Visions of Inequality: From the French Revolution to the End of the Cold War

Branko Milanovic charts 200 years of the fascinating history of the discourse on inequality through portraits of six key economists, from Quesnay to Kuznets. In their work and lives, we see how differently each conceived of inequality, and how the subject, prominent in their times, was eclipsed during the Cold War and has become central once again. CONTENTS Prologue 1 François Quesnay: Social Classes in a “Rich Agricultural Kingdom” 2 Adam Smith: “Progress of Opulence” and an Implicit Theory of Income Distribution 3 The Ricardian Windfall: David Ricardo and the Absence of the Equity–Efficiency Trade-off 4 Karl Marx: The Decreasing Rate of Profit but Constant Pressure on Labor Incomes 5 Vilfredo Pareto: From Classes to Individuals 6 Simon Kuznets: Inequality during Modernization 7 The Long Eclipse of Inequality Studies during the Cold War Epilogue: The New Beginning Notes Acknowledgments Index