tre University, Italy

    Enrico Sergio Levrero , Antonella Palumbo  & Antonella Stirati ,  & 

Copyright information

© 2013 Massimo Pivetti

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Pivetti, M. (2013). On Advanced Capitalism and the Determinants of the Change in Income Distribution: A Classical Interpretation. In: Levrero, E.S., Palumbo, A., Stirati, A. (eds) Sraffa and the Reconstruction of Economic Theory: Volume One. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137316837_9

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation