Good Reads
From Old Europe, a New Roadmap
Does modernity require inequality? Or can we build totally modern societies that respect solidarity and community? A review of Europe’s Promise: Why the European Way Is the Best Hope in an Insecure Age by Steven Hill.
Our Finest Basher of ‘Bigness’
In 1900, the super rich in the United States seemed to totally dominate everything. By the 1950s, the United States had become a thoroughly middle class nation. What happened? People like Louis Brandeis happened. A review of Louis D. Brandeis: A Life by Melvin Urofsky.
A New Field Guide to America’s Plutocracy
An up-close look at the early Obama administration — and the prodigious capacity of concentrated wealth to distort our political process. A review of A Presidency in Peril: The Inside Story of Obama’s Promise, Wall Street’s Power, and the Struggle to Control Our Economic Future, by Robert Kuttner
A Home Run of a Smash Against CEO Excess
A spirited demolition of the rationales for paying our executives king-sized compensation.
A review of Pay Check: Are Top Earners Really Worth It?, by David Bolchover, Coptic Publishing, 2010. 150 pp.
By Sam Pizzigati
David Bolchover, a widely published business writer, likes sports. He follows sports all over the world. He can wax knowledgeably about American football, [...]
Rush Limbaugh, Listen to Your Brain
Deep down in our lobes, says new research from an international scientific team, sits a basic tilt toward fairness. A review of Elizabeth Tricomi, Antonio Rangel, Colin Camerer, and John O’Doherty, Neural evidence for inequality-averse social preferences, in the February 25, 2010 issue of the British scientific journal Nature.
Did the Founders Want Government Small?
The new conservative ‘Mount Vernon Statement’ unveiled last week claims that right-wingers are upholding what the Generation of 1776 held dear. But those right-wingers, history shows, are conveniently overlooking what the Founders truly feared. A review of Securing the Fruits of Labor: The American Concept of Wealth Distribution 1765-1900 by James Huston.
Does Good Fortune Explain Big Fortunes?
If the wealthy owe their wealth to luck, how should society respond? Philosophy’s ‘luck egalitarians’ are battling to get that question considered. A review of Health, Luck, and Justice by Shlomi Segall.
Must the Rich Rock On Forever?
Economists tend to add more to the aggravations of everyday life than explain them. Not this economist. A review of Economics for the Rest of Us: Debunking the Science that Makes Life Dismal by Moshe Adler.
A Thermodynamic Take on Executive Pay
What would constitute “fair pay” for corporate executives? A chemical engineer from Purdue looks for an answer in “the concepts and mathematics used to solve problems in statistical thermodynamics and information theory.”
Linking Work and Reward: A New Calculation
People who do vitally necessary work, throughout our economy, often take home far less than people whose jobs add trivial value to our lives. Do we have an alternative? Britain’s New Economics Foundation thinks so — and explains why in this fascinating new report.
to receive our weekly newsletter
Most Popular Articles
Tracking Inequality
How Inequality Hurts
Executive Pay
Defective Enterprises
Taxing Progressively
Alternate Approaches
1112 16th St. NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC 20036 | 202-234-9382 | Email | Subscribe | © 2010
