After the fierce class struggles in the first postwar years, a societal model describing Japan as a general middle-class society with outstanding equality in opportunities and outcome became dominant. In recent years, a new societal model of Japan as a divided society has replaced this general...

Als Stabilitätsanker zwischen Arm und Reich nimmt die Einkommensmittelschicht in der politischen Diskussion seit jeher eine besondere Bedeutung ein. Eine einheitliche Definition dieser Gruppe gibt es aber nicht. Anhand von überwiegend bildungs- und erwerbsbezogenen Kriterien wird deshalb...

This book addresses the central challenge facing rich countries: how to promote growth and prosperity that is widely shared rather than concentrated at the top. It identifies structures and policies that are associated with limiting the rise in inequality and promoting income growth

This note, addressing the often ambiguous definition of "middle classness," offers the concept of "quasi-middle classness" to the end of helping clarify the issue. What distinguishes quasi-middle classness from middle classness in this analysis is that quasi-middle classness is more narrowly a...