We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 August 2005
Egalitarian Capitalism: Jobs, Incomes and Growth in Affluent Countries. By Lane Kenworthy. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2004. 222p. $32.50.
Two decades of rising wage and household earnings inequality in the world's wealthiest nations make the guiding question of Lane Kenworthy's book both timely and important: “[M]ust we give up on the vision of a dynamic and productive yet relatively egalitarian form of capitalism?” (p. 1). To answer this question, Kenworthy presents a careful comparative analysis of income inequality in the countries of northwestern Europe, North America, and Australia during the 1980s and 1990s. He shows that there is not necessarily a trade-off between equality and income growth, although there may be a trade-off between equality and some categories of employment growth. Hence, he argues that with an updated, pro-employment version of the welfare state, we need not give into growing disparity in advanced capitalist societies. Whether this will be desired by all and achieved remains to be seen; nevertheless, the book is an important antidote to the “there is no alternative” type of thinking that pervades much contemporary discourse on economic globalization.
