Created Unequal: The Crisis in American Pay [Hardcover]

James Galbraith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 20, 1998

Demonstrates how governmental policies have financially polarized the American workforce and rewarded or punished specific industries, and offers suggestions on how to close the wage gap.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Economists of every ideological stripe acknowledge that wages have grown increasingly unequal since 1970 in the U.S. Galbraith (Balancing Act), a professor of economics at the University of Texas and a former Executive Director of the Congressional Joint Economic Committee, considers that widening gap?between the very rich and the middle and working classes?dangerous to our democratic ideals, and he is passionate in his quest to identify the culprits. The popular explanation for the trend, he notes, is that high-tech workers garner the majority of wage gains (due to superior productivity in companies fulfilling strong market demand) while workers subject to less felicitous market forces lose ground. Spotting anomalies in that argument, Galbraith dives into U.S. Department of Commerce data and, using ingenious analysis, finds six factors responsible for the trend: unemployment, the exchange rate, inflation, economic growth, the interest rate and the minimum wage. Since all six are candidates for artful manipulation (whether by Congress, the Executive or the Federal Reserve), why, Galbraith asks, have we been passive for 25 years in the face of rising wage inequality? He then unveils an action plan that will cause heated debates in corporate board rooms and in Washington, if not in the media. The data crunching that shores up Galbraith's position may prove daunting to some who gave up on Econ 101, but the numbers, charts and graphs are moderated with rousing tributes to Adam Smith, Joseph Schumpeter and John Maynard Keynes, economists who were revolutionary social critics as well as shrewd bean counters.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

A University of Texas economics professor and son of John Kenneth Galbraith, Galbraith sees the growing inequality of pay in America as the cause of the struggle over welfare reform, affirmative action, healthcare, and other issues. His mild polemic seeks to challenge the current economic orthodoxy that such inequality is caused by job displacement owing to high technology and lack of educational attainment rather than government policies stipulating tight money, low tariffs, and high unemployment. He proposes that since government is the cause of this inequality, government can be the solution by returning to policies of seeking full employment, a higher minimum wage, a more competitive value of the dollar, and price stability. Although these proposals are close to Democratic Party positions, Galbraith criticizes the fiscal irresponsibility of both parties. Galbraith supports his interesting though not entirely convincing contentions with almost 60 pages of notes, appendixes, and bibliography. He overstates the problem, given the current strength of the U.S. economy. This might have been a best seller during the last recession. As such, it is a useful addition to upper-division undergraduate and graduate academic libraries serving economists.APatrick J. Brunet, Western Wisconsin Technical Coll. Lib., La Crosse
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Free Press (August 20, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684849887
• ISBN-13: 978-0684849881
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,430,948 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A sparring analysis of our current economic crisis., May 26, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Milwaukee, Wi) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Created Unequal: The Crisis in American Pay (Hardcover)

Created Unequal, by James K. Galbraith, is an increadible book. In a time when most economists stick to the supply-side economic mantra, Galbraith breaks free. He gives a leftist view of the new economic order and the exploitation it has caused. He observes that the point of Welfare as it was concieved was never a safety net, as it should have been, but rather a way to insure a constant flow of low wage workers. He points to the growing wage disparities between the top 1% and the bottom 55%. He knocks down popular misconceptions about the growing inequality, including the technology myth. Galbraith tactfully explains that there has always been changing technology and new skills needed, yet the severity of inequality has never been so great. Galbraith also shows how the Fed's policy to keep unemployment at an artificially high, and immoral, level in order to scare off inflation has hurt a great number of people. Galbraith writes in the same progressive vien that his father, John Kenneth Galbraith, perfected. If you want to know why there have been striking economic inequalities in recent years, buy this book!

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding..filled with technical analysis, insights, data., March 17, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Created Unequal: The Crisis in American Pay (Hardcover)

Editor, Stern's Management Review online, [e-mail] Argues that America's wage gap was driven up by public policies shaped by and for the wealthy. Explains the relationship between economic policy and the structure of pay. Shows why knowledge workers have done well and why service worker have not; why consumer industries have lost ground. Shows that differential power, rather than a theory of differential skills, explains inequality in pay. Includes technical notes and bibliography. For those who want to gain insight into inequality in pay this work, by a leading economist, This book is outstanding and filled with technical analysis, insights and supporting data.

12 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A compelling case that politics affects wages., June 18, 1999

By 

Charles D. Hayes (Wasilla, AK USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Created Unequal: The Crisis in American Pay (Hardcover)

Galbraith provides a cogent, well-documented argument that instability has more to do with wage inequality than does a mechanism for market efficiency. "When the ocean is flat, rowboats and dinghies can join the trawlers out on the reef where the fish are running. But in a gale, the little boats sink while the large ones do not." He argues that reasonable wages obtain from low unemployment and that expecting science and technology to act as the "centerpiece of a progressive agenda is absurd." Highly recommended.