Abstract
Drawing on my recent research and the burgeoning literature on the subject, in this paper I argue that the offshoring/outsourcing process will continue with the involvement of emerging economies, which this time will “expatriate low intensity capital and productivity”. Should this be the case, the middle classes in developed countries will continue suffering the pressures of labour share losses. One way to cope with all these pressures has already dawned on us; it is middle class veering round to the kind of employment that fills the gap created by outsourcing/offshoring processes on the one hand and by resourcing/onsourcing processes on the other.
This paper derives from Katsoulis (2012).
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Notes
- 1.
For example, Gigliamaro and Mosler (2009:15) argue that the reaction of middle classes can be explained on the basis of a diminution of their internal cohesion. Middle classes are weakened because “every time its members become different to each other and less able to cooperate. The middle class decline has been here conceived in terms of reduction and inner cohesion”.
- 2.
In the following, I make use of part of the analysis of my book “The Return of Politics” (Athens, 2012, 208–305).
- 3.
See The Economist, Burgeoning Bourgeoisie, A Special Report on the New Middle Classes in Emerging Markets, Feb. 14, 2009. Already half of the world’s population is estimated to belong to the emerging middle classes including those parts of the population whose purchasing power (PPP) ranges between $2 and $13 per capita daily.
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Katsoulis, E. (2015). The Middle Class and the Market. In: Bitros, G., Kyriazis, N. (eds) Essays in Contemporary Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-10043-2_9
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