Tag Archives: wealth

Democratizing Finance: Reducing Inequalities of Income, Wealth and Power

Posted on November 13, 2019 by Oleg Komlik

Politics & Society has just published a thought-provoking special issue titled “Democratizing Finance”. This interesting collection of papers resulted from a workshop organized in July 2018 by the late Erik Olin Wright as part of his inspiring Real Utopias Project. This … Continue reading →

Posted in Papers | Tagged central banking, democracy, Erik Olin Wright, finance, inequality, money, power, wealth | Leave a comment

Being the 1%, or What It Means to Be Entitled

Posted on February 13, 2018 by Oleg Komlik

by Rachel Sherman* Most contemporary research on economic inequality focuses on the causes, contours, and consequences of unequal distributions of resources. But how they do such distributions become legitimate? Why do people accept them, and even take them for granted? Why … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Community members posts | Tagged class, consumption, elites, inequality, money, morality, privilege, wealth | 3 Comments

World Inequality Report 2018: Great Data, Bright Analysis, Perturbing Reality

Posted on December 16, 2017 by Oleg Komlik

The World Inequality Lab led by Thomas Piketty, Emmanuel Saez, Gabriel Zucman, Facundo Alvaredo and Lucas Chancel released today the first of its kind World Inequality Report 2018. The Report aims to become the comprehensive reference report on income and wealth inequality around … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Oleg Komlik | Tagged economic history, inequality, neoliberalism, policy, Political economy, wealth | 7 Comments

Nietzsche on Danger in Wealth and Pretense

Posted on November 26, 2017 by Oleg Komlik

Friedrich Nietzsche: “Danger in riches. — Only he who has spirit ought to have possessions: otherwise possessions are a public danger. For the possessor who does not know how to make use of the free time which his possessions could purchase him will … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Oleg Komlik | Tagged education, oligarchy, wealth | Leave a comment

Alexis de Tocqueville on democracy, materialism and political economy

Posted on April 4, 2016 by Oleg Komlik

Alexis de Tocqueville (1805 – 1859) was a notable French political scientist and historian, best known for Democracy in America — a perceptive and groundbreaking analysis of the social, political and economic system of the United States. This four-volume book is brimming with … Continue reading →

Posted in Books | Tagged Alexis de Tocqueville, democracy, economic history, Economic Sociology, Political economy, United States, wealth | 3 Comments

Listen to the Athenian Solon: “Our virtue sticks with us and makes us strong, but money changes owners all day long”

Posted on October 14, 2015 by Oleg Komlik

Solon (c. 638 – c. 558 BC) was an Athenian statesman, lawmaker and poet, particularly known for ending exclusive aristocratic control of the government and his efforts to legislate against political, economic, and moral decline in archaic Athens, whose elite was obsessed with wealth, power, and prestige. His first … Continue reading →

Posted in Oleg Komlik | Tagged credit, debt, Greece, oligarchy, slavery, state, wealth | Leave a comment

The Alienated Consciousness, Homo Economicus and Capitalism

Posted on September 11, 2015 by Oleg Komlik

Norman O. Brown, a brilliant American scholar and social philosopher: “The alienated consciousness is correlative with a money economy. Its root is the compulsion to work. This compulsion to work subordinates man to things, producing at the same time confusion in the valuation of … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Oleg Komlik | Tagged capitalism, consumerism, money, valuation, wealth, work | 2 Comments

Thomas Piketty: “Take a serious interest in money… Those who have a lot of it never fail to defend their interests.”

Posted on June 12, 2015 by Oleg Komlik

These are Thomas Piketty’s last words in his ground-shaking Capital in the Twenty-First Century. The Economic Sociology and Political Economy global community proudly realizes their prescriptive meaning: “All social scientists, all journalists and commentators, all activists in the unions and in politics of … Continue reading →

Posted in Oleg Komlik | Tagged academia, democracy, media, money, public sociology, Thomas ‪Piketty‬, wealth | Leave a comment

18 focused interpretative digests of each chapter from ‪‎Piketty‬’s “‪‎Capital‬ in the 21st Century”

Posted on November 27, 2014 by Oleg Komlik

Read this impressive interpretative review of Thomas ‪Piketty‬’s Capital‬ in the Twenty-First Century – 18 focused posts devoted to each chapter from the book, carefully wrote by Adam David Morton (University of Sydney). Professor Morton clearly summarises each chapter in just a few … Continue reading →

Posted in Books | Tagged capital, capitalism, economic history, growth, inequality, Political economy, state, taxation, Thomas Pikkety, wealth | Leave a comment

Paul Krugman: “Inequality is a Drag… Goodbye, trickle-down; hello, trickle-up.”

Posted on August 9, 2014 by Oleg Komlik

Paul Krugman: “If you look systematically at the international evidence on inequality, redistribution, and growth — which is what researchers at the IMF did — you find that lower levels of inequality are associated with faster, not slower, growth. Furthermore, … Continue reading →