This note, working from the basis of the author's prior paper, argues that the relatively high consumption standard associated with American "middle classness" was defined by the requirements of providing a household a minimum of comfort, mobility, security and economic opportunity in a context...

Over the last three decades, the wealth-to-income ratio (WIR) in many Western countries, particularly in Europe and North America, increased by a factor of two. This represents a defining empirical trend: a rewealthization (from the French repatrimonialisation) – or the comeback of (inherited)...

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...

Contents: 1. Introduction : plan and scope of the book -- 2. The future of capitalism -- 3. Why be concerned? inequality and instability -- 4. Sir Arthur Lewis' equalitarian vision -- 5. Piketty's narrative and the wealth tax -- 6. Can we "grow the middle class?" -- 7. Synthesis and extension --...

From Athens to America : the two traditions -- America's middle-class constitution -- The emergence of the plutocracy -- The search for solutions --How economic inequality threatens the Republic -- The future of the middle class constitution

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

Tension is growing between the interests of the middle classes that are in decline in the mature economies and the rising ones in emerging markets. The aim of the public policies proposed in this paper is to impede such a clash by not threatening de-globalisation, avoiding protectionism,...