Over the past several years, while I was between between careers, I developed an interest in “inequality” since it seemed to be everywhere and in everything that I read. One curiosity led to another and after reviewing over 500 articles, journals, op-eds, blogs, etc., over 30 books, and completing a course at NYU, I have developed a reasonable understanding (self-certified) of how things work and how things do or do not get done within our political economy.
The objective of this blog is to share some insights and opinions from this research which may help others sort out, clarify and contextualize useful information from ongoing narratives surrounding “inequality”.
In Goran Therborn’s 2013 book “The Killing Fields of Inequality” he describes three types of “inequality”: Vital, Existential and Resource which can be thought of as how people feel, how they are treated, and how they are doing, almost like Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. Within inequality, public policy endeavors to address indifference to an individual’s vitality, unfairness to their treatment and their lack of resource security.