IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/devchg/v42y2011i1p209-227.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Forum 2011

Author

Listed:
  • Michael Lim Mah-Hui
  • Khor Hoe Ee

Abstract

type="main" xml:lang="en"> Despite robust growth, rising inequality is widespread in many countries. At the same time, financial instability and crises are occurring with greater frequency and severity. These two phenomena are related to the contest between labour and capital for a greater share of economic output, with capital gaining a greater share over the past few decades. As a result, there is a tendency towards a decline in consumption by the average household and a rise in savings by a rich minority which could cause stagnation in the economy. This tension between declining consumption and rising savings is ‘resolved’ by the financial system through the recycling of funds from the rich minority to the average household in the form of credit. Financial engineering in the USA exacerbated this process which led to excessive lending and borrowing, and the creation of an unsustainable debt and asset bubble that eventually imploded. There is a similar tendency towards greater inequality, a falling share of consumption and a rising share of savings and investment in China. In the context of a globalized economy, the tension is ‘resolved’ through recycling ‘excess savings’ from China to the US, adding to the debt and asset bubble in the US.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael Lim Mah-Hui & Khor Hoe Ee, 2011. "Forum 2011," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 42(1), pages 209-227, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:devchg:v:42:y:2011:i:1:p:209-227
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/j.1467-7660.2011.01693.x
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Branko Milanovic, 2002. "True World Income Distribution, 1988 and 1993: First Calculation Based on Household Surveys Alone," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 112(476), pages 51-92, January.
    2. Akyüz, Yılmaz., 2006. "From liberalization to investment and jobs : lost in translation," ILO Working Papers 993913203402676, International Labour Organization.
    3. Yilmaz Akyuz, 2006. "From Liberalization To Investment and Jobs: Lost in Translation," Working Papers 2006/3, Turkish Economic Association.
    4. repec:fip:fedgsq:y:2005:i:mar10 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Wade, Robert Hunter, 2004. "Is Globalization Reducing Poverty and Inequality?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 567-589, April.
    6. repec:ilo:ilowps:391320 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Ben S. Bernanke, 2005. "The global saving glut and the U.S. current account deficit," Speech 77, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Basu, Kaushik, 2006. "Globalization, poverty, and inequality: What is the relationship? What can be done?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(8), pages 1361-1373, August.
    2. Yýlmaz Akyüz, "undated". "Global Rules and Markets: Constraints over Policy Autonomy in Developing Countries," Working Papers 2007/5, Turkish Economic Association.
    3. Paolo Liberati, 2015. "The World Distribution of Income And Its Inequality, 1970–2009," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 61(2), pages 248-273, June.
    4. repec:ilo:ilowps:467426 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Yeldan, Erinc., 2011. "Macroeconomics of growth and employment : the case of Turkey," ILO Working Papers 994674263402676, International Labour Organization.
    6. R Gaiha & K Imai & M A Nandhi, 2005. "Millennium Development Goal of Halving Poverty in Asia and the Pacific Region: Progress, Prospects and Priorities," Economics Discussion Paper Series 0507, Economics, The University of Manchester.
    7. Peter Edward & Andy Sumner, 2013. "Inequality from a global perspective: An alternative approach," Working Papers 302, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    8. repec:ilo:ilowps:370974 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Peter Edward, Andy Sumner, 2013. "The Geography of Inequality: Where and by How Much Has Income Distribution Changed since 1990?-Working Paper 341," Working Papers 341, Center for Global Development.
    10. Edward, Peter, 2006. "Examining Inequality: Who Really Benefits from Global Growth?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(10), pages 1667-1695, October.
    11. Yilmaz Akyuz, 2008. "Managing Financial Instability in Emerging Markets: A Keynesian Perspective," Working Papers 2008/4, Turkish Economic Association.
    12. Eric Gaisie, 2017. "Living standards in pre-independent Ghana: evidence from household budgets," HHB Working Papers Series 7, The Historical Household Budgets Project.
    13. David Hauner & Manmohan Kumar, 2011. "Interest rates and budget deficits revisited-evidence from the G7 countries," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(12), pages 1463-1475.
    14. Jung Sakong, 2021. "Effect of Ownership Composition on Property Prices and Rents: Evidence from Chinese Investment Boom in US Housing Markets," Working Paper Series WP-2021-12, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
    15. Olper, Alessandro & Curzi, Daniele & Swinnen, Johan, 2018. "Trade liberalization and child mortality: A Synthetic Control Method," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 394-410.
    16. Bergh, Andreas & Nilsson, Therese, 2014. "Is Globalization Reducing Absolute Poverty?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 42-61.
    17. Michael G. Plummer, 2012. "Regional Monitoring of Capital Flows and Coordination of Financial Regulation: Stakes and Options for Asia," Chapters, in: Masahiro Kawai & David G. Mayes & Peter Morgan (ed.), Implications of the Global Financial Crisis for Financial Reform and Regulation in Asia, chapter 8, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    18. Danny Ben-Shahar & Jacob Warszawski, 2016. "Inequality in housing affordability: Measurement and estimation," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 53(6), pages 1178-1202, May.
    19. Kaika, Dimitra & Zervas, Efthimios, 2013. "The environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) theory. Part B: Critical issues," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 1403-1411.
    20. Bussolo Maurizio & de Hoyos Rafael E. & Medvedev Denis & van der Mensbrugghe Dominique, 2012. "Global Growth and Distribution: China, India, and the Emergence of a Global Middle Class," Journal of Globalization and Development, De Gruyter, vol. 2(2), pages 1-29, January.
    21. Punzi, Maria Teresa & Kauko, Karlo, 2015. "Testing the global banking glut hypothesis," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 128-151.
    22. Sposi, Michael, 2022. "Demographics and the evolution of global imbalances," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 1-14.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:devchg:v:42:y:2011:i:1:p:209-227. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0012-155X .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.